Rosmini College students are provided many opportunities to connect with the world beyond the New Zealand borders, either in person or via digital medium.
Languages at Rosmini College
Japanese and French are the two National Certificate of Education languages taught at Rosmini.
Filipino Classes A unique activity to Rosmini sees senior Filipino students teaching Filipino language classes to students across other New Zealand schools. Since 2016 we have offered 1, 2 and now five different Filipino language classes with over 100 students now participating. These lessons are taught using ZOOM and meet weekly.
Face to Face Connections
Each year Rosmini hosts many students from Japanese schools for a period ranging from one to four weeks.
We also host American Field Service Scholars from different countries.
Global Partnership School Exchanges
Since 2012, Rosmini College has a recognised Global School Partnership with the Raffles Institution in Singapore. Groups of Rosmini students travel to Singapore to engage with Raffles students in and out of the classroom, in sport, and with Singapore researchers and business enterprises. We host groups of students from Raffles Institution in return.
Other international trips offered to Rosmini students include:
Science trip to the United States of America. Students visit and stay at three major Pacific Northwest universities, and visit places like the Boeing Manufacturing Plant in Everett, Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, a nuclear reactor, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, The Museum of the Rockies with the largest collection of dinosaurs, American Computer and Robotics Museum, American Car Museum, Crater of the Moon, Mt Rainer and Yellowstone National Parks.
Fiji Reef Science project – Using an organisation called Operation Wallacea, a trip to Fiji was planned with an ecological focus. The boys spent a couple of days living with local Fijians in one of their remote villages; learning about their day-to-day lifestyle. They then spent five days working with PhD students in a rain forest. They did fieldwork during the day and had a lecture each evening. This was followed by five days at a marine reserve learning to SCUBA dive or, if they could already SCUBA dive, doing coral reef mapping.
Japanese Trip. The trip to Japan, visiting Tokyo, Iiyama, Kanazawa and Hiroshima, gives students an opportunity to gain their confidence of Japanese language and rich cultural knowledge. They also enjoy a cultural exchange with local schools and their host family.
France Trip
Serbia, Sri Lanka, Greece and Australia sports and cultural trips.
Over the Back Fence Project
Since 2011 Rosmini students have connected with students on a regular basis to engage in conversation, sharing cultures, project collaboration and mentoring activities. Over the past decade we have been connected to 70 different schools in 21 different countries. Our Over the Back Fence Project hosts weekly connections with eight different schools, in Canada, USA, Chile, Cook Islands, South Africa, Finland and South Korea.
Mentoring
Rosmini students have been offering academic mentoring sessions to Cook Island students who are also studying NCEA subjects in the outlying islands.
Two Oceans Connect Us – South Africa/New Zealand is a weekly mentoring activity where a group of Rosmini students are working with students with disabilities in rural South Africa. The project has been successful for helping these young people identify and build social skills and commercial enterprise.
Collaborative Project Work
TOTCUS (The Ocean that Connects Us) was started in May 2022, connecting 35 students from Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile, and Rosmini College to collaborate on a climate change inquiry concerning the Pacific Ocean. TOTCUS continues to fast with over 250 students, engaged in 30+ projects with students from 10 countries, including Easter Island, Chile, Marshall Islands, Peru, United States of America, Vietnam, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, India and Finland.
TOTCUS not only provides the student an opportunity to research an aspect of climate change with their group, but also develop skills of collaboration, empathy and respect for others and the environment, as well as learn about other cultures and geography. The wide variety of projects underway enable students to grow their knowledge and skill to share and act to make a difference in their communities and for the environment. TOTCUS will continue to grow in 2024 as we focus on adding students from other Pacific Nations. Read more about TOTCUS here.
Virtual Merienda is Rosmini’s large Filipino student community that meets weekly and connects with other Filipino student groups in New Zealand and in the Philippines. They also host annual 'All Things Filipino' meet-ups and Filo Night. Filo Night is a celebration and production of Filipino music, dance, drama and comedy and currently brings performers from 10 Auckland schools.
International education contributes to the global good as it opens hearts and minds and encourages tolerance.
Caroline Bilkey, in Beyond the Economic: How International Education Delivers Broad Value for New Zealand, May 2018