新西兰英语 636 Maori Language Week

This week is Maori language week. The theme this year is Arohatia te Reo, which means cherish te Reo (the Maori language): love it, honour it and speak it. Why should we honour te Reo? This year celebrates 25 years since te Reo became the second offi

新西兰英语 634 New Zealand Olympic song

Sam RB won the competition for the New Zealand Olympic Song earlier this year. It is called Stand Tall which means be confident, be proud of yourself. Sam is a busker who makes her living from composing songs and singing accompanied by her guitar. Sh

新西兰英语 633 The Olympic Games opens

Did you watch the Olympic Games opening ceremony? Did you see athletes from your country entering the stadium? Did you feel proud? Nick Willis, the silver-medal winner of the 1500m race at Beijing carried the New Zealand flag into the stadium. He loo

新西兰英语 632 Plan for Christchurch city

First listen to April 18th 2012 to hear about the 100 day blueprint for Christchurch city. The Prime Minister, John Key, showed the plan for the new Christchurch city to the council and business people. This is the blueprint which a group of architec

新西兰英语 631 years of Korean and New Zealand Friendship

In 1962, South Korea and New Zealand officially became friends. The two countries established diplomatic relations and in 1971, New Zealand established an embassy in Seoul. In fact, New Zealand supported South Korea during the Korean War in the 1950s

新西兰英语 630 Snowy Canterbury

Yesterday, it snowed all day in most of Canterbury. It was wet, heavy snow which broke branches off trees. The Christchurch Botanic Gardens closed because of the danger of falling branches. The University of Canterbury, Lincoln University and CPIT al

新西兰英语 629 Education U turn

First listen to May 16th 2012 to hear about increases in class sizes. Hekia Parata, the Minister of Education, changed her mind about increasing class sizes. This was a U turn from her earlier decision. This was surprising because government minister

新西兰英语 628 Stars over Tekapo

Tekapo is a special place. This small town has a big observatory at Mount John, 1000m above the town. It has six telescopes including New Zealands biggest telescope with a diameter of 1.8m, built with Japanese money. The observatory is operated by th

新西兰英语 653 Family History month

August is Family History month. There are organisations which help people find out more about their family history, or genealogy. For example, the National Library in Wellington has a series of talks this month on genealogy. Some people make a family

新西兰英语 652 The Big Sing

For the next three evenings, Wellington will host the finals of The Big Sing in the Town Hall. The Big Sing is a choir competition for secondary schools. Schools can enter a male, female or mixed choir, or all three if they want to. Each choir perfor

新西兰英语 651 Symphony Orchestras

The Minister of Culture and Heritage, Christopher Finlayson, is asking for suggestions on a better way to fund our main orchestras. The government allocates $17m a year to fund these orchestras and says there is no more money available. Numbers atten

新西兰英语 650 International Languages Week

This week, from Aug 19th to Aug 25th, is International Languages Week. During this week, the Association of Language Teachers reminds New Zealanders about the value of learning an international language. Many New Zealanders are not motivated enough t

新西兰英语 649 Red Nose Day

Have you seen cars with a red nose on the front? Have you seen people wearing a red nose? Red Nose Day is August 24th. The purpose of Red Nose Day is to support sick children. People give money for a red nose. The money goes to the Cure Kids organiza

新西兰英语 648 Crowded Homes

Statistics New Zealand uses the census information to tell us about many different aspects of our society. The 2011 census had to be cancelled because of the Christchurch earthquake so the last census was in 2006. This information is therefore six ye

新西兰英语 647 Daffodil Day

Every year the New Zealand Cancer Society holds a Daffodil Day. This year it is August 31st. This is a fund raising day to raise money to support people with cancer and to educate people about cancer. Volunteers collect money on the streets and give

新西兰英语 646 Auckland Rail Loop

Today Auckland Transport showed the plan for the central city rail loop. At the moment, trains stop at Britomart. The plan is for trains to continue through Britomart, travel in a 3.5km tunnel under the city, come out of the tunnel and meet the weste

新西兰英语 645 Kiwifruit Disease

First listen to November 15th 2010 to hear about the kiwifruit disease, PSA. When kiwifruit orchard growers first noticed signs of the PSA disease 20 months ago, there were hopes that this would not be a big problem. However, now more than 1000 orcha

新西兰英语 644 Dunedin’s Chocolate Carnival

The Cadbury Chocolate Carnival started yesterday in Dunedin and continues all this week. The home of Cadbury chocolate is Dunedin and every year the city celebrates with many activities involving chocolate. Danyon Loader, a double gold medalist in sw

新西兰英语 643 Maori want to own rivers

More than 200 Maori attended the Waitangi Tribunal today to argue that they own the water in New Zealand rivers. They want the Tribunal to stop the government selling 49% of the electricity companies. On June 26th the government passed the law to sel

新西兰英语 655 Demolition by implosion

Yesterday morning a crowd in Christchurch watched from a safe distance as a 14 storey building was demolished in just 10 seconds by implosion. It fell sideways a little then collapsed into a heap of rubble, with a large cloud of dust. A 6-year old bo