On Thursday I attended an event called the May Meet Up at the Mangere Arts Centre. It was a gathering of artists and people with dreams from Mangere-Otahuhu and was such an inspiring evening. We heard about these awesome projects that are happening in our community and country like: Anonymouz creating a soundtrack to help blind people…
Awesome day today with Jono Soo Choon and the team who came to our school and performed the Samoan legend The Eel and Sina. We hosted the show and had children from Rongomai Primary come up and see the show too. It’s really important for Pacific children to see Pacific stories on stage so they…
It was a real blessing to be invited to participate in this year’s Auckland Writers Festival. I took a writing workshop and did two talks. When I taught English at Tangaroa College, I used to bring my students to this festival. I remember thinking one time, “Man it would be cool to be part of…
Cook Islands Heroes is the 4th book in the Pasifika Heroes series and the book won a Storylines Notable Books Award today. Awards are important for a self-publishing writer like me because they help people to trust the work. Two other books received special mention: Powering Up with Joseph Parker and Go Fiji Go. I think this is so awesome…
Today Reading Warrior launched a new book in the Reading Warriors series of biographies. This is the story of the All Blacks captain, Kieran Read. My favourite anecdote from the book comes from when Kieran was in year 12. He was really thin and was considering whether to focus on cricket or rugby. His rugby…
This week is Niue Language Week. Why is Niue Language Week celebrated around this time every year? It’s because it coincides with one of the most important events in Niue’s history. Niue had been a Protectorate of Britain before New Zealand took over in 1901. New Zealand and Niue had a close relationship, but by the 1960s…
Hey everyone here’s an article about Joseph Parker and his family that I wrote for e-Tangata magazine. It’s about a time I think I got Joseph’s dad in trouble … from his mum! Click on the e-Tangata logo to read the story.
Hey everyone, it’s Tongan Language Week this week and I’m launching my new book, Tongan Heroes. In the lead up to the launch I’m going to post short pieces and clips about some of the heroes in the book. The theme of Tongan Language Week is ‘Fakakoloa ‘a Aotearoa ‘aki ‘a e Loto’i Tonga’ — Enriching Aotearoa…
This week I went to see Poi E: The Story of our Song … what an inspiring film! I learned an amazing lesson about self belief from this film … and from the Fijian Sevens rugby team, and the singer, Kings! The film tells the story behind the success of the classic NZ song Poi E, written…
If you watched the Olympic Opening Ceremony, you would have seen the memorable entrance of the Tongan team led by their coconut-oil glistening flag bearer, Pita Taufatofua. Pita missed qualifying for the Olympics three times and has suffered numerous serious injuries, including six broken bones, three torn ligaments and months in a wheelchair. But he persevered and finally…
The Olympics start this week and it’s also Cook Islands language week. In honour of both events, here’s a history of the Cook Islands in the Olympics, taken from my new book Olympic Islands. The Cook Islands competed in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea….
