This year we welcomed Eva Lorenzo, Brett cox and Victoria Lozano to our Spanish Department and Nans Driviere to our French Department. They have all been a great addition to our Languages Faculty.

We are also very excited to announce that ESOL has become part of our Languages Faculty which adds more diversity and a different perspective to our team.

We also welcomed Hélène Bailliet as our French assistant from Lorris in France. She works two days per week with students, supporting their spoken French and getting them involved in a variety of cultural activities.

Prefects 2023

A huge thanks to the Year 13 students who have been working as prefects this year.

Spanish - Jordan-Rose Chatwin & Dwyane Ramos

Japanese - Ella Broughton-Wealleans & Hana Edwards

French - Lilla Faivre Beaufils & Amelie Devos

Māori - Estelle Vincent-Lee &Sophie Wells

Languages Week 2023

Language learning helps develop strong cognitive skills, such as better concept formation, mental flexibility, multitasking, listening skills and problem-solving, in addition to improving social interaction and encouraging connection between peers. It also contributes an important means to communicate and interact in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world. That is why we celebrate “Languages week” every year.

This year we had a variety of activities, including a Languages kahoot, competitions to design posters and stickers highlighting the importance of learning another language, and the opportunity to create a short video as a class to participate in the NZALT competition.

Education Perfect World Championships 2023

We had another successful Education Perfect World Championships this year, coming first in New Zealand out of 703 schools in the one-week competition, and 7th overall globally out of 2532 schools. We were 1st in Japanese, 2nd in French, and 5th in Spanish in New Zealand. We were also 4th overall in Te Reo Māori.

We had 5 Elite winners and retained the Education Perfect NZALT Trophy for the 8th year in a row! Congratulations to everyone involved!

Language Immersion NCEA Days at the University of Canterbury June 2023

All Year 11, 12 and 13 French, Japanese and Spanish students participated in respective Immersion Days at UC. They attended workshops with students from other schools in Canterbury to develop their different language skills and work on their NCEA Achievement Standards. The day finished with everyone participating in a mass choreography to either a French, Japanese or Spanish song.

Experiencing French Food

This term Year 9 enjoyed a French breakfast of croissants, baguette and hot chocolate. They got to practice their spoken French in a realistic setting to ‘order’ their breakfast in French from their teacher or our French assistante, Hélène. Bon appétit!

French Exchange Students

This term we welcome 4 students - Roman, Camille, Léna and Eline - from Lycée St Michel, our sister school in France. They are spending 3 months in Christchurch, hosted by Cashmere French students - Ryan Johnson, Mila Peeti, Hazel Bown and Isabelle Muller-Wild, who will spend 3 months in France, leaving in December. For the students from France it is a new experience to wear a school uniform and bring a packed lunch to school. In France there is no school uniform and most students eat a 3 course lunch at the school canteen.

Akaroa Trip

In Term 1 the Year 11, 12 and 13 French classes experienced a French immersion day in Akaroa. This included discovering the French history of Akaroa at the museum, a treasure hunt in French around the village, a meal together at a restaurant, a photo challenge and hanging out at a café writing postcards in French.

Year 9 Japanese Trivia Evening 16 June

Cashmere High School hosted the National Junior Japanese Trivia Evening Canterbury Regional Competition on 17 June. Although Cashmere did not win the cup for the third consecutive year, the team with Faisa Ahmid, Ethan Cox, Simone Strange and Charlie Thomas came 2nd out of 17 teams.

Chita City Student Visit 

In August twelve students and two teachers from five junior high schools in Chita City, Japan, will visit Christchurch. Students in our Japanese classes will host them during their five day stay. Two of our Year 9 classes will have conversations together in both Japanese and English as well as try a traditional Japanese dance.

Online Language Exchange with Sister School Kurashiki Minami High School

This is our 4th year having the online conversation sessions with the students at our sister school, Kurashiki Minami High School this year. In term 1, a mix of Year 11 and 12 Japanese students enjoyed close interactions with the Japanese students on Google meet after school on a Friday.

Chile/New Zealand Scholarship 2023

Since 1999, we have maintained an agreement of sister schools with Saint Mary Joseph School in Santiago, Chile. As part of this agreement we offer a scholarship that gives 1 New Zealand student the opportunity to study in Chile for a year, and 1 Chilean student the opportunity to study at Cashmere for the same period of time.

This great opportunity was on hold because of Covid, but we are very excited to have restarted with this reciprocal exchange.

This year, Rocio Brito, from St Mary Joseph school, is studying here for 6 months and Dimana Trendafilova 13HIC, from Cashmere, is finishing her 6 months in Santiago.

Chile Trip 2023

Our agreement of sister schools also offers a 3 week exchange every 2 years for senior students studying Spanish, and this year we are traveling to Chile with a group of 11 students and 2 teachers. The trip involves 4 days in the north of Chile and two weeks in Chilean home stays at our host sister school, Saint Mary Joseph in Santiago. As part of the programme, we will visit places of interest in Chile, and will attend regular classes at school.

Spanish Club 

We have had a “Spanish Club” running every Monday at lunch time. It is kindly organised by Mrs Lorenzo and supported by a group of native speakers from different Spanish speaking countries. Everybody is welcome to take part to either practise their Spanish, learn more about the Spanish culture or just make new friends.

ESOL

Mrs Williams andESOL have made the switch from English to Languages this year, due to the approach ESOL takes when teaching English. It has been a very welcome and exciting change! We once again happily welcome international students from a variety of countries, such as Japan, China, Germany, Chile, Argentina, Switzerland, French Polynesia and many more. Students from our sister schools around the world have also joined our ESOL classes and further diversified our learning environment, and the multicultural environment within D1 is an exciting, friendly place to be. 

Lanuages Open Day 

(in photos)