This Term we celebrated two important events the International Mother’s Language Day (21 February) and the International Day of Elimination of Racial Discrimination (21 March).

Our ELL students had wonderful days, and enjoyed different social and cultural activities. On the Mother’s Language Day 11 ethnic groups presented their traditional songs, music and shared the beauty of their languages. We also tasted traditional foods from Korea, Vietnam, Russia, Bhutan, Nepal, China, Samoa and Afghanistan. The International Mother Language Day this year has a theme of “Towards Sustainable Future through Multilingual Education”, which is recommended by UNESCO and co-organised with Christchurch branch of the Community Languages Association of New Zealand (CLANZ), Russian Cultural Centre of Christchurch and Canterbury Migrants Centre. We thank so much for the Department of Internal Affairs and CLANZ for their generous funding and support.