Together through Te Reo
About Us
Whether you, your team or your organisation are connecting with us to learn the Māori language, gain or grow understanding around tikanga Māori or learn about a Māori worldview, we’ve got you covered.
Our Story
Reo Māori Mai is a kaupapa born out of one woman’s drive to reclaim the language lost to her whānau for generations.
Ariana Stevens has moved through the world as a teenager who rejected her Māori whakapapa to become the founder and director of a successful reo Māori revitalisation and education pakihi.
In 2017, this Māmā of two began working out of her home to deliver bespoke reo Māori lessons - from introductory levels right through to immersion - for individuals, companies, NGOs and government organisations.
Several years later, the tīma has expanded and so too has the range of services Reo Māori Mai offer, allowing us to work with more people on more kaupapa.
Our Services
We don’t claim to be experts on all things Māori, but we do have a pretty good handle on a few things, and we’ll work together to understand what you need from us.
Our mahi is all about creating growth and change together. We offer classes and workshops for individuals, businesses, communities and educators to learn te reo Māori, and grow an understanding of the tikanga and wider context that te reo sits within. We also create resources, provide Māori to English and English to Māori translation services, and offer strategic consultation services.
Because some of the mahi we do can be a bit taumaha/heavy for us as practitioners, and it all feeds into discourses that impact us as a nation, it’s really important we work with people who want to be there too. We believe in aligning with one another’s values in order to create growth and change together.
What our clients are saying
Great delivery style. Mixture of fun, history, serious content and games. Can recommend to any businesses thinking about jumping on this journey. From the perspective of someone for whom this is their first experience of learning te reo, I feel we are moving at a good pace and I am personally starting to understand things in a broader sense. Tāniora creates a captivating, encouraging, engaging and comfortable learning environment.
The pace of each lesson/workshop is great, while the kupu focus for each week is very relevant for me and my students. Having opportunities to practice my pronunciation of the weekly kupu is so beneficial and it's great to be able to do this in a supportive environment. Lucy is very positive and passionate and communicates well with the group.
Catherine’s teaching style was excellent. She was always happy to explain things further and the lessons were tailored to the group… I wasn't particularly confident in my own ability but the atmosphere of the classroom allowed me to feel confident to engage
Ariana has done a superb job coaching elected Councillors and close to 100 members of staff, this includes mentoring our more advanced te reo speakers. What has resulted is a number of our people becoming extremely competent in leading our organisation in such events as marae visits, hui with our local Rūnanga, and being advocates for the use of te reo within Council. Over the last three years, we have seen a significant uplift in the use of te reo within Council, which is a great source of pride for me as Chief Executive. I have every confidence in recommending Ariana Stevens as a calm, confident, engaging, and extremely knowledgeable coach for any organisation.
Ariana has been our te reo advisor for over 3 years now, tailoring her classes from one-on-one sessions to interactive, fun lessons for smaller groups. Our pronunciation has improved in leaps and bounds and feel much more comfortable with our mihi, a plethora of different karakia and waiata, and general korero for day to day use.
We love our lessons with Ariana, She's knowledgeable, enthusiastic, patient and keeps us motivated to learn. Ariana is a great teacher - we totally recommend.
Ariana's teaching style fits perfectly with workplace learning. We covered te reo basics and the confidence to speak as well as use te reo in written pieces. Just as importantly, we also covered cultural learning, stories and history, and topical issues. Coming originally from the UK, the mix of language and culture - was incredibly useful for me
We contracted Ariana to develop and deliver school Board training on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and invited Boards from the area to join us. Ariana effectively and efficiently communicated with me to develop the course content, to meet our needs. Course participants were engaged by Ariana's expertise, love of the kaupapa and her delivery style. Overall, their feedback was that the learning was authentic and valuable. I have a lot of respect for Ariana as a facilitator of learning and recommend her to any school.