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New Zealand Education

Students

Many students are willing to express their thoughts in class. Whenever teachers ask questions, many students will give answers. In addition, whenever teachers ask for help, there are always several students who are eager to help. For example, in a class I attended, a teacher asked whether any student could help with the . Several students raised their hands at once, eager to help.

Assessment

Essay – In secondary schools in New Zealand, the most common form of assessment is [an] essay. Usually, there will be several essay questions to choose from. Students will be based on the ideas, points, persuasiveness, organization, etc.Projects – Another common form of assessment is projects.For example, when talking about cultural diversity, students have to design a poster that presents the culture of a country.Oral test – In English classes, students often have to or perform plays.

Subjects

Core subjects are compulsory subjects that students take throughout the year. Rotational subjects are also compulsory, but each rotational subject is taught for 16 hours over a period of five to six weeks. These rotational subjects are taught by specialized teachers in those fields.In most schools in New Zealand, from year 0-6, all the students take the same subjects. All year 7-8 students also take the same subjects, but they have core subjects and rotational subjects. Year 9 students have optional subjects in addition to core and rotational ones. From year 10-12, students only have core subjects and optional subjects. In year 13, all subjects are optional, but students have to take five or six subjects.

Vocabulary Focus

generalization (n) ---something that is based on limited facts that could be partly or sometimes true, but not always

streaming (n) ---the process of grouping school students with similar intelligence and teaching them together

compulsory (adj) ---referring to something that must be done because of a rule or law

based on (phr. v) ---to have a reason or basis for

analysis (n) ---the process of studying or examining something in detail, in order to discover more about it

essay (n) ---a short piece of writing on a particular subject, especially one done by students as part of the work for a course

diversity (n) ---the condition when many different types of things or people are included in something

core (n) ---the most important parts of a course of study, that all students must do

Specialized terms