On Friday 21st June, year 11-13 French students from all around Canterbury attended a day of NCEA workshops at the University of Canterbury.

The date of the workshop is a significant day in France; a day of musical festivals around the country to celebrate the Summer Solstice. The theme of the NCEA day was therefore "Festival of Music" and all the workshops were based around this. French teachers, university staff and the Alliance Française collaborated to run the workshops and create a wide variety of activities for students grouped by year levels.

The day began with a plenary session featuring a current UC student doing a one-year Exchange Programme in Paris, Madeline Fang. She inspired students to take up the challenge of doing UC studying abroad in a French- speaking country while highlighting the importance of language learning and embracing different cultures.

For three one-hour sessions, students were placed in mixed-school groups with a university student leader to guide them around the campus to the workshops. Sessions involved activities focussed on the skills required for the NCEA external examinations and also allowed for an immersive French environment where students were strongly encouraged to communicate in the French language. Lunch was taken outside, with many students taking advantage of the Student Services Food Court at UC.  

We were lucky enough to have a quick visit with past SBHS French students James Harris, Mario Williams, Jeremy Wright,  who were on campus for mid-year exams.

The last hour of the day brought all 400 students together to sing and dance to Soprano’s hit song about peace and inclusiveness, “Cosmofolie”.