First NZALT Newsletter of the Year 2026

Sent: Feb 9, 2026, 3:20 PM

Kia ora koutou!

Tēnā koutou!  你好!  안녕하세요  Kia orana!  Bonjour!  Guten Tag!  こんにちは。Salvete!  Faka’alofa lahi atu!  Talofa lava!  ¡Buenos días!  Mālō e lelei!  Malo ni!

 

Welcome back to Term 1, 2026. We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable summer break.   

This newsletter contains important information about:

  • NZALT Membership

  • The 2026 NZALT Conference

  • The Draft Curriculum response for Learning Languages 

  • NZALT awards

  • PLD opportunities and much more

Some of the information is lengthy but important to read carefully.

We wish you an enjoyable term! 

Please keep in touch.

Ngā mihi nui,

The NZALT Team

NZALT Membership

Invoices for 2026 NZALT Membership have been sent out at the beginning of February.  If you have any queries about your NZALT Membership this year please contact: membership@nzalt.org.nz

We have made a few changes to the membership process in line with our new constitution and the Incorporated Societies Act. Further details will be on the website shortly, but the key points are:

  • People joining NZALT for the first time will be asked to consent to being a member. All people who were members in 2025 will be considered to be members already.

  • Members will have to notify us if they no longer wish to be members of NZALT.

  • Members who pay the annual subscription by the due date, will be considered a financial member. Those who do not will be considered an unfinancial member until such time as they pay.

For further information on NZALT Membership please visit our website.

NZALT Conference 2026

We look forward to seeing you in Ōtautahi/Christchurch in July (4th to 6th)  for the NZALT Conference. Our theme of Languages for Life: Equipping Ākonga for a Future Without Borders celebrates the power of languages in shaping global citizens.

Early-bird registrations are open now and available until 1 April. We have kept the price to a minimum at $120 for NZALT, TRMSAA and AFMLTA members and $200 for non-members. You can apply for a 2026 NZALTConference travel and accommodation grant here.

Please note that the All Blacks are opening their 2026 test season in the brand-new stadium on Saturday July 4th. We urge you to register and reserve your accommodation as soon as possible, as we expect that accommodation will be in high demand as we get closer to the match. Information about accommodation options, including the St Andrew's College Boarding House rooms, is available on the website below.

This will be a fantastic professional development opportunity, which will also be a chance to network with languages colleagues from around the country.

The call for abstracts is open, so if you would like to present a workshop or a paper, please let us know via the conference website.

For more information about the conference and to register, please go to New Zealand Association of Language Teachers 2026

2026 NZALT Conference travel and accommodation awards

 

Awards of $500 (accommodation only) and $1000 (accommodation and flights) will be offered to support teachers to attend the 2026 NZALT conference in Ōtautahi, Christchurch, 4th- 6th July. Applications must be submitted by Friday, 6th March. Priority for the $1000 grants will be given to teachers travelling from greater distances and priority for the $500 grants will be given to teachers outside of the Christchurch region. 

These awards can be used to (partially) reimburse return flights and accommodation in Christchurch. The awards are not for registration fees.  To minimise costs, we strongly advise teachers to make the most of the early bird conference registration fee before 1st April.  

 We will notify and transfer the money to the award winners by the end of March.  If possible, to reduce costs and stress, we recommend that you book flights and accommodation before you know the outcome of your award application.

 These awards are funded from our current NEX contract with the MoE.

 

You can apply for a 2026 NZALT Conference award here.

 

Draft Curriculum feedback

 

We encourage you to continue sending in your feedback on the draft curriculum through the official channels. Make the feedback specific and detailed to your languages and please also stress the importance of having learning languages as a required learning area for Years 7-10.  The feedback process closes on 24th April.  It is vital that we provide as much constructive feedback as possible.

 NZALT and other partner organisations have been actively engaging with and writing to the Minister and key people within the Ministry to ask for Learning Languages to be a required learning area at Yrs 7 - 10 within the new curriculum.  Our stance is that Learning Languages must be a required learning area in order for the curriculum to reflect the science of learning and to be internationally comparable.  The MoE have responded that they are not intending on making this change but we believe it is important to continue applying pressure from as many sides as possible.  

 We have heard from several sources that some schools have already made cuts to language learning in light of the draft curriculum.  As part of our ongoing conversation with the MoE regarding the new curriculum, we would like to gather as much information as possible about how languages are offered in schools and any changes in programmes since the publication of the draft curriculum before the draft submission feedback closes.  Please fill in this survey to share this information about languages in your school.

MoE and NZQA updates

We will be publishing some updates in the NCEA section of our website soon.  Please look out for these. We also hope to run a webinar sometime this term  in which we can answer any questions you have about assessments.  To help us plan for this webinar please add any questions you have about assessments here.

Introducing Glenn Wilson

NZALT is delighted to welcome Glenn Wilson as part of our support team. Glenn will be the face behind the NZALT coordinator email responding to your questions. Glenn is an experienced French teacher and HoD languages. Nau mai haere mai - Bienvenue Glenn - it is great to have you on board.

NZALT Excellence Certificates for students

To recognise exceptional achievement in the field of language learning, NZALT provides certificates, suitably endorsed, for NZALT members to award to their students. Please note that it is not possible to apply for certificates for other (non-member) teachers in your school.

To apply for Excellence Certificates for your students visit our website. Please note that the cut off date for the certificates is 2nd March.

NZALT Life Membership, Excellence in Teaching, and Excellence in Language Teaching Leadership awards

In a conference year, NZALT awards teachers who have made outstanding contributions to language education. To find out how to nominate your colleagues for these awards please visit these pages of our website:

Life Membership

Excellence in Language Teaching

Excellence in Language Teaching Leadership

All nominations are due on 31st March, 2026.

Please note that we will be running EEP awards (Exploring Effective Practice) this year but information about these awards will be published soon. Keep an eye on the award page on the website.

Language Circle

We are thrilled that our Learning Languages PLD provider, Language Circle (formerly Tui Tuia) is up and running. We encourage you all to make the most of their excellent Language Teaching PLD. The Language Circle website will be live soon.

All inquiries can be directed to: support@languagecircle.co.nz

Spanish Events

Check out the following information and events for Spanish teachers:

  • 12 February, Workshop for Auckland-based Spanish teachers "Prepara tu Roscón de Reyes”. 

  • The gastronomic video contest - For more information click here

  • PLD needs for Spanish teachers - please fill in this form before 28 February 2026

  • Jornada para profesores de ELE - STANZA, 13 February, Auckland

 

NZALT Clusters

Being a member of an NZALT cluster provides you with a supportive group of colleagues in your area with whom you can share ideas, resources and challenges. Participation in a cluster is also a great way of keeping in touch with updates in language education and is a good way of showing your engagement with professional learning for your appraisal each year.

 You can find out when your local cluster meets on our website and by looking out for emails from your local cluster leader.