On 7 June, we attended workshops to help us improve our understanding of Japanese and to help us with our assessments. We started the day with an introduction and we heard the keynote speaker, Mr Sam Stapley talk about his experiences in Japan and how he was able to get where he is today. After that, we split up into different classes and did a whole range of activities where we would be in groups or pairs of people from many different schools. Near the end of the day, we also completed the dance competition where all the schools attending the workshops joined in and danced together. My personal highlights of the day would have to be all the teachers who taught us some valuable information, the sweet bread given to us at morning tea, and the performance by Takumi, a Japanese drum group from Christchurch.

It was lovely to see Niamh Senpai (Senior ex-student), who is studying Japanese at the University of Canterbury who came to see us.