This term we celebrated International Languages Week. We are very fortunate at St Hilda’s to have many speakers of different languages in our school, with our parents and wider community.

We invited speakers of different languages to come and talk to our languages classes. During the week we had Lorna and Kelechi Ogbuehi (parents of Malaika and Amara) and Carthika Luxmanan (mother of Thanuja and Thareni) come in to talk to our students. They gave detailed accounts of their experiences of life in New Zealand, what they miss about their home countries, what languages they speak, and any tips they had for our language learners at St Hilda’s.

From our wider community, Lydie Leurquin (our French language assistant) and her Mother Christiane (who lectures in French at the University of Otago) came in to talk about being Pacific Island native speakers of French. Also, Rev’d Barbara Dineen, (a St Hilda’s old girl and former French teacher at St Hilda’s) spoke about how her passion for French saw her move to France and then become a French teacher. She was later recognised nationally for her contribution to France and the French language.

Our students enjoyed the variety of stories our visitors regaled us with, learning just how many African languages there are, and how language learning is a lifelong passion and journey. We look forward to welcoming more of our community in to talk next year.