For overseas students and staff unfamiliar with Dunedin

This section of the New Zealand Information module deals with questions which may be asked by overseas students and staff who come to Dunedin.

• Where can I find the information I want?

• What else would it be useful for me to know about New Zealand/Dunedin

• Is the information I find trustworthy, accurate and complete?

• How do I find out more?

The module may also be helpful to others new to Dunedin.

It contains

• general New Zealand information

• information about Dunedin and the surrounding districts

It suggests

people to approach

places to go to

tools to use, such as library catalogues and online search engines.

Case study: a scholarship holder from Papua New Guinea

Joseph, from Papua New Guinea, has arrived in Dunedin to study at the Dunedin College of Education. He is a technical instructor who has taught trades to adults in a college and technical subjects in a secondary school. He is also enrolled to do a course at the Otago Polytechnic and for another course at the University of Otago.

Joseph has brought his wife and 20 month old son with him. Before leaving his home, and on his arrival in New Zealand, he has needed a great deal of information in order to organise his study, findaccommodation, equip his household, choose a church, consider education/child care possibilities for his son and pursue work opportunities for his wife.

Joseph’s needs are similar to those for many international students and members of staff who come to Dunedin for academic purposes.

In tracing his story we can discover what information sources were readily available and those which could have assisted, but were until now, unknown to Joseph.

Photograph

Finding accommodation

Joseph came to Dunedin on his own and was placed in a homestay for the first two weeks. During that time he was supported in finding accommodation for his family. He used the newspaper and also consulted a real estate agent. It was difficult for him to know what was a reasonable rent to pay as it seemed so much more expensive than at home.

Real Estate Firms

The Dunedin City Council site People who can help

Each tertiary institution has people assigned to assist international students. There are also people who handle accommodation for students. This is often more suited to the single person. Ask who you should contact.

Family groups have different needs and they may find they are better to live further away from the student area and consider whether they can afford a car, or regular bus use. By paying a little less rent, using the bus might be an affordable option.

http://www.cityofdunedin.com/cover.htm

provides advice on renting a property and the addresses of real estate firms that handle rental properties. This is in the Moving to Dunedin – renting a house section.

Using the site map, accessible from the home page, is a very good way of locating information quickly in a large site. Click to open up different parts of the site map and then go directly to your choice.

Finding accommodation

Joseph has found a one bedroom flat, 30 minutes walk away from the Dunedin College of Education. He is quite happy to walk in the daytime, but on cold nights when he doesn’t finish until after 9 pm he thinks it is too far away. He wonders whether he could find something closer and cheaper.

What is a reasonable rental for Dunedin?

Information obtainable from ENZ The New Zealand Immigration Guide at

http://www.emigratenz.org/gives an indication of reasonable rents. It is found by following the “House Rents by Suburb Link” found under “Real Estate”on the home page.

It is important to look for fresh information as these figures will change over time.

Note that there are two figures for Dunedin. One includes areas close to the University (and other tertiary institutions) as well as some close suburbs with high property values. The other includes varied locations, a few within walking distance, some reached by regular bus services and some beyond bus services. The inclusion of these distant areas may have reduced the average price.

Consulting a web site, was not an option for Joseph when he first searched for a house as he had not then learned how to use the internet.

Using a bus

Finding the right bus to catch is not easy when you are new to a city. Joseph would have like to have someone go with him for one day and learn about how to make good use of the bus service. He has now got a bus timetable. These are available from …………………

Online tools

Bus timetables can also be found online and printed out. Again the City of Dunedin site is the place to start from, but in this case it is probably easier to type “timetable “ into the search box, than to use the site map. By opening the Getting Aroundsection as shown below you will go to the Otago Regional Council web site which has easy to search timetable information.

Finding a church

When Joseph arrived in New Zealand he was particularly interested in finding a church that suited him, in his area. This was not easy.

People and places:

Possibilities included going for a walk in the neighbourhood and reading the information provided outside churches. Using the telephone book yellow pages shows 21 churches and religious groups, but this does not cover all denominations and some only provide the church name which does not indicate what type of church it is. If you do not have a telephone you can look up a telephone book in a call box, post office or library?

