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!
Kia ora koutou,
We hope that you have had an excellent break and that Term 1 has begun well.
In this newsletter we recognise significant contributions of past members as well as thanking and introducing our wonderful out and ingoing web editors and membership coordinators. The newsletter also contains important information and updates about Excellent certificates for students, the New NCEA Vocab lists, NZALT Membership, LangSem, and upcoming events and PLD.
We wish you a very productive and enjoyable Term 1. Please keep in touch.
Ngā mihi nui,
The NZALT Team
Remembering Lesley Parris
In this newsletter we want to acknowledge the life and contribution of Lesley Parris, a long-serving member of NZALT who sadly passed away in January 2025.
Lesley Parris Obituary (written by Gail Spence)
Lesley made a massive contribution to the New Zealand Association of Language Teachers, both as a long-serving member and also as an Executive member 1995-2001 in the role of Massey Regional Officer, covering Hawkes Bay, Manawatū and Taranaki. In this role she established a network of sub-regional officers to gather and send her information for her fact-filled, comprehensive three-times- a- year reports. At Executive meetings she was a thoughtful contributor and self-appointed guardian of the Constitution, ensuring decisions were valid and defendable. A confident leader and a willing and engaging presenter at NZALT seminars and conferences within New Zealand and overseas, Lesley was an exceptional organiser, loving the challenge of organising complex events. The 2002 Napier NZALT Conference, convened by Lesley and her team of workers to showcase the city, and provide exceptional content and entertainment, was a standout example. Professionally capable and respected, through NZALT Lesley developed a network of colleagues, many becoming long-standing friends through the serious and fun times spent travelling, discussing core business and enjoying fellowship. Lesley’s lively and engaging personality, her pragmatic approach and sensible attitude, her love for languages and her own ongoing improvement, and her deep concern and care for people and their development, made her an inspiration to many and a valued contributor to an association committed to improving the quality of second language education in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Danke - Mange Tak - Haere rā Madlen!
Madlen Kunath has worked in various roles (Online PLD, Webeditor, and Membership Coordinator) for NZALT for over six years. During this time, she has run many fantastic webinars and any of you will remember Madlen as the convenor of the highly successful 2022 NZALT conference in Ōtepoti Dunedin. In addition to these more outward facing roles, Madlen has been quietly working away on the other side of the world (in Germany and now Denmark) setting up, developing, and running our new website and membership system. Simply put, without Madlen we could not have run our NEX programme of PLD! Madlen has recently moved to Denmark and is moving on from her role as the NZALT Webeditor and Membership Coordinator to focus on family and settling into life in a new country.
Madlen we are extremely grateful for all you have given to NZALT, the huge amount of time, skill, knowledge and attention to detail you have put into your work. We will miss you a lot and we look forward to keeping in touch.
Mange Tak (many thanks in Danish!), Haere rā - Go well in Denmark.
Nau mai haere mai - Bienvenue à Benoît Milin
We would like to welcome Benoît Milin - our new Webeditor and Membership Coordinator to our NZALT community. Benoît is a speaker, translator, and interpreter of four languages and brings a wealth of experience in IT, communication, and navigating organisations.
Benoît is the go-to person for all queries about membership and signing up for NZALT events such as LangSem. He can be contacted on this email address: membership@nzalt.org.nz
NZALT Excellence certificates
The NCEA/IB Excellence Certificates process is now underway. See details on our website here.
Please download the spreadsheet, rename it with your school’s name, complete each column for every student and send it to certificates@nzalt.org.nz by Friday, 7 March. Please note that only one spreadsheet containing the information for all languages should be sent per school.
We look forward to recognising the achievements of your students!
Kind regards, Juliet Kennedy, President NZALT
NCEA New vocabulary lists
This year you will be aware that we are using new NCEA vocabulary lists developed by the Ministry of Education late 2024. You will find the official Ministry information about these lists here.
We have had a lot of requests from our teachers for more user-friendly and printable versions of these lists. These printable versions in Word and PDF form are now available on our website. The Pacific Languages printable versions will be available within the next month once they have been published on the website.
For teachers wishing to create thematic lists it is very easy to do using an AI tool. You can use the following prompt to begin:
- (Please) put the words in the tables in this (Target Language) - English vocabulary list into topic lists + attach the Word or PDF file (you can also specify the topics if you have set topics)
You may need to fine tune your prompts to get the topics you want and check all words have been included. It is always important to check what an AI produces matches with the Word/ PDF document before giving it to students.
We have also had requests from members for analysis of which words are common to the old and new lists and which words differ. Here are a couple of ideas as to how you can do this:
- Ask an AI to make a comparison list for you by uploading the old and new word lists documents and asking for the information you would like in the prompt.
