Visitors to the Te Wānanga o Aotearoa stand at Te Matatini ki te Ao 2019, have three options. 

The first, to win a portable storage device, is to sing a song.  

The second; perform the poi or the third to pick their top nine teams who are most likely to feature on the final day of the competition. 

Not surprisingly, most choose option number three and even less of a surprise is who is in their top nine. 

“You’ve got to go with Whangarā, they’re the defending champions,” says Jeff, who mentions he has a cousin from the East Coast. 

Other mentions include former winners Te Waka Huia, Waihīrere, Te Whānau ā Apanui, Te Iti Kahurangi and Mōtai Tangata Rau. 

The TWoA stand at the Westpac Stadium is a hive of activity and the Porirua and Papaiōea kaimahi who are running it are attracting visitors and good expressions of interest in our programmes. 

Rawiri Shedlock, a kaiwhakahaere ako from Papaiōea, says the drive for EOIs is focused on TWoA’s business programmes. 

“We are marketing our programmes across the country and all of our campuses,” he says. 

“Our biggest drive is to increase interest in our business courses and performing arts here in Porirua but of course, most of the interest seems to be in our te reo Māori programmes.” 

Rawiri said that by lunchtime on the first day of competition at Te Matatini ki te Ao 2019, TWoA had registered a surprising number of expressions of interest. 

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is a strategic partner at Te Matatini ki te Ao 2019.