Ive always loved this book. Beautiful writing and illustrations and a moving story for kids. Its awesome to see a new edition published 🙂
This week Benji Marshall will play his 250th NRL game! What an amazing achievement. And how fitting it is that the game will be played against the Wests Tigers, the team he first played for as a 17 year old high school student. Benji was a student at Keebra Park High School on the Gold Coast…
I recently took a class of Year 12 Drama students to see The Conch theatre company’s new show called The White Guitar. Wow! Speechless! One of those plays that after watching you just want to sit and reflect on for a while. The play tells the story of the Luafutu family. That’s the family of…
Tristan Thompson is a member of the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers. His stats in Game 7 read: 31 minutes played 3 shot attempts 2 blocked shots 3 rebounds They’re not MVP numbers. But the Cavs didn’t need MVP numbers from Tristan. They needed him to be a star in his role. One of his roles…
Of all the things said about Muhammad Ali after his passing last week, my favourite were the thoughts of radio commentator Bomani Jones. Bomani said the thing that stood out to him about Ali was his refusal to back down. He was knocked down in the 4th round of his fight against Henry Cooper but…
I’m so glad we have a public holiday to celebrate the Queen’s birthday on June 7th. I wish we also had a holiday to celebrate Matariki which started today (June 6th) . According to the Maori Language Commission, “Each winter the stars of Matariki and Puanga signal the end of one year in Aotearoa, and the beginning of…
It’s Samoan Language Week and the theme for 2016 is, “E felelei manu ae ma’au i o latou ofaga – Birds migrate to environments where they survive and thrive.” It’s been inspiring following the journey of Samoan Kiwi boxer Joseph Parker. His career reflects the theme of Samoan week. Before Joseph teamed up with trainer…
It’s Playoff time in the NBA and our own Kiwi Tongan basketballer Steven Adams has become one of the most talked about players in America. Steven is as well known for his Tom Selleck-style moustache and nifo koula (gold tooth) as he is for his tough and physical style of play and Kiwi sense of…
Last year, five Ōtāhuhu primary/intermediate schools, Reading Together (a Ministry of Education supported reading initiative), the Ōtāhuhu Community Library, the National Library and the New Zealand Book Council’s Writers in Schools programme joined forces to deliver the Ōtāhuhu Writers in Schools Project. Five low decile schools in Ōtāhuhu, South Auckland, hosted a diverse range of NZ writers in residence for six days over term three and…
When Miesha Tate defeated Holly Holm to become the women’s UFC Bantamweight World Champion last week, she demonstrated the kind of resiliency we need to teach young people. It was Miesha’s third attempt to win the title after being well beaten in previous tries by former champion Ronda Rousey. Miesha’s a great example of resiliency….
I took my year 11 Drama class to see a show in town last week. We were sitting in Q Theatre waiting for the show to start, looking at the students from other schools in the venue. One of my students asked, “Sir, are we the only Islanders in here?” Me: “They look like Islanders…
Sad news today that former Warriors league player Kevin Locke is battling depression. Kevin spoke about how losing his father and the pressures of his sport and negative comments on social media really affected him. “Reading what everyone was saying about me on the internet was tough,” he said. “People are careless.” Kevin admits that…
It’s All-Star weekend in the NBA, a time when the best players come together for events that celebrate the game of basketball. This year’s celebrations are taking place in Toronto, Canada. One Toronto bank has gone out of its way to make the basketball players welcome. The Bank of Montreal installed a gigantic 10 foot…
Culture was on display in the just finished season of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. It will also be on display in our classrooms this year. Carolina quarterback Cam Newton has been criticised for the way he celebrates touchdowns and other successful plays. One of his favourite things to do is a dance called the dab. Some commentators…
Watching the film Pay It Forward with family tonight got us thinking about what an awesome concept it’s based on. A teacher sets an interesting project for his students: “Think of an idea to change our world – and put it into ACTION!” One student’s idea is the basis of the Pay it Forward concept. He does 3…
Swedish design company IKEA runs a Soft Toys For Education campaign. They make soft toys and donate some of the profits to Unicef’s education projects. Last year IKEA invited children all over the world to enter a competition to draw their own designs for a soft toy. The company then chose 10 of the designs and made them…
It’s been interesting reading some of the headlines coming out of Australia and New Zealand in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup final this week. One of the funniest I saw was this one from Fox Sports in Australia. “The Richetty grub is the master of the dark arts of breakdown cheating,” said…
I love this photo of Argentina’s rugby coach comforting one of his players after today’s World Cup semi final loss to Australia. I love it because it shows me they really believed they could win. Very few people thought Argentina could win today – the betting odds were 2-1 against them. But because they believed they could…
The resilience of the young people we work with amazes, inspires and sometimes … embarrasses me. My upbringing was like this: I had parents who supported my education. I never saw anyone I loved die. We weren’t rich, but I had everything I needed financially. I had very few health problems. Did I do anything…
