NEWSLETTER

Vol-3 | 20. September 2012

Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools

The Education Review

Office (ERO) has recently

published the second re-

port of their Evaluation at

a Glance series.

Read more here

German Inter-school Drama

This year’s Oskar compe-

tition was held on Tues-

day 11 September in the

welcoming auditorium of

Villa Maria College.

Read more here

Chinese Teachers Workshop

More than 50 teachers

have participated in

“Introduction to the Inter-

cultural Communicative

Language Teaching

(iCLT)” workshops

Read more here

French Speech Competition

59 of the best French lan-

guage students (Years 7

to 10) compete at Saint

Kentigern College.

Read more here

Chinese Cultural Lan-guage Ambassador

At the start of 2012,

Annelise Posthuma was

chosen for the position of

Chinese Language and

Culture Ambassador to

ocal Schools in

Canterbury.

Read more here

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Evaluation at a Glance:

Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools

The Education Review Office (ERO) has recently

published the second report of their Evaluation

at a Glance series. ERO is an independent gov-

ernment department which regularly reports on

schools’ performance.

The current edition as identified three key issues

in our education system which are unhelpful to

New Zealand’s priority learners (the lowest per-

forming school students):

1. Shifting the focus to student-centred learning, Teaching as Inquiry and

responding to students’ needs. The most effective schools in this area are

highly supportive of teacher professional learning.

2. Knowledgeably implementing a responsive and rich curriculum, where

cultural and ethnic identities are acknowledged and celebrated.

3. Using assessment information to know about, and plan for, students’

learning. There is an urgent need for us to address the achievement of our

priority students.

For more information and to read the full report, please visit the ERO website.

Hutt Valley High student wins trip to Germany

Teacher Professional Development

Languages (TPDL) is available to lan-

guage teachers throughout New Zea-

land and offers an excellent opportuni-

ty to gain an internationally recognised

language qualification and receive ac-

creditation in language teaching. For more information have a look at the

TPDL website or email tpdl@auckland.ac.nz or phone 09 623 8899 ext

46302

TPDL can help you to:

be a more effective teacher of languages

improve your proficiency in a language or begin to learn a new language

understand and apply Learning Languages as in the NZ Curriculum

take a leadership role in Learning Languages

sit an internationally recognized language examination

Hutt Valley High School student Dexter Tauvao (Year 13) has recently returned

from the third Internationale Deutscholympiade in Frankfurt, Germany. He was

one of two New Zealand students that gained a German scholarship to attend. 94

students from 50 countries competed for the title of best German language stu-

dent in the world. Read more on stuff.co.nz

Oskar Inter-school German Drama 2012

This year’s Oskar competition was held on Tuesday 11 September in the welcoming

auditorium of Villa Maria College. Seven groups coming from five schools took part.

The total number of students was fewer than usual: 87, the drop being caused by

the unfortunate clash of one school’s examination week with the date of the com-

petition. The increased pressure of curriculum demands on senior classes was also

evident in that, although this event was open to all levels, six of the groups were

Year 10 level, the other from Year 11. That did not detract from the keen competi-

tion, however: the atmosphere was extremely warm and positive. There was a real

buzz from the very outset. The line to be incorporated in this year’s sketches was:

Mensch! Wo hast du das denn her? - (Wow! Where did you get that from?)

which as usual led to a very wide range of situations for the entertainment of the

audience.

The adjudicators (Judith Geare, head of the Langauge Department at the Goethe-

Institut, Laura Matten, Cultural Attachée from the German Embassy and Bernd

Schliephake, National German Adviser) commented on the very high and very even

standard of the plays, which of course made their task quite a difficult one.

The line found itself in very different contexts: disobedient students were lost in a

forest disturbed by a mysterious ghost, a box turned out to be a time machine, and

pages of the Grimm Brothers’ stories were mixed up, leading to a jumbled array of

fairy tale characters. In another sketch the abolition of

the euro caused difficulties when it was found that the

only available toilet would accept only euro coins. A

group with the clever name “Zwei Richtungen” (Two Di-

rections) displayed their musical as well as dramatic tal-

ents, and we witnessed the final of a quiz show which

offered the major prize of a trip to New Zealand.

The results were as follows:

Special prize for dramatic talent: Die Geister from Burnside High School (Year 10)

Special prize for political understanding: Die Zimpfel from Villa Maria College (Year 11)

Special prize for musical talent: Zwei Richtungen from Christ’s Colleg (Year 10)

Mini-Oskar: Die Auβenseiterinnen from Rangi Ruru Girls’ School (Year 10)

Mini-Oskar: Die falsche Richtung from Christ’s College (Year 10)

Mini-Oskar for runners-up: Die Grimmkinder from Villa Maria College

Oskar trophy for 1st place: Die Haribos from Avonside Girls’ High School.

The winning sketch was entitled Stimmt’s – oder nicht?

