Teen season starts this month !

This month we have opened our teen programmes which are designed especially for students aged 12 - 17 years old.  

We offer 3 different courses:

- Teen Super Intensive English: full-time

- Teen English Plus Activities: the most popular

- High School Combi programmes are designed to suit each individual student, and they allow you to combine English Language preparation at our school with time in a real New Zealand High School.

So, this June, July and August, let's welcome students from Tahiti, New Caledonia, Russia, Brazil, Taiwan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Japan and China.

Come and have fun with us! 

How to make a Traffic Light cocktail

Ingredients

• 2 parts Midori
• 2 parts orange juice
• 2 parts grenadine

Instructions

1. Tip 2 parts grenadine into the bottom of the glass. 
2. Then hold the glass at a 45 degree angle and tip in the orange juice down the side and the grenadine will float.
3. Then, still holding the glass at that position, tip the Midori down the side of the glass

The traffic light was just one of the cocktails being demonstrated during our recent visit to our pathway partner New Zealand Management Academies (NZMA), although we only got to sample the mocktail (alcohol free) version!  As part of our Friday options classes, we took a big group of students to NZMA's open day.  During the afternoon the students were shown around campus, participated in a scavenger hunt (with chance to win an ipod shuffle), watched some excellent barista and mocktail making demonstrations, and had a yummy free BBQ, complete with mocktails and freshly made coffee!   We even got to sit in on some classes and talk to tutors. NZMA have a range of courses in management, hospitality and cookery, and they are a Dominion pathway partner.  That means that students who successfully complete our English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course, can gain direct access into specific courses at NZMA, without having to take the IELTS exam.  For more information, on our EAP course and our pathway options, please visit our website www.dominion.school.nz or contact us now marketing@dominion.school.nz.

 

We celebrated Eid today

I was a big celebration in the school, not only for Arab students but for us all. We shared some of our favourite and traditional dishes. We even have the old favourite miso soup made by the school staff. Arab students sang and danced and we could even some of their typical clothes as well as their traditional henna hand tattoos. Thanks very much for sharing Eid with us!!

 

Timetable change!

On Monday April 2nd, Dominion is changing the class timetable. The main reason for the change is so that students finish 30 minutes earlier. This also means that our after school activities can start earlier. The only actual change is to make the morning and afternoon breaks 15 minutes instead of 30 minutes. The classes and contents remain exactly the same:

Class times and focus:

9.00 – 11.45: Focus on language: grammar, vocabulary (course book)
12.45 – 2.15: Focus on skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking – topic based
2.30 – 3.30: Focus on speaking and conversation

Courses:

Part-time: 9.00 – 11.45 or 12.45 – 3.30: 12.5 hrs
Intensive: 9.00 – 2.15: 20 hrs (+ social programme)
Super-Intensive: 9.00 – 3.30: 25 hrs (+ social programme)
Conversation: 2.30 – 3.30

Contact us at marketing@dominion.school.nz if you have any questions or a PDF format for this post.

Merry Christmas!!

Here is our Christmas card, if you still haven't received it. All from Dominion hope you had an excellent Christmas. We certainly did have a good Xmas, our party was a success among our students. We are open now and waiting to receive 2012.

 

 

Dominion Xmas afternoon party - so many nationalities!

 Dominion Santa and helper

 Thank you!!! We received so many beautiful cards this year

Christmas in Auckland

You can feel the Christmas spirit everywhere in Auckland. If you happen to be here, there are so many places to enjoy. Every year the city looks so different with all the Christmas decorations, even for us. You might think that it is a little bit weird to have Christmas without the snow but we certainly make the most of it. Think about going to the beach on the 25th December! for example. These photos are taken just steps away from our Auckland school...

Auckland student by the biggest Christmas decoration you've ever seen

String puppets at Smith and Caughey - One of the shops in Queen Street

Giant Santa and reindeers at Whitcoulls

 Christmas tree - Sky Tower

50 + students

Japanese, German, French, Australian, Basque are the nationalities for our current 50+ students. They enjoyed a lunch together in Auckland today hosted by Alyson the schools marketing manager and Mr T the company director and owner of Dominion English Schools. This time we went for a Thai meal, so one or two students found the food "a little bit too spicy" but the flavours were good. We have 50+ lunches regularly when there are mature students at our school. In fact even 40+ qualifies for an invitation. Students like to share their experiences and mingle with other students their age.  Mature students are not usually in the same classes as it depends on their English level and their skills. Lots of students find our 50 + lunch as the first one of many other social outings in our Auckland school. 

