Language Perfection
Students studying international languages were recently tested on their reading, listening and writing skills in 12 different languages using the Language Perfect software.
They gained points by learning words, answering more than 458,281 questions and spending more than a total of 1,072 hours learning new words and phrases.
Congratulations to the following students who earned a certificate; they ranked in at least the top 20% of 225,000 competitors, in the largest online languages competition in the world.
Elite Award (more than 10,000 points):
Darren Ng (Year 11 Chinese)
Sumin Kim (12 Japanese)
Gold Award (more than 3,000 points):
Ming Huang (10 Chinese)
Sophie Peung (10 Chinese)
Vincent Flusk (12 Chinese)
Alana Murphy (13 Chinese)
Meghana Moturu (10 German)
Jessica Zhang (11 German)
Casey Crooks (12 German)
Deenisha Khatri (10 German)
Johnson Zhuang (13 German)
Joel Boasman (10 German)
Scott Hughes (10 German)
Sophia Xu (10 Japanese)
Rebecca Gandhi (12 Japanese)
Penny Liu (11 Japanese)
Nga Manu Korero
For the first time in many years Lynfield College put forward a speaker, Dwayne Walters of Year 12, in the Nga Manu Korero Speech Competition in the Sir Pei Te Hurinui Jones Section. Dwayne showcased two great speeches - one impromptu on Day 1 and a prepared korero on Day 2.
.jpg "nga manu korero(copy)") |
Dwayne's class mates, pictured with him and Mrs Leauga, performed a haka tautoko after his speech to show support and encouragement. His speech contained tikanga Maori, the use of computers in school and his reo was very accurate. Ka nui te mihi e Tama! hoki atu nga mihi ki nga tauira e haere mai ana ki te whakataetae. |
Celebrating Maori Language Week
Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori was 1 July- 7 July
Kia whakanui te wiki o te Reo Maori Ka haere etahi tauira ki te Whare wanaga o Wairaka- Unitec Marae
Here are some pictures of the students learning about the whakairo- carvings.
.jpg "unitec marae 2(copy)") |
.jpg "unitec marae 1(copy)") |
A powhiri took place, Rosie Kennedy performed our Karanga, Dwayne Walters was our kaikorero and Olivia Riggs led our waiata.
He Marae tino ataahua, He ra hirahira mo nga tauira hoki.
Trip to Germany - brilliant!
- by Annabel Larsen
In April, a group of 16 German language students together with Frau Zimmer and Frau Delgrosso went on an educational exchange to Germany for four weeks.
We stayed with host families from our partner school, Ernst-Haeckel Gymnasium in Werder, 35 km from Berlin. We spent time individually with our families and we all gained our own experiences of the German lifestyle and culture. We went to school each morning and attended a class - it was extremely interesting for us – imagine biology or calculus in German! After the class our group would meet and then travel by train to our destination for that day.
.jpg "IMG 6145(copy)") |
.jpg "IMG 6184(copy)") |
.jpg "IMG 6185(copy)") |
.jpg "IMG 6225(copy)") |
We visited countless famous landmarks and historical places and we were very grateful for our English-speaking tour guides. Every day was an eye-opening history lesson. Each afternoon we had a chance to really test our language skills during our free time. We ordered food in German, asked for directions, went shopping and had to learn what questions like “would you like a bag?" were, but we got the hang of speaking German (outside of our classroom in Lynfield ) eventually.
