Newsletter articles for Term 4 2023 include Ori Tahiti… in Auckland!, A term in the life of a French assistant in Ōtautahi, and French competitions, speeches and talent shows.
During Terms 2 and 3, four schools in Auckland hosted a series of Tahitian dance workshops which were attended by 14 teachers and over 200 students from Year 1 up to Year 13. The workshops were delivered by a former language assistant Leialoha, Lei for short, and her cousin Mano, both experienced dancers from Tahiti and for whom ori Tahiti is an important part of their life.
“La danse tahitienne (ori Tahiti) représente une partie de mon identité culturelle et de mon héritage en tant que tahitienne,” explains Lei.
During the workshops, Lei and Mano shared different elements of ori Tahiti, including the music, the costumes, and the different styles of dance. They also talked about the special place that dance holds in Tahitian culture.
“Le Ori Tahiti est très important pour les tahitiens parce que cela raconte notre histoire mais la danse permait aussi de rassembler les gens dans l'unité. La danse tahitienne peut être danser à plusieurs occasions selon ce qu'on souhaite exprimer,” she continues.
This unique opportunity was a chance for teachers and their learners to gain authentic cultural and linguistic insights into one of our French-speaking neighbours. Lei and Mano incorporated French and Tahitian languages into the sessions. It was important to them to showcase traditional dance and language to our French students in Tāmaki Makaurau.
“J'ai voulu partager la danse tahitienne avec les élèves en NZ pour leur faire découvrir comment est ma culture mais aussi pour leur montrer que cela peut être très amusant et fascinant d'apprendre à connaître une autre culture et une autre langue,” says Lei.
Un grand merci to everyone who participated and māuruuru roa to Lei and Mano.
Written by Simon McGinley with additional comments from Leialoha Gariki.
A term in the life of a French assistant in Ōtautahi
As always, working in a high school and being involved in different activities make it hard to find time to write these few lines. But I really want to share with you my term 3. This term 3 went by so quickly. I really enjoyed working with my Year 11, 12 and 13 students to prepare them for their exams and give them tips to improve their language skills. It wasn't always easy, some of them were a little demotivated because learning a language is hard: speaking, reading, understanding… But I did my best to help them and make them more confident because they were doing so well! We had great conversations about health, climate change and routines. It was a good way for me to learn about New Zealand culture and share part of mine with them. Regarding New Zealand culture, I have to say that I also really enjoyed living in Christchurch during the winter, it was very sunny, quite cold but dry which allowed me to travel and spend time doing trekking and visiting the South Island. Nature, like everywhere in the world, is stunning, refreshing, and gorgeous! Seeing the mountains from the city is a very beautiful sight, going to the beach to watch the sunrise or sunset is also wonderful and all of that while living in a flat city where you can cycle everywhere… How lucky am I?! Here we are at the beginning of term 4 and I can’t believe that almost 8 months ago, I started this adventure here. I’m also not ready to end it and say goodbye to my students, my colleagues, the German, Spanish and French language assistants and to my friends but it will be time to make way for new language assistants!
Written by Hélène Bailliet, French assistant in Christchurch
French competitions, speeches and talent shows
Auckland Senior French Quiz Night It was fantastic to see so many students turning up at St Mary’s College for the annual senior quiz night organised by Madame Lynch. Students were tested on their geography, knowledge of vocabulary lists, pop culture and even the ability to find links between Tahitian, French, English and te reo Māori. Other highlights of the evening were a tribute to Manie Musicale and a mingling activity which was decided by the different Hi-Chew flavour the keen quizzers were given. Malheureusement, this year’s winners’ celebrations were cut short by the ringing of almost 100 cell phones alerting us to a Civil Defence emergency – not another COVID outbreak this time, but rather a gas leak in Auckland CBD and the school needed to be evacuated immediately. En tout cas, féliciations Baradene. Et bravo Priscilla!
APPA Speech Competition A wonderful morning was spent at Richmond Road School for the APPA French Speech competition. Some of the topics that were covered by the young orators from were animal conservation, climate control and even a convincing argument about why people should visit Mauritius. Congratulations to all speakers who showed courage to speak in front of students, teachers, whānau and the judging panel. It was a tremendous event et merci Florence pour ton organisation !
Speech and talent competition for Years 7-10 Yet another exceptional display of courage by our intermediate and junior secondary students. It was great to see learners from Auckland Normal Intermediate, Baradene College, St Mary’s College, Epsom Girls’ Grammar and newcomers Marist. Thank you, Jasmine, for your efforts in making this happen every year and thank you to the teachers who bring their learners along.