(Correct – or not?). The judges commended this group

for their excellent pronunciation, and said they could hear

and understand every word spoken.

It was particularly pleasing to see such a large number of

parents and friends who had braved atrocious weather

conditions to be there supporting the performers. It

seemed that everyone went away smiling. by Lorraine Gray

Copyright Volker Matten

Copyright Volker Matten

Copyright Volker Matten

Copyright Volker Matten

4

The Confucius Institute at the University of Canterbury (CIUC) has hosted a series

of Chinese teachers workshops in the South Island of New Zealand.

So far more than 50 participants from local schools and institutions attended

these workshops. Many teachers agree that this kind of training is beneficial for

both teachers and schools in developing Chinese teaching and learning in the local

areas. More seminars on Chinese characters, vocabulary and grammar will be

offered by CIUC during the second half of 2012. Ms Wang Yu, National Chinese

language Adviser (ILEP) was the lecturer for the first section at one of these work-

shops with the topic: “Introduction to the Intercultural Communicative Language

Teaching (iCLT)”. Contact Yu Wang for more information on: Chinese@ilep.ac.nz

Successful Chinese Teachers Workshops

Did you know? Most German pub-

lic Universities do not charge tui-

tion fees, not for domestic stu-

dents, nor for international stu-

dents.

Additionally, many programmes

are now offered in English Lan-

guage and New Zealand citizens

can easily attain study/work visas. Plus scholarships are available too.

This is a fantastic opportunity, to travel overseas and experience a different

culture. Have a look at the German Academic Exchange Service. It provides all

the information you need to apply.

This year is the 200th anniversary of the Brothers Grimm’s book of fairy

tales. The winners of the Brothers Grimm story-writing competition by have

now been published:

Winner: The Cry Baby, by Renata Hopkins of Christchurch

Runner-up: Little Red Riding Hood Does Over the Big Bad Wolf

Runner-up: Evil Fairy Tales

Photos of the Award night in Wellington are available on Facebook.

Brothers Grimm story-writing competition

Study in Germany

The feedback: “Very well done! Thank you very much!”

“It’s great way to share ideas with colleagues and update out language teaching

ideologies. Thank you very much!”

This year’s French speech

competitions were organ-

ised by Pascale McMillan

(HOD/ teacher of French)

and Leslie Jouglat (ILEP

French language assistant)

and took place at Saint

Kentigern College.

Nine different schools sent 59 of their best French language students

(Years 7 to 10) from Botany, Mangere, North Shore and Papakura to com-

pete against their peers.

Prizes for the category winners were donated by the French Embassy.

The judges were Sue Read (Sancta Maria College), Glenda Palmer (National

Adviser French) and Doug Anderson (HOH languages SKC).

Lunch was served in typical French style: Sandwich au jambon/fromage et

un Orangina.

This was the 3rd year Pascale has run with

this initiative for our junior students It

provided an excellent forum for students

to connect with the wider French learning

community and their peers in other

schools.

5

Years 7 to 10 French Speech Competitions

At the start of 2012, Annelise Posthu-

ma was chosen for the position of Chi-

nese Language and Culture Ambassa-

dor to local Schools in Canterbury. She

is eager to share her language skills

with students in her area and tries to

convey the importance of understand-

ing other cultures and languages.

We have asked her to tell us more

about herself:

Language learning has opened up a

whole new world of possibilities and experiences for me. It has connected me to a

culture totally different from my own and I have formed many special relation-

ships that will last for years to come. I started learning Chinese in 2010 at Canter-

bury University because I was interested in understanding the Chinese culture

better so I could form better relationships with Chinese in New Zealand. But as

my interest and skill level has increased my goal is to teach Chinese language in

New Zealand schools. I have only just begun my journey on the PLD pathway for

learning languages, but even as an undergraduate student at the University of

Canterbury I have had a unique opportunity to begin my journey through the Arts

Internship programme with the Confucius Institute at the University of Canter-

bury.

...continued on next page

Chinese Language and Culture Ambassador

6

My role involved investigating which schools to approach, making initial contact

with them, and then if they showed interest going into those schools and running

a Chinese taster class or a cultural activity. I worked alongside the teachers at the

Confucius Institute to explore the best ways to go about this project, and they

offered me countless resources to use in my classes.

After drafting a list of possible schools to contact I chose to first contact the

school that I attended, Middleton Grange School. I did this by personally con-

tacting one of the language teachers there that I knew well. He helped me to get

permission to come in and run a number of taster classes with year 7 and year 9

pupils. At this stage I had to prepare a taster class that would be new to them, fun

and stir their interest in Chinese language and culture. I spent a number of hours

preparing this class and was able to first use it Burwood School where I taught

two classes of 5-8 year olds. The class that I prepared and taught started with an

interactive discussion about Chinese culture. Following this I introduced some

basic Chinese phrases that we used to play some games with to cement the learn-

ing. The rest of the lesson consisted of a Chinese paper cutting craft and a perfor-

mance by myself on a traditional Chinese instrument, the Hulusi. The students

were all very interested in my programme and asked lots of encouraging ques-

tions about the language and culture.

