The aim is to create a game which players given a Māori word would need to choose the appropriate image to co-inside. It is ideal for people to know at least 150 words and the more the player plays the game the more Māori phrasing, structure and sentences get introduced while the English versions of the words will slowly be phased out. Towards the end of the game all questions and answers will completely be in Māori.
Even simple things like tᾱku/tōku means my, tōu/tᾱu means you or your and tōna/tᾱna means his or her. 'o' and 'a' within Māori korero possess different meanings when applied to other conjoining words.
The best way to describe the logic behind this is if you have a horse, and the horse is kept as a pet, then it belongs in the 'a' category because its perceived has having control of, superiority over or responsibility for, otherwise if the horse is purely used for transport then it belongs in the 'o' category.
The following are from 'neutral' categories of how the words change based on circumstance.
Kei hea aku pene?
Where are my pens?
Ko wai tō ingoa?
What's your name?
Homai tana ngeru!
Give me her cat!
The easiest way to remember is that if it is a person or something you have responsibility for (kids, partner, technology, pets), or man made things (money, pens, paper, cups), an action or food and drink (except drinking water) then it belongs in the 'a' category otherwise, it belongs in the 'o' category which is what could be highly stressed throughout the game to remember the difference and that in itself will help you interpret what is being said.
The easiest way to show the difference in sound and the way the words are properly pronounced you could use the color song like Mᾱ is white, AEIOU, A haka mana. There are different songs and resources that could be incorporated into the game to make sure that the players are hearing the correct Te Reo pronunciation and not the Pakeha pronunciation as they are very different and in Maori actually could mean something completely different.
The aim is to raise awareness that the language is our native tongue therefore it should be pronounced properly overall, yet on the radio and the news they can't even say a simple place name like Ngaruawaihia correctly.
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