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2023 - French - Term 4 Newsletter Articles
Ori Tahiti… in Auckland!
During Terms 2 and 3, four schools in Auckland hosted a series of Tahitian dance workshops which were attended by 14 teachers and over 200 students from Year 1 up to Year 13. The workshops were delivered by a former language assistant Leialoha, Lei for short, and her cousin Mano, both experienced dancers from Tahiti and for whom ori Tahiti is an important part of their life.
“La danse tahitienne (ori Tahiti) représente une partie de mon identité culturelle et de mon héritage en tant que tahitienne,” explains Lei.
During the workshops, Lei and Mano shared different elements of ori Tahiti, including the music, the costumes, and the different styles of dance. They also talked about the special place that dance holds in Tahitian culture.
“Le Ori Tahiti est très important pour les tahitiens parce que cela raconte notre histoire mais la danse permait aussi de rassembler les gens dans l'unité. La danse tahitienne peut être danser à plusieurs occasions selon ce qu'on souhaite exprimer,” she continues.
This unique opportunity was a chance for teachers and their learners to gain authentic cultural and linguistic insights into one of our French-speaking neighbours. Lei and Mano incorporated French and Tahitian languages into the sessions. It was important to them to showcase traditional dance and language to our French students in Tāmaki Makaurau.
“J'ai voulu partager la danse tahitienne avec les élèves en NZ pour leur faire découvrir comment est ma culture mais aussi pour leur montrer que cela peut être très amusant et fascinant d'apprendre à connaître une autre culture et une autre langue,” says Lei.
Un grand merci to everyone who participated and māuruuru roa to Lei and Mano.
Written by Simon McGinley with additional comments from Leialoha Gariki.
A term in the life of a French assistant in Ōtautahi
As always, working in a high school and being involved in different activities make it hard to find time to write these few lines. But I really want to share with you my term 3. This term 3 went by so quickly. I really enjoyed working with my Year 11, 12 and 13 students to prepare them for their exams and give them tips to improve their language skills. It wasn't always easy, some of them were a little demotivated because learning a language is hard: speaking, reading, understanding… But I did my best to help them and make them more confident because they were doing so well! We had great conversations about health, climate change and routines. It was a good way for me to learn about New Zealand culture and share part of mine with them. Regarding New Zealand culture, I have to say that I also really enjoyed living in Christchurch during the winter, it was very sunny, quite cold but dry which allowed me to travel and spend time doing trekking and visiting the South Island. Nature, like everywhere in the world, is stunning, refreshing, and gorgeous! Seeing the mountains from the city is a very beautiful sight, going to the beach to watch the sunrise or sunset is also wonderful and all of that while living in a flat city where you can cycle everywhere… How lucky am I?! Here we are at the beginning of term 4 and I can’t believe that almost 8 months ago, I started this adventure here. I’m also not ready to end it and say goodbye to my students, my colleagues, the German, Spanish and French language assistants and to my friends but it will be time to make way for new language assistants!
Written by Hélène Bailliet, French assistant in Christchurch
French competitions, speeches and talent shows
Auckland Senior French Quiz Night It was fantastic to see so many students turning up at St Mary’s College for the annual senior quiz night organised by Madame Lynch. Students were tested on their geography, knowledge of vocabulary lists, pop culture and even the ability to find links between Tahitian, French, English and te reo Māori. Other highlights of the evening were a tribute to Manie Musicale and a mingling activity which was decided by the different Hi-Chew flavour the keen quizzers were given. Malheureusement, this year’s winners’ celebrations were cut short by the ringing of almost 100 cell phones alerting us to a Civil Defence emergency – not another COVID outbreak this time, but rather a gas leak in Auckland CBD and the school needed to be evacuated immediately. En tout cas, féliciations Baradene. Et bravo Priscilla!
APPA Speech Competition A wonderful morning was spent at Richmond Road School for the APPA French Speech competition. Some of the topics that were covered by the young orators from were animal conservation, climate control and even a convincing argument about why people should visit Mauritius. Congratulations to all speakers who showed courage to speak in front of students, teachers, whānau and the judging panel. It was a tremendous event et merci Florence pour ton organisation !
Speech and talent competition for Years 7-10 Yet another exceptional display of courage by our intermediate and junior secondary students. It was great to see learners from Auckland Normal Intermediate, Baradene College, St Mary’s College, Epsom Girls’ Grammar and newcomers Marist. Thank you, Jasmine, for your efforts in making this happen every year and thank you to the teachers who bring their learners along.