.jpg "IMG 6455(copy)") |
In the middle week the group travelled to Dresden. We stayed in a youth hostel, with a brutal history, in a small town called Hohnstein. The youth hostel, previously a fortress, a prison and court, and a prisoner of war camp, was built in the early 1200s. Our group travelled on a bus into the Czech Republic to Prague for a day trip; the atmosphere of the country was noticeably different from that of Germany. In the youth hostel we started preparing for our farewell party. During the last week in Werder the tree blossom festival took place. It is the second largest festival in Germany, after Oktoberfest, and it celebrates the spring fruit tree blossoms. At our farewell party we all gave a speech in German to the families and teachers, we also sang the national anthem and the Maori song “Te Waka”. The German students also gave speeches and sang. |
At the airport it was a very emotional and hard good bye for us all and many gifts were exchanged. Frau Zimmer told me to stop crying and that if I don’t leave I can’t come back. The exchange was very educational and we all gained many things from it. We now look forward to welcoming 20 students from our partner school next year and can’t wait to repay their generosity and hospitality. |
.jpg "IMG 6495(copy)") |
Exploring Careers in Maori Media
 |
41 Te Reo Maori students from Years 9-13 , one parent and Mrs Leauga went to Maori TV for a hands on experience of Maori media! This was an excellent way for our students to appreciate the many aspects of media particularly as they present various career pathways. It was amazing and students performed the school haka to our tour guide Te Amohaere, who was so grateful she invited us back to be the live audience for 'CODE' in the future! nga mihi nui ki a koutou katoa, mo te manaakitanga i waenga i a tatou. he mihi nui ki a Mrs Mckay hoki, mo te awhi Mauria ki to Maoritanga mo nga ra e heke mai nei Ka mau te wehi! |
 |
 |
Lynfield Dominates Goethe Society Prize List
Lynfield College was heavily represented at the annual Auckland Goethe Society Prizegiving at the University of Auckland. The exams were held in July and 53 Lynfield College students took part in the written part. In August seven students were invited to demonstrate their conversational skills at the Epsom Campus of the University of Auckland.
More than twenty students from our school received their Diplomas of Excellence and Prize of Distinction at the Fisher and Paykel Appliances Auditorium on Tuesday night. Guest speaker this year was the German advisor Heike Papenthin who reflected on the significance of learning a second language by sharing her experiences of learning Japanese.
Congratulations to the following Prize Winners:
Joaquina Rockwell (3rd Prize Year 13),
Thomas Woodbridge (3rd Prize 12),
Numa Wadhwania (1st Prize Year 10)
Elysha Negi (2nd Prize Year 10),
Meghana Moturu (3rd Prize Year 10),
Prize of Distinction:
Mallory Heslop (Year 13)
Ellie Davies (Year 12),
Diploma of Excellence:
Year 9: Maddy Freeman, Phoebe Liu
Year 10: Adya Choudhary, Victoria McArdle, Maddy Poland, Jade Guptill, Kate Heslop, Deenisha Khatri, Renee Ju
Year 11: Annabelle Larsen, Hannah McIntyre, Kieran van Leeuwen,
Year 12: Sean Mills
Year 13: Bridget McCarthy, Johnson Zhuang
The images show Mallory Heslop receiving her award, and a group photo. of our successful students
 |
 |
Taeo Kim Wins National Speech Competition
.jpg "Taeo Kim and Mr Aitken1(copy)") |
Congratulations to Taeo Kim who has now won the national Chinese Bridge Speech Competition. He went to this national competition having already won the Auckland District contest.
The next step is the international competition and Taeo will travel to China in October as part of the prize for his New Zealand title. The photo shows Taeo with Deputy Principal Mr Aitken at the prizegiving held last week at the Confucius Institute. |
An Experience of a Lifetime..
by Johnson Zhuang
For ten weeks spanning December to February 2012-2013, I spent time in Germany. I was selected to be one of three German language students who would have their flights paid to fly to Germany and experience first-hand German culture and be able to use our German in an environment where we would be constantly surrounded by the language.
I stayed with a host family in the small town of Ratzeburg in North Germany, population circa 9800. I went to school with my partner brother and attended classes with other German students my age and of course made a lot of new friends as well as experiencing a German Christmas, New Year’s or Silvester and travelling around different parts of Germany independently and also with my host family.
The organisation that paid for my flights to Germany allowed the scholarship winners to have a week of independent travel and for my week of travel, I went to Southern Germany where I saw the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (which was the inspiration for the Disney Castle), spent a day on the Zugspitze; the highest mountain in Germany, visited Salzburg (where the Sound of Music was set) as well as of course visiting the famous Munich.
I spent the whole ten weeks using all the German that I had learnt at school and of course learning more German. Being constantly surrounded by Germans, I was able to experience what it was like being a German student and see how things were done differently in Germany as I experienced “German Efficiency” for myself. I enjoyed constantly speaking German, eating so many different and new foods and being able to travel and see Germany.
I am continuing my German studies this year in Year 13 as I prepare for University next year. I plan to study Law conjoint with a Bachelor of Arts majoring most likely in German.
.jpg "Johnson Germany2(copy)") |
.jpg "Johnson Germany1(copy)") |