Today I attended 3 workshops. The first workshop was Bilingual Game Design using Gemini Canvas. I explored how AI can be used to quickly create engaging bilingual games in Te Reo Māori and Pasifika languages. This workshop gave me practical ideas for using AI to design interactive, culturally responsive learning experiences that will help increase student engagement and support language learning. I asked Gemini to create a Māori numbers game from 1 to 5 for Year 1 students to match Māori numbers to English numbers with moving parts and voice-over.
After playing the short game, I can see where improvements need to be made. I think my Year 5 class will have fun creating in Gemini Canva. Thanks to Natalie Muller, you can check out this game and others in Bilingual Games
The second workshop was Digital Koloa (treasures) with Matai'a Fritz Evile and Elisabeth Kumaran, from PKL Pacific Kids Learning.
PKL creates digital koloa that bring Pacific heritage stories, songs, dances, and knowledge systems to life through 2D, 3D, and VR animation. Guided by a village-centred production model, every animation is co-designed with Pacific communities to ensure cultural integrity, authentic representation, and community ownership. These digital treasures are preserved and shared through PKL’s sovereign platform, the Pacific Digital Library, providing culturally affirming e-learning resources that support language revitalisation, cultural identity, and holistic learning. We were allowed to experience the VR (Virtual Reality), which replaced our real surroundings with a completely virtual world. I was taken down deep into the ocean, surrounded by sea life. It really felt like I was a scuba diver in the middle of the ocean looking at all the sea life. Check out their website, Pacific Digital Library.
The third and final workshop, Fonofale in Practice: An Introduction to Pacific Wellbeing. The Fonofale model reminds us that student wellbeing is built on strong relationships, family, culture, and a supportive learning environment. In practice, it encourages me to create an inclusive classroom where every learner feels valued, connected, and able to thrive. The names that are given to Pacific people, or any people, are important and have meaning. We all share our own meanings and stories about our names, and it was interesting to hear the laughter and the understanding of the importance of the names given.
My name is Jocelyn Mareva Tumahai. Until today, this is simply who I have been, but having to stop and really think about it has made me reflect on the conversations I have had about where my name comes from.
In a discussion with my mother, I asked her about my name. Jocelyn was the name of a friend my mother went to school with, and Mareva is my mother’s mother's name (I believe). Tumahai is a Tahitian name, not a Māori name.
My mother is half French and half Tahitian. My father is half Tahitian and half Māori; his mother, my Nana Piki, is the Māori connection from Dargaville.
As my grand-père would say, that makes us “half hula and half haka.”
I found this book in the hard-to-find bookshop in Onehunga many years ago. This book is my family's history.
