ESOL teacher, Cate van Leuven, in her classroom
What I’ve noticed about Christchurch is the presence of different Asian cultures within the city. There are parts of the town where signs are in both Korean and English, for example. This is different than the other larger cities we visited. In a suburb of Christchurch, we had the chance to visit St. Martin’s primary school. I had been in contact with the principal, Rob Callaghan, before I left so I was most interested in visiting this school. This is the only school where there is an actual ESOL teacher on staff. I was very, very fortunate in my school visits because I was able to observe a bilingual/immersion Maori program, a school with 60% majority Pacific Island immigrants, and a smaller ESOL program for mostly Asian immigrants/visiting students.
St. Martin’s is a decile 9 school, from a higher socio-economic level than the schools I visited previously. The student population is approximately 540 and the principal is new on staff (11 weeks in!). He is very enthusiastic and really has a vision for the school.
I don’t remember if I mentioned previously how schools are organized in New Zealand. There are no districts, no counties. There is the Ministry of Education and then the schools. Schools are evaluated every 3 years by the Ministry and are independently run. The Board of Trustees that runs the primary school is comprised of the principal, 5-7 parents, and a staff member (also a student if at the secondary level). They make all hiring/firing decisions, decide on spending (the budget is handed down from the Ministry), and design curriculum. There are no national standards or standardized tests in New Zealand. There are very general curriculum guidelines that focus on skills rather than content knowledge and principals/teachers like it that way. They say they can focus on student-directed learning and inquiry education. There is a push to have standards that can be demonstrated through formative assessment, however.
My day at St. Martin’s began with a powhiri (traditional Maori welcome). It was the first the school had done for visitors. There is only a small percentage of Maori at this school (1-2%) and yet it was evident the ceremony was important to them. I got teary-eyed thinking it was my last time to be at a powhiri. We then had a tour of classrooms with the principal who cited all of the physical changes to the school that are planned. It reminded me of Bel Air a few years back. One thing not changing is the size of the staff room. Take a look at it Mr. Mitchell!
After the tour we had morning tea with the staff and then I had the chance to meet with Cate, ESOL. She had a tiny little square office where she pulled students out individually to work with her at her desk. She also used a room above the library to work with all the students as a group. She has between 15-20 ESOL students and meets with the lower ones for 30 minutes individually daily, and with the entire group for 30 minutes daily. The Ministry is just starting to produce materials and is providing additional funds. She mainly uses grammar books and works through the Reading Recovery series. Her students are from Japan, Korea, Europe and Latvia and some are only living in New Zealand temporarily for work. She also mentioned a trend of mothers coming from Korea for short periods of time with their children to learn English and then return home. It reminded me of parachute children on the west coast of the US in years past.
It was interesting to see universal challenges facing ESOL – space,, materials, transient student body – and to discuss different strategies. I hope to continue to build the relationship with Cate after my return to the US.
Today is the last day in New Zealand and aside from the ending seminar we will visit the Antarctic Center and an arts center before boarding the plane in the evening for China. I’ll write when I can!
