Dia dhuit/Ẹ n lẹ/नमस्कार Namaskāra/नमस्ते Namaste/Xin chào/,こんにちは Konnichi wa/ Assolámu aláikum/Salaam/Hello/Hola/Tālofa lava/สวัสดี S̄wạs̄dī/Mālō e lelei/你好 Nǐ hǎo/Mauri and more! This year, International Languages Week 2023 was 6 - 9 June.

As part of this, MGC submitted an entry into the NZALT(New Zealand Association of Languages Teachers) Languages’ Week 2023 Student Video Competition. We are very pleased to announce that Claudia Johanson, Izzy McLauchlan and Charlotte Inwood’s entry, which was well researched and recorded at our newly opened town library, gained 1st place in the NZALT Year 9 video category. Well done to all three students. An amazing result!

For several reasons, we decided to postpone our annual Languages’ Week Learn a Language at Lunchtime until this term, Term 3. Marlborough Girls’ College had more than 30 different languages identified in our community last year, and have even more this year, so it was wonderful to have some of these languages shared and taught by both students and staff from Monday to Thursday of Week 2 of this term:

Melina Flecl (pre-recorded video teaching Austrian German); Hinoa Koseki and Tokunaga (Japanese); Anh Hong Ngoc assisted by Mr Ben Jones (Vietnamese); Danitsa Gurovich (in absentia) and Milana Gurovich (Afrikaans); Ms Teresa McKeever (Irish); Ms Wande Ebofin (Yoruba); Prachi Singh, Lavnya Singh and Shreeya Gupte (Hindi); Shreeya Gupte (Marathi); Sabu Abfdul Munaf (Rohingya); Nishah Mohamad Ali, Fiza Mohamad Ali and Sabu Abfdul Munaf (Malay); Azul Marin Vallejo (in absentia), Valentina Kopusar (in absentia), Abril Moreno Duran, Nicol Sierra Mejia and Nicarin Alvarez (Spanish); Rompa Routh (Bengali/Bangala); Kate Punivai (Tongan), Ginaietta (Samoan); Audrey Xie assisted by Angelique van der Watt (Mandarin Chinese); and Cleo Collins (in absentia) (Te reo Māori).

We learnt about the scripts, pronunciation and tones of different languages as well as the words many of these languages have in common.

The week concluded with a shared lunch where we tasted foods from all over the world.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in these events, and a very special thank you to Mrs Olga Fuentes Astorga (International Director/Bilingual Support) for all her support and organisation of students to teach their language this year.

Have a look below at some photos from the week.

See you next year!

Liz Cromarty
French Teacher