Week 8 Term 3: Totara House: Uike Kātoanga'i 'o e lea faka-Tonga 2025 (September 01 - September 05)

Tongan Language Week 2025

In Week 6 of Term 3 we celebrated Uike Kātoanga'i 'o e lea faka-Tonga (tongan Language Week). The 2025 theme for Tonga Language Week is ‘Ko 'etau lea, ko e fe’unu mahu’inga ia ki he mo’ui ‘a e Tonga' (Our language is a vital strand of our Tongan culture.) Throughout the week we treated by our Tongan staff and students who shared their culture with us through devotion, the singing of hymns, sharing their cultural lineage and history and of course with food. 

Totara House Tongan Group 2025 @ rehearsal 

An important part of the language week was understanding the theme ‘Ko 'etau lea, ko e fe’unu mahu’inga ia ki he mo’ui ‘a e Tonga' (Our language is a vital strand for our Tongan culture.) Mrs Suipi Latu - a teacher, Head of Learning for English (Language) and a pillar within the Tongan Community shared with us the importance of the language. She shared that the Tongan culture is one that has many layers but the language is the thread, the fiber, that connects it all together. This made me reflect on my journey with Gagana Samoa and how I am investing in learning more about Gagana Samoa. What Mrs Suipi Latu shared resonated with me in that I can see how important it is to know, learn, seek, understand, celebrate and embrace your mother tongue. 

Totara House Tongan Group @ TLW Assembly 2025

Totara House had the privilege of performing at the Tongan Language Week Assembly. We had students across our Year 9, Year 10, Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 Totara House mentor classes participate and represent our Totara House Tongan Group. We had 39 students in total who came together in Week 7 and put together a dance. We chose the Lakalaka as the item to perform at the Assembly. UNESCO states that the Lakalaka is "considered Tonga's national dance, Lakalaka is a blend of choreography, oratory, and vocal and instrumental polyphony." We performed that Lakalaka at the Tongan Language Week Inter House Competition in 2022 (where Totara House placed 1st) and we were excited to do it again for this year's celebrations. The Totara House Leaders choreographed the dance and taught it the students across two days. 

Totara House Tongan Group @ TLW Assembly 2025

Totara House Tongan Group 2025

It was a short turn around period to bring the students together and to get them to learn an item to perform, but as Totara House has shown throughout this year, they always come together and get it done. Kotahitanga is one of our values and I see this come alive when the students engage with the language week celebrations. I am really happy with how the students came together, performed and celebrated Tongan Language Week 2025. 

Totara House Tongan Group 2025

Language is a fundamental component of cultural identity. Language carries history, values, cultural traditions and ways of understanding the world from a unique lens. Without the language, the culture as a whole and the systems and layers within could possibly diminish. Language is the primary vehicle for the transferring of knowledge, of cultural history, lineage and values. Language cements identity. Embracing your mother tongue can embrace all other languages that you are exposed to. I appreciate the theme for this year's Tongan Language Week as it gave me much to think about and reflect on.