新西兰英语 108 Private and State Integrated Schools

Wanganui Collegiate is thinking about becoming a state integrated school. It has been a private Church of England high school for 150 years. Most of that time, it was a boarding school for boys only. Recently it became a co-ed school, open to girls a

新西兰英语 259 Waihopai Valley protesters not guilty

Three men who damaged the Waihopai spy base near Blenheim were found not guilty last week. The jury took just two hours to decide they were not guilty. In April 2008, these three protesters attacked the Waihopai base. They waited until it was dark th

新西兰英语 206 National Standards in Education

Last week there was a lot of talk by teachers, parents and MPs about bringing in national standards in primary schools. A national standard is a list of things that children must be able to do each year. Maybe the standard for year 1 is to be able to

新西兰英语 400 Who owns the beach and sea?

The Maori Party believes that the beach and sea were not mentioned in the Treaty of Waitangi so they belong to Maori just as they did before Europeans came to this country. In 2004, the Foreshore and Seabed Act said that all beaches up to the high ti

新西兰英语 294 Maori and the Sea

We have heard a lot of talk in the last six years about the foreshore and seabed. The foreshore is the beach up to the high tide mark. The seabed is the ocean as far as New Zealands limit, 200 miles out to sea. This is the part of the ocean which New

新西兰英语 422 The beach and the sea

The Marine and Coastal Area Bill passed its third reading in Parliament today. Next the Governor-General has to sign it. Then it becomes the Marine and Coastal Act and is the law. The voting in Parliament was 63 to 56. The Maori Party joined the Nati

新西兰英语 258 Kiwi disabled skier wins gold

The disabled skier, Adam Hall, won the slalom skiing in the Paralympics in Vancouver today. He fell on his second run but had such a fast time on his first run that he still won the gold medal. Adam Hall has spina bifida which makes it difficult for

新西兰英语 153 Super 14 Rugby

This weekend is the final rugby game of the 2009 Super 14 season. The Super 14 rugby tournament is the largest rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere and is made up of teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. New Zealand has fi

新西兰英语 200 Rugby World Cup on TV

When New Zealand hosts the Rugby World Cup in 2011, which TV channel will show the games? We know that TVNZ does not have enough money to show the Commonwealth Games next year so does it have enough money for the Rugby World Cup? Both TVNZ and TV3 ma

新西兰英语 318 Bledisloe Cup for Rugby

The All Blacks beat the Australian Wallabies tonight and won the Bledisloe Cup. Lord Bledisloe, who was Governor General of New Zealand, gave this cup in 1931 for the winner of a rugby game between Australia and New Zealand. Now, the winner has to wi

新西兰英语 127 Faster Broadband

Before the elections, the National Party promised to spend money on a fast broadband network if the Party was elected. Now the government has decided to spend $1.5 billion to make this happen. They hope that private companies would spend another $1.5

新西兰英语 94 Obama’s Inauguration

Many New Zealanders got up early this morning to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC. After the Vice President, Joe Biden, was sworn in, Barack Obama also took the oath. He put his hand on the

新西兰英语 383 Floods in Queensland, Australia

While this website is concerned about New Zealand news, we are very close to Australia in distance, in economic matters and in culture. The population of New Zealand is just over 4 million but another 500,000 New Zealanders live in Australia. Many of

新西兰英语 351 Commonwealth Games finished

The Commonwealth Games finished last night. India will be pleased that there were no major problems from terrorism or anything else. India was second with the number of medals and this is the best result ever for India. Australia was first, well ahea

新西兰英语 245 New Zealander of the Year Awards

Last week, four New Zealanders won awards for this year. Each of them volunteered their time and skills to help others. It is hard to say only one thing about each of these people because they have all done so much. Sam Tutu Chapman won the Local Her

新西兰英语 251 BAFTA Awards

The winners of the BAFTA (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards on Sunday included the New Zealand company Weta Digital for the visual effects in the movie Avatar. Weta Digital used some of the worlds most powerful supercomputers to

新西兰英语 275 New Zealand pavilion at World Expo

The World Expo opened in Shanghai on May 1st and already the New Zealand pavilion has been popular. It is situated very near Chinas pavilion. New Zealands 2,000 sq metre pavilion cost our government and sponsors $30 million. NZ hopes that we will inc

新西兰英语 404 Pay for night work

Workers in homes for intellectually disabled adults are paid just $34 a night for sleeping in the IHC home. IHC used to mean intellectually handicapped children but now it is people with intellectual disabilities, adults and children. If adults canno

新西兰英语 316 Sir Geoffrey Palmer’s new job

On May 31st, a number of ships from Turkey tried to go to Gaza but were attacked by Israeli soldiers. Nine Turks were killed. Israel had blocked the port of Gaza to stop Palestinians bringing in weapons. Now the United Nations has decided to hold an

新西兰英语 241 Tauranga library may charge for books

Tauranga City Council want to charge adults a fee to borrow books from the public library. The fee would be 50 cents for each book but would increase to 80 cents in three years time. Libraries get most of their money from rates. Everyone who owns a h