25 August 2022

Last week, we opened Aotearoa Spanish Language Week at the Grand Hall of the New Zealand Parliament in a ceremony hosted by Ricardo Menendez March MP.

We were excited to have so many members of the local Spanish-speaking community there, alongside Spanish-language students and teachers from high schools in the Wellington region, who had the opportunity to practice their Spanish in the real world with an array of accents from across the Spanish-speaking world.

The festivities kicked off with a wonderful performance by the Ollin Yoliztli, Life and Movement, dance troupe amd were followed by speeches from MP Ricardo Menéndez March, LatAm CAPE Director Dr Matthew O’Meagher, and Emily Blennerhassett, a Spanish student at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington who explained why she choose to study Spanish and the opportunities it’s presented for her.

Also joining us were representatives from the embassies of Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Spain, and newly-elected Speaker of the House of Representatives Adrian Rurawhe.

You can find out more information about Aotearoa Spanish Language Week, including resources we’ve created for it, here.