Teenage School - Fun, fun, fun!!!

Our winter Teenage Programme is on now! We have lots of students from many different countries enjoying activities in Auckland. Have a look at this Hip Hop class:

 

So many fun activities to do. These are some of our favourite ones: Wall climbing; Rainbows End; Kelly Tartons; Snow Planet; Museum & Maori Show; Rangitoto. 

 

Email us if you want a copy of our latest Auckland activity schedule marketing@dominion.school.nz

Table Tennis Competition - Friday afternoon programme

Last Friday we had a very entertaining afternoon programme. On Friday afternoons students have different classes and activities to choose from. Some are academic options such as reading or pronunciation classes while other choices are more recreational. It means that there is something  for everyone and the best is that the choices are different every week.

One of the activities last Friday was the Table Tennis Competition. Likasit from Thailand won out of sixteen contestants.

Christmas in Dominion Christchurch

This is what we did in Christchurch: After our first morning class we had a Quiz - What do you know about Dominion staff?
At 1 pm the whole school went to Latimer Square just one minute away from Dominion. We played lots of different games as you can see!! Then pizza came...

Thanks to Michael for the wonderful video and pics!!

Merry Christmas everybody!!

Kwassui Junior Senior High School

We are happy to welcome once again our Japanese students from Kwassui Junior Senior High School, Nagasaki. After all these visits, we feel they are part of our family. This time, the girls had a lot of fun doing different activities: Horse Riding, Bone Carving, Aquarium, Antarctic Centre, Tram, Farewell Lunch and Shopping Mall.

They really enjoyed their morning class with our lovely teacher Sieg. We hope to see Mr Suzuta again next year!

Antarctic Centre

Making fabulous jewellery

Farewell Lunch

Teenage Programme

Our winter Teenage Programme is coming to an end. We had lots of students from many different countries enjoying activities in Auckland and Christchurch.

Students in Auckland had a lot of fun. These are some of their photos:

Mini Golf

Mission Bay

Students in Christchurch had also lots of fun. These are some of the activities’ photos:

Antarctic Centre

Ice Skating - Cathedral Square

Our most popular activity in Christchurch was Paintball. Some of our Senior students joined as well:

Please e-mail us to receive a sample of our activities (Auckland or Christchurch) study@dominion.school.nz.

Rugby Quiz & Rugby Night

Students from Christchurch have enjoyed a great rugby match with one of our teachers, Peter Ward. It was lovely to have him teaching again here at school. More than 25 students beat the cold weather to watch their first rugby match here in New Zealand.

Can you see Dan Carter on the screen? He is one of our most popular All Blacks player. Fantastic to see him back on the field.

Before the game we had a Rugby Quiz at school!!! The Waikato Team won the chocolates.


We also learnt how to form a scrum. So much fun! Thank to Warner and Peter who run this special Friday activity.

Christchurch City Walks - Friday

"Shall we go out on Friday afternoon?" by Reiko Otsu - Level 3.




I always choose the City Walk as the Friday activity because I like walking and the staff Laura is very friendly.
We usually go to a market next to the Arts Centre. We can see flowers, clothes, sweets some wine and bottles of olives. Then we go through the court of the Arts Centre. My favourite shop in the Arts Centre is the Fudge Cottage. This shop sells a lot of pretty sweets. The Arts Centre used to be the Canterbury University so the buildings are very nice. Then we go to the Botanic Gardens or the Canterbury museum. Finally we go to a café and talk together. While I walk, I enjoy talking with other students. So, I can make friends.

Wine & Cheese '09

Auckland campus' popular fortnightly free Wine & Cheese was relaunched for '09 yesterday afternoon.

Wine & Cheese is part of our afternoon activities program and is held every second Thursday afternoon at 4pm in the student lounge.

Students come together to eat, drink and practise their English whilst relaxing and getting to know other students from different countries.

Students have the choice between red & white wine or soft drinks to wash down their cheese and crackers.

This popular activity has enjoyed a strong student body turnout since it first began last year and is so popular we're sure it'll continue!

Cheers!