The Story
behind the Stories
This is how we got to be where we are ...
Once upon a time there as a PLD facilitator (that's our founder Del Costello) who noticed that heaps of tamariki just were not engaging in literacy. When she did a closer investigation, she discovered two things- that most tamariki didn't know how to 'tell stories' and they were being exposed to literacy opportunities that didn't always reflect who they were.
She talked to teachers and they told her that they didn't think they were good story tellers, they didn't know the stories that were connected to the school and they were a little bit whakama (embarrassed) to say Te Reo Māori kupu (words) because they didn't want to make mistakes.
Del scratched her head for a while, she did a whole lot of research, reviewed literature, talked to dozens of academics, teachers and experts and then said
'Ah ha! So, to kill two birds with one stone, Del decided to test this out. She worked with a school to write their story, a story of their place. That story was so wildly popular that they worked together to build a whole lot of resources and to teach the teachers to integrate this story across the curriculum.
So many schools wanted to do this that the Ministry of Education came on board to support the project so Del could scale it up and the rest is history!
Kōrero Paki
1. (verb) to tell a story
Our Project Team
Del Costello
Education Consultant & Director
Del is the director of Coactive Education who is passionate about solving educational challenges and partnering with educators to really get things moving. This whole project was Del's BIG idea and it has really flown!
Kate Costello
Design Lead and TYS Project Manager
In charge of asset creation and management. Kate makes sure that all the ducks are in a row, that the quality passes her keen eye and that the assets that go out on our projects are just blimmin gorgeous!
Our Artists
Kate Costello
In-house Illustrator - Auckland
Kate is a fully qualified illustrator and designer as well as a working artist. With a number of projects under her belt - Kate has a diverse range of styles she can execute for your project. Kate is a superstar with digital illustrations!
Preehya Patel
Wellington
Preehya is a working artist and illustrator who lives and works in Whanganui-a Tara. She has a real knack for natural landscapes and can nail our native flora and fauna like the pro she is!
Our Translators
Okupu.com
Te Reo Māori
Founded by Aroha Turner and Paraone Gloyne, they were the first online Māori translation service connecting users with real humans, certified translators and dialectic accuracy. These guys are superstars!
Pollyanna Ferguson
Pollyanna is a teacher and native NZSL communicator. She doesn't translate for us, she interprets so that the content being shared is rich, exciting and truly captures the essence of the story. She is very creative and clever!
Rahere (Rachel) Turner
From time to time we need to harness the superpowers of Rahere. Te Reo Māori is a beautiful language in its own right and when a translation just won't do, Rahere sorts it out for us. She is so connected to Te Ao Māori and we just love and admire her mahi!
Our Voice Actors
Bev Aerenga
English
Bev's voice sounds like a warm hug. A trained actress as well as a teacher and school leader - her voice overs are loved by many schools
Liv Costello
English
A practicing Speech & Drama Teacher and working actor - Liv has a youthful and bright voice, and specialises in accents.
