International Assembly

On Friday, 10 June as part of the Principal's Assembly, our Annual International Assembly was held. It was a great success with the entire Assembly enjoying thought provoking and entertaining speeches from our students as well as a song from Steven Luk.

A big thank you and congratulations to a job well done to our speakers, Peter Zhu, Jacob Jeon, Till Schulenburg, Steven Luk and Aaron Ko.

大家早上好 Good morning, Mr. Mangan, teachers and students. It’s my honour here today to speak to the school as the international student leader. Today I want to talk about what I found out while I spend my time in NZ.Three years ago, I was in middle school. My dad realized the western education system was more suitable for me. So, he took me out for dinner and told me you are going to New Zealand. Two different cultures and system of education meet together which I have found out is really amazing.When I was young, since I can remember, my dad always told “the only way to become a great man is by learning.” So I always tell myself “There is so much interesting stuff out there that I never knew.” In my opinion, learning is getting information, comprehending and practicing. I reckon there are always two waysto get information, one by reading; one by listening. Some people work as a reader, some work as a listener.It is always important to know about yourself.However, in China, every school is following the idea that there is only one correct method of learning, and every student has to comply. But for those, who learn in quite a different way, to be forced to study in the way school provided it’s just like a living hell. That was me.Some students learn by writing, some learn while practicing, some by taking notes. For example, Beethoven left so many cheat sheets, but he never looked at them when he composed. People asked him why, he answered: "If I don't write it down immediately, I will forget it straight away.  However, if I take them down to my little book, I will remember it forever, and I never need to look at it again.”For the past 3 years I have studied at TBC, I now know that I am the type of person who learns by reading the information and I will focus on that in the future. International students are really important for Tauranga, I believe It is really amazing that we are here to share our culture with you. And there is monetary value in us as well. Did you know that $2.85 billion from international education comes into New Zealand every year and that mean international education is New Zealand's fifth largest export industry and $39.7million comes into the Tauranga economy every year. I reckon it is about increasing the value for Tauranga.At the end, I just really want to say, I appreciate the opportunity I have been given. It is so great to meet all of you, especially those who helped me a lot and listened to me when I was speaking broken English. I know thisis now recording,  and I would like to say ;” 爸 妈 我爱你们 I really think that my dad has made the right decision.In other ways I won’t have the priviledge of standing here today. Chur lads

By Peter Zhu (International Head Student)

안녕하세요 교장선생님,선생님 그리고 학생 여러분Good morning Mr Mangan,teachers and
students. Hi my name is Jacob Jeon. I came out here to tell you guys about Korean students
because there are a lot of differences with students here in NZ and Korea.It starts from the time
we go home from school. Almost all schools in NZ finish at 3:20 and students play sport or do
homework or have free time but in Korea we finish school around at 5pm and start extra study
until 9:30pm before we can go home.School uniforms are also different. In Korea the uniform looks
like a suit.So we have two kinds of uniforms for summer and winter.In Korea we wear different
shoes when we enter the school. We call them indoor shoes and they look quite simple. In Korea
we have a few rules for hair. For example we can not put anything in our hair and it can’t be too
long, even for girls but in NZ there is a lot of freedom to choose a hair style. Each school has
their own punishment. In Korea we have penalty points and if we get high points the punishment
is worse.
There are also some differences with field trips. In NZ the schedule is full of activities and there
are so many places you can go. In Korea we go to an historic site. We don’t ever go camping,
instead we stay at a hotel when we sleep. So our trips are a little bit more comfortable over
there. Almost all Korean students go to an academy and do more work to help in subjects they
think they are not good at. So we start our school at 9 and finish at 5 o clock and do extra study
until 9 30pm then go to the academy.We also have various academies for the subjects we learn in
school and for other disciplines like martial arts .For me I went to three academies: math, english and martial arts. In school we don't choose our own subjects, there is a schedule for all students in school and when we go to university we can choose our own subjects. In NZ there are around
20 to 25 students per class but in Korea there are 40 student in a classroom. Koreans come to NZ
for different reasons. Our parents want us to have the best chance to succeed in education and
sports. Some Koreans come to play golf as professionals because it's cheaper and there’s more
space to play. Finally thanks for listening and if there is a chance I hope you get to try our
culture in our country one day.

by Jacob Jeon

It is our great honour to have this opportunity to stand up on the stage , and tell you guys a bit
about us and share some things about our cultures. For me being a year 13 international student
means a lot to me. I have spent nearly three years in Tauranga Boys' College and I have learned a
lot from Kiwi boys. Making friends and spending time with them has helped me improve my
language. 

At the start of the year in the school, I was afraid of going out and talking with the
boys, scared that they wouldn’t understand my English, until I took outdoor education, and a
Kiwi friend helped me out. He introduced his friends to me, I really want to say a big thank you to
him because he was the first guy I met who opened the door to the Kiwi world for me. I want
to say thank you also to the school for giving me a pathway to attend university in New Zealand. Today standing up on the stage, I recognise that to live in another country you have to learn
how to respect each other, and show tolerance. Sometimes when you live in another country it
feels so different from your own that it might as well be another world. “Learn everything you
can, anytime you can from anyone you can; there will always come a time when you will be
grateful you did.” This is the quote from Sarah Caldwell. 

So my advice for international students, is to try to talk with more Kiwi boys, go out to the field and play rugby with them, and for the Kiwi boys be patient, listen to the international students, these students use their second language to talk with you. If any of you have ever learnt a second language you can imagine how hard it is to make friends and socialise in another language. I’m proud of being a student in New Zealandand a representative of Tauranga Boys’ College. Thank you for listening boys

by Aaron Ko

Jacob Jeon (Korea)

Till Schulenburg (Germany)

Steven Luk (China)

Steven - entertaining the crowd with a song

Aaron Ko (Hong Kong)

Final speech from Aaron