- Get students to do a comparison activity with the old and new lists by highlighting the words that are common to each list, the words which only appear on the new list, and the words which only appear on the old lists.
We are aiming to provide more PLD support about how you can use these vocab lists in our PLD offerings this year, so please watch this space.
NZALT Membership information
Starting from 2025, GANZ membership will be done in co-operation with NZALT. Membership information and applications are now available on the NZALT website!
NZAJLT membership will also handle their membership through NZALT from 2025. More details about this will come out very soon, so please watch the space.
Invoices for 2025 have been sent to all NZALT and NZAFT paid members from 2024. Please check your inbox, including your spam and/ or school quarantine folders. If you have moved schools over summer, you may have received your invoice in your old school email address. However, your NZALT profile is still active, so please log in and update your contact and school details. Further information on membership can be found here for NZALT and here for NZAFT. Thank you to those who have already organised their payments.
We’d also like to invite NZAFT members, who have yet to do so, to fill out the required application form ASAP to ensure your membership details are up-to-date.
Please contact membership@nzalt.org.nz if you have any question, we’re happy to help!
LangSem
LangSem is a one day regional mini conference which NZALT holds in a non conference year. This year LangSem will kick off in Christchurch on 29th March. We have an exciting keynote speaker Adriana Ramírez lined up, and the day will also provide support from NZQA about internal standards, presenters from Tui Tuia, and local teachers sharing great ideas from their classrooms.
The sign-up for the Christchurch LangSem will be available soon on our website.
If you would like to host a LangSem in your area or find out more, please contact our LangSem coordinator Michelle Dalley at: secretary@nzalt.org.nz
Support for HoFs/ teachers new to Learning Languages (or NZ) and/or geographically isolated teachers
Annabelle Sinclair our Vice President is available for support for HoFs, teachers new to learning languages (or NZ), and teachers in geographically isolated areas.
If you would like to meet with Annabelle or find out more information please contact: vicepresident@nzalt.org.nz
Languages and Linguistics Olympics
This year NZALT is running a Languages and Linguistics Olympics. This will be a competition open to any student in Years 9 to 13 which we will run in two rounds. We hope to run round 1 at the end of this term. Language departments and teachers will be sent questions for students to answer in teams or individually during language classes or during a lunchtime session. Teachers will then send the answers to NZALT for marking. The finalist teams and individuals will be selected for round two which will take place in Term 2. Practice questions will be made available prior to the competition.
The details of this competition are currently being finalised and will be published on our website and sent out via email shortly. For more information, please contact Juliet Kennedy: coordinator@nzalt.org.nz
NZALT Regional Cluster Dates Term 1
NZALT clusters are regional networks of support for language teachers where you can meet with other language teachers in your area to share experience, ideas, resources, and moderation. Afternoon tea is provided, and petrol costs can be covered, if you need to travel further afield to attend the cluster.
We will update our website with the cluster dates and details as they are confirmed. If you would like to get in touch with your local NZALT cluster leader you can find their details below.
Upcoming clusters:
Auckland: Facilitator Wakana Matheson
Hawkes Bay: Facilitator Anita Vennell
- Thursday 27 March, 4pm
- Havelock North High School
Palmerston North: Facilitator Tamara McGechan
- Wednesday 26 February, 4 - 4:45pm
- Palmerston North Boys' High School
- This cluster meeting will be after the workshop: "Unlocking AI for Language Teachers - Tools and Strategies" (1:30 - 4pm) - for more information, check out our events calendar.
Wellington Pacific Languages Teachers: Juliet Kennedy
- Wednesday 5 March, 4pm
- Porirua College
Wellington Cluster: Facilitator Juliet Kennedy
- Monday 10 March, 4pm
- Onslow College
Christchurch: Facilitator Michelle Dalley
- Thursday 6 March, 3:30pm
- Papanui High School
Southland-Invercargill: Facilitator Karen Thomson
- Wednesday 12 March, 3.45-5pm
- James Hargest College, room B4
Whanganui-Manawatū: Facilitator Andrea Ceron
- Wednesday 2 April, 3.30-4.30pm
- Cullinane College
Wanted ! English Language Assistants en España !
An incredible opportunity to experience Spain firsthand, while helping Spanish teachers and students of English with their pronunciation, conversation skills and introduce them to New Zealand culture.
Become an English Language Assistants in Spain
NZALT Awards
We will be running our Exploring Effective Practice and Further Study Awards this year. Information about these awards will be published in early Term 2. Please watch this space if you are interested in applying for either of these awards.
Posting Notices
If you would like to post any notices in our newsletter or on our website please contact Juliet Kennedy.
NZALT Networks of Expertise Newsletter, Number 1, February 2025
