Gina's Story

Ji-Yeon Park started with us in August of 2005. At our graduation of year 8 students in 2006 she spoke in front of a hall full of people about her time at Taupaki School.

Gina loved her time with us, we were sad to see her leave.

Her story is not edited and please remember she came to Taupaki with no English. 

 My Story

Hi, my name is Gina Ji-Yeon Park. I am an international student. I came from Korea. I graduated Taupaki School in 2006. Now, I’m here to tell you about what is being like an international student at Taupaki School.
   
19th of August in 2005, I arrived in New Zealand to study English. I stayed as a homestayer with my brother. I heard that I’m going to Taupaki School the next day. I was so nervous to go to English school. I wondered what the difference would be between Korean school and English school. Also, my big problem was if I’m not good at English and can’t follow the school lessons.

20th of August in 2005, I was in. Mrs. Barton’s class. The new school, new environment, new people and new teachers made me more anxious. Luckily, it was good that I could understand some of the words. But, I had to find some words on the dictionary. The dictionary was one of the most important things at school.

Luckily, there is ESOL which is stands for English for speaker of other languages. Lisa who is the teacher helped me. I really liked how we studied as well.

For friends, I hated to go front of them and talk. I didn’t know what to say or what to talk about. I just said “Hi” or “How are you?” or all the other words I know. Even though, I am not very good they were trying to understand me and also they were always friendly and stayed with me all the time.

Suddenly one day, I could understand all the things people were talking about and I could write, talk very well. From that time, I felt really confident to go in front of people and talk. Also, doing presentation front of the class.

As I study hard, I got highly commended from the speech contest and also I got heaps of certificates from school. I amproud of my self a lot. Although, I only stayed 5 terms at Taupaki School, I improved my English skills and had lots of experience. Taupaki School is a great school. There are heaps of activities to do. Now, I am staying at Massey High School, but I never going to forget all the memories from Taupaki School.

Ji-Yeon Park (Dec 2006)