Students to feature on CITV

Next week from the 19th to the 23rd of July is the Ministry of Education’s Te Reo Maori - Maori language week. In support of this initiative Cook Islands Television local news has invited outer islands students from Tereora College to present the news in their own dialects . Shona Pitt manager of the news team said that the presenters are made up of mainly outer islands scholarship student.
“There are 15 islands that make up the Cook Islands and 11 dialects including Palmerston Island and while we acknowledge Rarotongan as being the main language it is important to also acknowledge and encourage the use of the other Cook Islands languages.
Starting on Monday night we will have two representatives from each island bar Rarotonga present the news in their own language. For example on Monday night we will have 2 students from the island of Mitiaro present and introduce the first half of the news and the second half will be presented and introduced by 2 x students from the island of Pukapuka,” said Pitt.
Each night for the five nights the local news is televisied there will be a northern and a southern dialect will be represented.
The students have familiarized themselves with how the news team operates and are excited and looking forward to doing their presentations. Pitt has stressed that the students be accompanied by an adult who will be able to translate the news scripts from english into their own language.
“It is vital that the students use their own language and not slip in words from the other dialects.
Pitt said she would also like to thank Nga Teingaroa the outer islands scholarship Dean and Mr Parima Tereora College Principal plus the students themselves and their parents/caregivers for allowing the student to partake in this exercise.

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