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!
Happy Languages week and we hope you have enjoyed many languages week this term with Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, NZSL, Le Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa, German language week and more - apologies if I have missed some out!
Please keep in touch.
Ngā mihi nui,
The NZALT Team
Focus for this Newsletter:
This newsletter contains some end of term updates with congratulations, information about NZALT awards and PLD.
CONGRATULATIONS to Gail Spence-ONZM for Her Service to Language Education
We are delighted that Gail Spence’s tremendous service to Language Education has been recognised in the recent King’s Birthday Honours. Thank you Gail for all you have done for our Language Teaching Community, both for NZALT and within the New Zealand Curriculum. Here is Gail’s citation for her award.
Mrs Gail Spence has spent more than 40 years contributing to language education in New Zealand.
Mrs Spence has held voluntary executive roles with the New Zealand Association of Language Teachers (NZALT) since the 1980s, including terms as President from 1996 to 1998 and 2000 to 2001. She is currently Project Leader of the 50-year history of NZALT. She contributed to NZALT’s journal ‘The New Zealand Language Teacher’ from 1975 to 2022 and has presented papers at both national and international language conferences. She was employed as the inaugural Curriculum Facilitator: Languages by the Ministry of Education from 2001 to 2007. She oversaw languages added as a new learning area in the New Zealand Curriculum and commissioned pedagogical research into this new learning area. 14 languages had published curriculum guidelines for the first time, and she wrote ‘Learning Languages: A Guide for New Zealand Schools’ (2002). From 2007 to 2022 she worked with NZQA, publishing companies and education providers on more than 60 contracts to support Learning Languages for international languages, te reo Māori and Pacific languages. Materials Mrs Spence developed to teach languages from early childhood to Year 10 are still used today and have been foundational for developing NCEA pathways for te reo Māori and the five most spoken Pacific languages in New Zealand.
AI in Language Teaching Research and Survey
Danping Wang from the University of Auckland is supporting language teachers to work with AI in their teaching. The survey is completely anonymous and takes approximately 6 minutes to complete. The survey data will be accessible only to Danping, the survey creator. It will be kept safely and destroyed after the project is complete. Access the survey here.
Here is some further information about this project.
Following our co-organised Leadership Forum on AI in Language Education held on 24 January at the University of Auckland, many participants and speakers expressed a strong desire to hear more broadly from the language teaching community about how AI is shaping their practice. This feedback also highlights a critical next step in our work toward developing a whitepaper that will support teachers in navigating the integration of AI in language education.
As the host of the event, I am leading this initiative and conducting a short survey, approved by the University’s research ethics committee, to better understand your views, skills, and experiences with AI. Our aim is to identify key challenges and opportunities, areas where support is needed, and insights that will inform our understanding about current practices and future directions in language teaching. We may also invite some participants for follow-up interviews to gain more in-depth perspectives, especially regarding the use of AI in both high-resource and low-resource language teaching contexts. We will offer a koha to teachers who participate in the interviews, whether via Zoom or in person.
NCEA Assessment Conditions Webinar
Thank you for attending the Webinar about Assessment Conditions for Levels 2 and 3. You can find the resources, recording, and Questions and Answers from this webinar on our website here.
Upcoming LangSems - Dunedin & Wellington
We have now had two great LangSems, one in Christchurch and one in Hawkes Bay. Thanks to Michelle Dalley our LangSem coordinator and to Sue Pommarède, the LangSem coordinator for Hawkes Bay. Here are the dates for the next LangSems. If you would like to hold one in your area, please contact Michelle Dalley: secretary@nzalt.org.nz
Dunedin - 28th June - Poster
Contact: Bronwyn Thomson
Registration
Programme
Wellington - 19th July
Contact: Jo Hawes
Poster
Registration
Please check our website or emails from the local LangSem coordinators for further information about registration and the programme.
NZALT Further Study Awards
The NZALT award aims to support teachers in New Zealand schools to upskill via masters or doctoral postgraduate study connected to improving teaching and learning languages.
Teachers can apply for financial assistance for further language teaching-related study costs of up to $5000 maximum. This funding is to support teachers with the payment of course fees, not for other related costs, e.g. travel and accommodation.
If you wish to apply, please complete the NZALT Further Study Award application form. You must also email Annabelle Sinclair at vicepresident@nzalt.org.nz to let us know that you have applied.
The successful candidate will:
- provide a clearly written proposal with sufficient details about study plans and goals
- have a study focus which is relevant to language teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand
Deadline for applications for 2025: 5 pm, Monday, 14 July
Rules and Criteria for NZALT Further Study Award:
- The successful applicant must use this award by 31 July 2026.
- Applications for an award must state:
- Name and school
- Current position
- Description of course of study
- Reason for applying for funds
- Amount requested
- Proposed ways of sharing benefits to colleagues and students.
- Teachers receiving an award must supply NZALT Executive with a written report suitable for publishing on the NZALT website or in other relevant NZALT publications.
Where qualifications will take at least two years to complete, a short progress report should be submitted by the end of the academic year for which funding has been granted. When the qualification is completed, a final report should be received within two months of the conclusion of study, or at the end of the academic year for which funding has been given.
- The award must be granted for language teaching-related study at a New Zealand tertiary institution.
- Successful recipients will receive the funds once NZALT has received confirmation of the course of study and associated costs.
Upcoming Cluster Dates
Here are the remaining cluster meeting dates we have confirmed for Term 2. Term 3 Cluster meeting dates will be updated soon. Please check our website and look out for information from your local Cluster Leader as to when meetings will be held in your email.
If you would like to facilitate a cluster group in your area, please contact Juliet Kennedy to find out more. For further information on existing NZALT clusters, please visit our website.
Upcoming clusters:
Wellington
- Tuesday 17 June, 4pm, Wellington Girls College
- Facilitator: Anna Scadden
Nelson
- Wednesday 18 June, 3:45-4:45pm, Nelson Girls
South Canterbury
- Wednesday 18 June, Opihi College
NZALT AGM
The NZALT AGM will be held in Christchurch on 21st June, after school at Papanui High School. Please watch out for information about the AGM which will be sent out within the next few weeks.
New Zealand Chinese Language Week Trust - Learning Languages Forum
Language Learning for New Zealand’s Future
Foreign language learning in New Zealand is facing a severe crisis, with fewer students studying languages now than at any point in the past century.
The New Zealand Chinese Language Week (NZCLW) Trust, in partnership with the University of Auckland, is convening a national language forum to address this challenge. Language Learning for New Zealand’s Future is a one-day event on 17 July at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland, which will bring together experts and practitioners from education, business and industry, and government. We are particularly excited to have Joseph Lo Bianco, international expert on language policy as the keynote speaker.
With the Government's 2025 review of the foreign language curriculum, we have an opportunity to reshape the future of language education in New Zealand. A key outcome of the Forum will be producing a set of recommendations for submission to the curriculum review process.
To learn more about the forum and register your attendance, please complete the form linked below.
National Language Forum
Posting Notices
If you would like to post any notices in our newsletter or on our website please contact Juliet Kennedy.
If you no longer wish to receive the NZALT newsletter, please contact membership@nzalt.org.nz
NZALT Networks of Expertise Newsletter, Number 3, June 2025