A number of weeks after running this programme at Middleton Grange School I

was invited to attend meeting with the curriculum board to discuss the ad-

vantages of learning Chinese and the possible obstacles that would have to be

overcome for the school to offer Chinese as part of their curriculum.

...continued on next page

...continued

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...continued

I arranged to bring along with me the President of the New Zealand Chinese Lan-

guage Teachers Association in Christchurch and current Chinese teacher at St.

Margaret’s College, Jian Chen. We meet the curriculum board together and put

forward a case for offering Chinese. Finally, after deliberation the school is now

pursuing offering Chinese language as part of their 2013 curriculum, provided

they find a suitable teacher. This process has been a great success for my project

and has given me a lot of valuable experience and inside knowledge to help me

on my way towards teaching Chinese in the future.

There have also been disappointments throughout this project too. Unfortunately

it seems that there is a lot of ignorance towards learning languages and especially

Chinese language in many schools in New Zealand. It is my hope that more

schools would see the importance of learning Chinese language and culture, espe-

cially since there is a growing Chinese community in New Zealand that is often

ignored due to the lack of understanding of their culture. Children who learn lan-

guages are much more open minded towards other cultures and more accepting

of cultural differences. I hope that more schools would jump at the opportunity to

offer language classes as part of their curriculum. In this way children will be

better able to understand the country they live in and also the world they live in.

Since I am still an undergraduate student I haven’t progressed far on the profes-

sional learning pathway but I thought I would add a few experiences I have had.

In August I had the privilege of attending the Chinese iCLT Workshop run by the

National Chinese Language Advisor, Yu Wang.

This was a really great experience for me as I learnt the importance of teaching

culture and language together and allowing students to ask questions and discov-

er for themselves the language and culture that they are learning. This is some-

thing that I really hope I can put into practice in the future.

This year I had the opportunity to participate in the International Tertiary Stu-

dents Chinese Bridge Speech Competition semi-finals in China. This was my first

trip to China and was a whirlwind experience! I got to experience the feeling of

being in a totally different environment and having to use Chinese language to

communicate everyday. This experience helped me to better understand the Chi-

nese culture and to gain my own personal experience that I could share with pu-

pils in the taster classes I have been running.

I hope to graduate at the end of 2012 with a major in Chinese. In 2013 I plan to

complete a graduate teaching diploma (secondary) and then begin to teach Chi-

nese language in New Zealand schools. I would also like to have the opportunity

at some point to spend an extended time living in China to progress my learning

further.

Advisory Support

National Advisers for Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish provide lan-guage specific support and can also offer advice about foreign language assistants and scholarship and immersion opportunities for each language.

National Coordinators for Learning Languages, Secondary Student Achievement Con-tract, focus on effective implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum and the NCEA realigned achievement standards as well as the development of literacy and language practices.

Northern & Central Regions please contact: Dee Edwards.

Southern & Central South Regions please contact: Jo Guthrie

NZALT, The New Zealand Association of Language Teachers offers a nationwide net-work to support language teachers, including regional meetings, professional devel-opment, awards, newsletters, conferences and advocacy on key issues.

Professional Development Opportunities

TPDL (Teacher Professional Development Languages) is a Ministry of Education funded programme aimed at developing teacher language proficiency and second lan-guage teaching capabilities in order to improve student language learning out-comes. TPDL is available to beginners as well as language experts.

ILEP (International Languages Exchanges and Pathways) supports schools and teachers to implement the Learning Languages curriculum area, particularly at Years 7 and 8.

Language Immersion Awards are provided by the Ministry of Education for teachers of languages to undertake immersion experiences overseas. Applications close on 30. August 2012. Further details are available at the AFS website.

Don't forget! Check out the Learning Languages Website for regular updates and more information.

Chinese Moon festival

also called Mid-Autumn Festival, coming up on 30. September

Haiku & Shodo Competition 2012

In the Haiku & Shodo competition learners of Japanese language (year 10-13) will

express themselves in a Japanese Haiku poem and get a chance to experience tra-

ditional Japanese calligraphy. Entries close: Friday, 21. September.

German Language Short Film Fest 2012

This year’s film competition for high school and university students is open for en-

tries. Closing date for all entries is Friday, 28. September.

Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Appointments for 2013

Applications for Language Assistants close on 28. September.

Speak Up Award for Primary & Intermediate Teachers

NZALT members who teach up to and including Year 8 can apply for financial assis-

tance for a language proficiency course.

Applications close 30. September.

NZQA Best Practice Workshops for Languages

Blenheim (28. September)

Nelson (28. September)

Spanish and Culture: a perfect match! Workshops for teachers of Spanish coming up soon:

Auckland: 16. November

Hamilton: 21. November

Coming Up ... Key Contacts and Links