Pegasus Post: September 21, 2023

12 Thursday September 21 2023
The Rise of Spoken Word at
Te Aratai College:
“Word: The Front Line” is an inter-high school
spoken-word poetry competition, bringing together
teams of young people to share their stories in an
explosion of youth expression.
This year was the
first extension of
the event outside
of Auckland, with
the first Canterbury
Poetry Slam event
held at the Piano on
August 22nd. Five
Christchurch schools
were involved, and Te
Aratai proudly entered
a team of 4 students
to this Ōtautahi
inaugural poetic event:
Isabel Marshall-Ma,
Adrian Singh, Georgia
Kieboom and Joseph
Lomani.Word: The
Front Line, curated
by Action Education,
is a poetry slam with the purpose of engaging
and growing the potential of our future leaders.
It is the only creative battlefield of its kind,
equipping young people with poetry prowess
and leadership principles for an opportunity to
battle for themselves and the challenges that
their generation faces. The migration south of
Action Education’s poetry slam competition is
a lucky coincidence for Te Aratai, with the kura
appointment of English teacher Neema Singh,
who recently moved from Auckland. Neema is
originally from Christchurch and moved with her
family to Auckland, where she has taught English
for 8 years at Papatoetoe High School and
Western Springs College.
“I became involved with spoken word in 2013
Isabel and Adrian
during soundcheck
at Papatoetoe.
We entered two
teams into the
Frontline which
was in its second
year at that
stage. It was just
starting out and
sort of grew from
there, it was really
quite cool. One
of my students,
who actually first
competed in the
competition got
really nervous
and could hardly
speak, but now he
is a spoken word
artist who has
a popular Ted Talk online as well as numerous
poems published on YouTube.”
Neema has an affinity for spoken word due to
her own love affair with poetry. She completed
a Master of Creative Writing at the University of
Auckland in 2016 and has since been featured
in two anthologies of published poetry: Ko
AotearoaTatou 2020: We are New Zealand (A
collective response after the mosque attacks
to showcase the diversity of New Zealand
writers and artists) and A Clear Dawn (the first
Teams from Papanui,
Girls’ High, and Haeata
join Te Aratai in a
performance brief
anthology of Asian writers in New Zealand).
Neema also has upcoming poems being
published in The New Zealand Poetry Society
2023 Anthology and He Moana o Reo / An Ocean
of Languages. Her love of poetry and student
expression has been complemented by Dietrich
Soakai, a spoken word artist from South Auckland
who recently moved to Ōtautahi. He, along with
Neema, helped to recruit, tutor and coach the
inaugural Te Aratai spoken word team. “He is
such a dynamic and talented poet, who has a
knack for connecting and inspiring young people.”
“Dietrich had, I think, about four weeks to
prepare the team for the poetry slam, so it was
a huge achievement for our ākonga to write a
poem, memorise it and learn how to perform
and deliver in front of an audience. I think was
such an amazing achievement for them to be
a part of, especially given the vulnerability and
bravery in sharing their personal experiences in
performance. The poetry was funny, engaging
and intelligent. It was an inspiring night to be a
part of.”
Georgia, Joseph
and Adrian before
the event kicks off
Neema Singh
Ad: 85 Aldwins Road, Phillipstown | Ph: 03 9820100 | Em: office@tearatai.school.nz | Wb: tearatai.school.nz