新西兰英语 110 Student bonds

A student bond is an agreement to work in New Zealand after graduation in return for money from the government. The government today announced this plan for new doctors, vets, nurses, midwives and teachers. If they work in rural areas or small towns

新西兰英语 54 Treaty of Waitangi Claims

Midnight tonight is the deadline for all Treaty of Waitangi claims. Last year, there were 97 claims but more than 1,000 claims are likely by midnight tonight. This is the last time that anyone can make an historic claim although it will take many yea

新西兰英语 244 Waitangi Day

Today is Waitangi Day. It is 170 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This was a treaty between Queen Victoria of England and Maori chiefs in New Zealand. The Queen promised to give Maori all the rights of British citizens and to protec

新西兰英语 397 Waitangi Day

Today is Waitangi Day, a day when we remember the Treaty that was signed on Feb 6th 1840, between the Queen of England and the Maori chiefs of New Zealand. In the Treaty, Queen Victoria agreed to protect the Maori and give them the same rights as Bri

新西兰英语 393 Auckland Grammar School and NCEA

Auckland Grammar School, which is a state boys high school, has decided that NCEA does not suit their boys. NCEA means National Certificate in Educational Achievement. In Year 11, students do Level 1 NCEA, in Year 12 they do Level 2, and in Year 13 t

新西兰英语 424 Uni and polytech students in Christchurch

Students at the University of Canterbury had only one and a half days of classes before the earthquake on Feb 22nd. The university then closed for three weeks. A number of buildings had red stickers, including the two newest buildings Commerce and La

新西兰英语 93 Anniversary Days

Monday 19th January is Anniversary Day for Wellington and Southland. Each province has an Anniversary Day holiday to remember the day that the first Europeans arrived there to settle and live there. In Southland, the Anniversary is a celebration of w

新西兰英语 89 New Government, New Laws

During the past two weeks, Parliament has been in urgency. That means they sit every day until late in the evenings and they even had a session last Saturday. Usually Parliament sits Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, although MPs meet for committee

新西兰英语 590 Minister of Education sacks School Board

The Minister of Education sacked the Board of Trustees at Moerewa School yesterday. This is a small rural Northland school which used to offer classes from Years 1 to 10 but in the last three years has had about 25 students altogether in Years 11, 12

新西兰英语 597 Film Subtitles for Deaf

The Deaf community wants all New Zealand DVDs to have subtitles for deaf people to read. The MP, Mojo Mathers, who is deaf, asked why New Zealand DVDs which are made with public money do not have subtitles. TV programmes which are funded by NZ on Air

新西兰英语 596 GM Trees destroyed

A group of people, who are against genetically modified plants, destroyed 375 pine trees in Rotorua during Easter. The trees were planted by a government forestry research organization called Scion. Scientists at Scion are trying to develop pine tree

新西兰英语 595 Cardboard Cathedral for Christchurch

A cardboard cathedral will be built near the centre of Christchurch city by the end of this year. First listen to March 2nd 2012 to hear about the Christchurch cathedral in the Square. Most of the Anglican churches were very badly damaged during the

新西兰英语 594 Fishing Inquest

This week a coroners court is trying to find out why a fishing boat sank and six fishermen drowned in August 2010. The ship, the Oyang 70, sank in New Zealand waters. It was a Korean ship, chartered by a New Zealand fishing company. Most of the crew

新西兰英语 593 100 days for Christchurch city plan

Today, the Minister for Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, announced a new Head of the Christchurch city development. He is Warwick Isaacs. He has been in Christchurch since the day after the February earthquake last year, leading the demolition wo

新西兰英语 592 PM returns from Indonesia

John Key spent three days in Indonesia last week and one day in Singapore. The main reason for his visit was to increase trade between these countries and New Zealand. Twenty-five business people went with the Prime Minister including the chief of Fo

新西兰英语 591 Boy Band gives three concerts

Teenage girl fans went crazy at Auckland airport when the boy band One Direction arrived. The girls screamed and held up posters which said things like We love you. One Direction is a group of five young men, aged 18, 19 and 20, from the UK. They wer

新西兰英语 589 ANZAC Day

Cities throughout New Zealand held services to remember soldiers who died in the First World War and later wars. Most services were held at dawn because this was the time that New Zealand and Australian soldiers fought at Gallipoli. This was a terrib

新西兰英语 588 Antarctica now in darkness

New Zealands scientific base in the Antarctic, Scott Base, has now lost the sun. On Tuesday, the sun was up for 39 minutes then it set at 1.10pm. The team of 14 people who stay at Scott Base for the winter, will wait four months now until they see th

新西兰英语 587 Christchurch Cathedral

The Anglican cathedral in Christchurch was badly damaged in the February 22nd earthquake. Later after-shocks have caused more damage and it is now not a safe building. Today the Bishop announced that the cathedral will be taken down, slowly, to about

新西兰英语 586 Storm hits North Island

Strong winds and heavy rain have caused problems in many places in the North Island and the upper part of the South Island. About 16,000 homes in South Taranaki and Wanganui have no electricity as power poles and lines fell. 600 power lines are down.