International Languages Week

Manurewa High School

Mon- Fri the first student to greet each language teacher in their language (Japanese, Samoan and French) received a prize. This worked well and even 2 weeks later, I am still being greeted in Japanese before school, so that is a nice flow-on effect.

Mon, Tue, Weds lunchtimes I screened a DVD called "One Missed Call" A Japanese thriller suitable for senior students. We had a huge turnout and each day had to turn students away as my room could fit only about 50 kids in it at a time.  I would definitely do a film festival again as it was a really popular event, but maybe in a bigger venue if possible.

Lollies for language worked well too: in exchange for saying "ogenki desu ka" students in the playground were given a lolly by dressed-up senior students (see photo). This was run one interval time and the lollies went very quickly! Make sure you choose reliable senior students to do this so they don't get overwhelmed!

Noodle-eating competition for junior classes (see photo): The fastest time won a prize. All students were told about the Japanese world champion overeater, and a short excerpt of Matthew and Mark’s adventure to the Land of the Rising Sun was shown, where Matthew and Mark meet and eat noodles with the champion. This was done on the Friday for fun at the end of the week during class time for Japanese language students only........we just couldn't afford to make it a school-wide thing.

Student quizzes and daily greetings in the daily notices, a staff quiz in the staffroom and a sushi platter for staff on the Wednesday afterschool were received very well and greatly appreciated.

Petra Cavanagh