ESOL Junior Immersion Annual Marae Trip

Recently 63 ESOL students and their teachers visited Te Hana Marae for their annual noho (overnight stay).

The tangata whenua of Te Hana warmly welcomed the group with a powhiri which took place in the replica 300 year old Maori Village behind the main wharenui. The student leader for the Macleans College group, Gavin Yu from Batten House, conducted himself very well throughout the powhiri challenge and responded with a short speech in te reo. James Gai from Rutherford delivered the karakia in te reo prior to the group partaking of the delicious food that the hosts provided.

Students enjoyed a traditional weaving lesson and were taught a traditional stick game with the challenge being that the instructions were given in te reo. In the evening much excitement was evident as all the students and teachers prepared the wharenui to sleep together as a group.

On the way to Te Hana the group stopped at the Honey Centre where they had a presentation about the lifecycle of the honey bees and how important the bees are to our environment. Students made their own honeycomb candle as a memento of their visit.

The following day the group travelled to Matakohe, to the Kauri Museum where they viewed the largest collection of gum resin in the world and learnt about the early pioneering days when the settlers cut the kauri trees to make furniture and houses and extracted the gum from the kauri trees to use for good quality varnish.

The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and will have lasting memories of it.