Take flight with Language Week

Celebrating diversity and exploring new cultures.

The school buzzed with the excitement of Languages Week in August as we celebrated the truly diverse cultures that make St Cuthbert’s such an amazing place to study and work.

The entire week was jampacked with activities that offered a deep dive into different languages and cultures. The girls enjoyed flax weaving, soap carving, singing, dancing, a flag hunt, paper cutting and even a pancake flipping competition. Teachers hosted daily challenges and activities with the aim of having fun whilst learning something new about the world we live in. Our Senior School students had a wonderful time visiting the Junior School to show them just how much fun learning a language can be. They really did bring Language Week alive for our youngest students by helping them learn te reo Māori, Chinese, Latin and French.

Learning about so many cultures and languages is hungry work, so we were all too happy to welcome several food trucks onto the Campus for the girls to enjoy. Pizza, churros, and crepes certainly went down a treat, bon appétit!

The highlight of Language Week was the Friday, when all students were invited to come to school in cultural dress. From traditional Japanese dress, French berets and Mexican sombreros to Classic Kiwi Red Bands and Swaandri, it was a delight to see the girls embrace the opportunity to get dressed up and represent a number of cultures and countries.

Hosting Language Week is not only good fun, but it celebrates diversity whilst exploring new cultures and learning new languages. Some of the benefits of language learning include an enhanced cognitive capacity by boosting brain power and increasing memory, a richer understanding of other people and ways of thinking, whilst allowing individuals to foster skills in critical thinking. And did we mention, churros?