About Us
Talking Matters partners with whānau, communities, practitioners, iwi and government to build and support language-rich environments for children.
A language-rich environment intentionally makes space for language/s to flourish. It is vibrant and contains all the languages of that community in the spoken, written, cultural, gestural and artefactual form. A language-rich environment combines cultural, linguistic, social and pedagogical practices that enable children to develop the language skills they need to thrive as thinkers, talkers and readers.
Our way of working
With these principles as a foundation...
Ko tōku reo tōku mapihi maurea
Language is a precious taonga
Whanaungatanga
We build robust relationships
Akoranga
Teaching and learning
Rangatiratanga
Whānau and practitioners are agents of change
And through strategies like
Goal setting
Co-designing pathways for change
Capability building
Peer to peer and advisory
Data for change
Collection and analysis
Community building
Enabling connections
We partner with others to generate...
Whānau change
Through peer-peer coaching
Social work practice change
Social workers supporting families
Early childhood practice change
Teachers building language-rich environments
Systems change
Decision makers in the early years focusing more on early language
So that
More babies have access to language-rich environments in the first 1000 days
