The nickname for Christchurch, New Zealand, is "the garden city." It's easy to see why, as much of inner city space is filled with parks, trees, and lots of green areas. As you walk along the shores of the Avon River, hike along the trails within the finely manicured Bontanical Garden, or exercise in huge Hagley Park, it's VERY easy to forget you are in a large city. Mr. Kawahata captured some of this beauty in a series of photographs, which have been turned into a short video clip here:
Here is a short video clip that shows a bit of what it was like to study English at King's Education. Overall the curriculum was quite challenging for our students, as they were required to use English all the time, both in and out of class. Our students were grouped by level into three different classes, and each week on Friday they had to prepare and present a short public speech on that week's given topic. Also on Fridays, all the King's students gathered in the cafeteria for a short school assembly. Usually at this time all of the teachers gave out "student of the week" awards to a particular student who had worked especially hard. It was interesting to see such a focus on publicly acknowledging student work, something that is not done at TCFL.
Friday, March 7th was the final day of classes for our group at King's Education. During the weekly student assembly, each of our students received a graduation certificate from their teacher. Afterwords, we took them out to Oxford on Avon, a great all-you-can-eat buffet place right on the Avon river. It was a sumptuous meal, and good times were had by all. This also gave us an occasion to offer up some appreciation to Beth Pettigrew, the King's administrator who was in charge of our group. She worked really hard to make sure we were well taken care of, and everyone was really happy with her efforts. The fact that she had spend a year in Toyama as an exchange student in high school and could speak fluent Japanese also helped!
With 40 million sheep in this country, it was only a matter of time before we had a real direct encounter with some of them. Our sheep farming experience took place on a cold and cloudy day as we drove out to the Rubicon Valley sheep farm in the tiny village of Springfield, deep in the South Island countryside.
On the 2nd Saturday of our study trip, our group went out to the Banks Peninsula near Christchurch for a day trip in Akaroa, a small tourist town. This was our big chance to get more acquainted with the famous natural scenery of New Zealand, and while it was indeed spectacular, the weather on that day we went was terrible! It was cold, wet, and cloudy, and this really affected what we were able to do. Still, we made the best of it, and despite the less than idea conditions, we managed to have a good time.
What seemed like a boring activity at first glance- riding on this flat little boat on a slow, shallow river- turned out to be one of the most relaxing activities we experienced. One of the key attractions to downtown Christchurch is the presence of much park land, and a key feature of that is the winding, meandering Avon river. Being so low on the water and moving on it in such a traditional way really provided our group with a unique perspective on this beautiful city. There were moments you couldn't believe that you were in the center of a big city. The punters were dressed in old-style English college-boy garb, and told us stories and information along the way. It was a throughly enjoyable experience. For more info on punting in Christchurch, check out this site. For some photos of this excursion, click here.
On the 2nd Wednesday of our trip, we drove out to the Waimak River Adventures horse ranch on the outskirts of Christchurch and spent a leisurely afternoon riding horses around the countryside. After getting outfitted with helmets, we watched a demonstration on how to get on and control a horse. For most students, this was their first time riding, so I'm sure everyone appreciated having the instructions translated into Japanese by a Japanese farm hand. The ride was very slow and controlled. About 10 staff walked along side of us as we poked along in a long line. The terrain was very flat, and for those of us who had ridden a lot previously, perhaps a bit boring. Still, for the absolute beginners in our group, all went well. Click here to see some photos of this experience.
This activity was a bloody brilliant mix of hard education and theme-park thrill ride. It was an interactive, hands on experiential learning experience of what life in Antarctica is really like. The entire thing was very well produced and conducted, and the students had a great time while learning a lot of new information. As you can see from the video below, learning something new can be a whole lot of fun. Photos of the event also show how much fun we had.
For our third afternoon activity, our Toyama group joined the entire student body of King's Education on a trip to the Willowbank Wildlife Center on the outskirts of Christchurch. This center is quite a unique place- not only can you see local flora and fauna, but you can catch a glimpse into Maori culture through the innovative and interactive program they have there. All in all it was an exciting educational and cultural experience, as the accompanying photos and video clip demonstrate. It's safe to say that everyone learned a lot on this day.