The Spanish Programme of the University of Canterbury, with the support of the Embassy of Spain in New Zealand, Tui Tuia Learning Circle and the amazing collaboration of Spanish language teachers from Burnside High School, Cashmere High School, Hillmorton High School, Middleton Grange School, Rangi Ruru Girl’s School, St Andrew’s College and St Margaret’s College, organized on Tuesday 3rd June 2025 the eight Spanish Immersion Day / NCEA Workshop for high school students of Spanish from Christchurch.
This year we had 270 high school Spanish students who prepared for their NCEA exams over two academic sessions organized for 13 groups of students of NCEA levels 1, 2 and 3, taught by 12 teachers of the participating schools and 5 UC senior Spanish students. Participants were welcome at the Opening Session by Professor Kevin Watson, Executive Dean of Arts; Dr Victoria Escaip and Javier Vallejo, both lecturers at the UC Spanish Programme; Paola Iasci, Education Attaché of the Embassy of Spain in New Zealand; and the keynote speaker Ben Crisp, a UC Spanish and MATI student who gave an inspiring talk about his journey through the Hispanic language and culture world, and provided valuable insights into where studying Spanish can take anyone.
Complementary morning tea, sponsored by the Embassy of Spain in New Zealand, was provided to all the participants, and complimentary lunch, sponsored by Tui Tuia Learning Circle, was offered to the teachers, speakers, organizers and the ten UC students volunteers who helped in the different tasks of the day. Three Spanish and Latin American food trucks were invited to campus for lunch time so attending high school students had the opportunity to try delicious Hispanic food.
There was also a fun culture session organized by Javier Vallejo, which involved games and prizes and proved to be a very successful activity. A special thank you to Jill Winfield and Laura Biddlecombe, Administrators of the Global, Cultural and Language Studies Department, whose organizational skills and amazing work made it possible for this event to be a great success.
We had a lucky dip where several prizes donated by the UC Marketing and Outreach Department, ImmerseMe, Instituto Cervantes Sydney, The Curator’s House, Pedro’s Lamb and Bella Jewellery of Merivale were given away. The event drew to a close where all participants danced to a great Latin song, Tacones Rojos by Sebastián Yatra.
It was an intense and wonderful day, and all participants left very happy and with a huge smile on their face J