Who could help? Dunedin College of Education and the other tertiary institutions that Joseph is enrolled in all have chaplains. These people listen to and provide information for people of all religions

Harbour Terrace

Note that you need to look for this information

under Services and Facilities on the

Dunedin College of Education home page http://www.dce.ac

.nz/

The online yellow pages, as shown above, have some similar information to the telephone directory. http://www.yellowpages.co.nz/

Another website: http://www.nzs.com/region/otago/dunedin/society/religion/christianity/

has a small but different selection.

It is obvious that many churches are not listed in the usual directories. So our search continues.

Online search tools

When using the online yellow pages for this, or any other purpose, it is necessary to know that Dunedin is in the Otago region.

Finding a church

The City of Dunedin web site Finding a churchhttp://www.cityofdunedin.com/cover.htm is a valuable source of information. Will it help Joseph’s family with their church search? Putting churches into the search engine for the site produces 876 results. This is far too many to deal with, but one of these results looks promising it is the Dunedin Online Directory which has entries for churches.

More online search tools

Finding a church

More online search tools

The outcome of this search is 18 hits. Most church groups have an entry and it is possible to click on a map of the city to see where the church or their offices are located.

The Dunedin City Council web site

http://www.cityofdunedin.com/cover.htm

contains a wealth of local information. Explore it and revisit it often to find out current events. Bookmark it to your favourites. Use the site map to quickly locate what you want.

Choosing a School or Early Childhood Centre

People and places

Choosing a school or Early Childhood Centre is an important decision, although all New Zealand schools and centres have to reach standards that are monitored by the Education Review Office (ERO). They also all teach to national curricula so that differences should not be great. ERO reports can be obtained from the local ERO office found in the blue pages of the telephone book.

Walk around the neighbourhood. If you find a centre or school nearby, go in and ask for information. At the same time you will be able to see what the school environment is like. The sizes of the schools, or centres may differ and some may be more used to working with children with English as a second language, than others. This is something you could discuss with the principal or the head teacher.

You may need to make an appointment to meet with the principal , or head teacher. Usually an information pack will be available and sometimes a CD or DVD. Schools and centres may also have web sites which contain more detailed information and provide an insight into day to day activities.

Locating a school or centre

Finding possible schools and early childhood centres is made easy by the way they are entered in the Yellow Pages of the telephone book. For children under five there are various names used including early learning centres, kindergartens, playcentres and child care centres. These are very well cross referenced in the yellow pages. To find out where they are buy a local map, (the best way because it has an index), or look online at the Dunedin City Council sitehttp://www.cityofdunedin.com/city/home.htmlwhere you will find a Central Dunedin Street Map in the left hand column. From the large map click on an area of interest and see the street names clearly.

Choosing a School or Early Childhood Centre

Joseph and his wife would like their son to gain from his experience of living in New Zealand through being able to mix and learn with New Zealand children. They did not realise that in New Zealand primary education is free, but there are usually costs associated with Early Childhood Education.

Choosing a School or Early Childhood Centre

•What are the differences between different types of Early Childhood Centres,? •How much will we have to pay?

These are important question asked by Joseph and his wife.

Places, Print and online toolsThe government Early Childhood Development sitehttp://www.ecd.govt.nz/index.html provides comprehensive advice and information relating to the different types of early childhood services and facilities.

It suggests: •Contacting the nearest Ministry of Education office. To do thatlook in the blue pages in the telephone book. Note that in this case it is “Education Ministry of” not “Ministry of Education” that you look up.

•Obtaining booklets available from the office, including: “Choices in early childhood education” .

•Looking up the yellow pages of the phone book under “Child Care”

•Going online to the above site and looking up looking up ECE directory for the whole of New Zealand.

The list of Early Childhood Centres reveals a Playcentre; Opoho Playcentre – that could be a possibility for Joseph’s son.

Choosing a school or early childhood centre

Online toolsThe ERO office and the Citizen’s Advice Bureax, which links to the ERO web site, also provide relevant information on all schools and centres. Find out the name of the school or centre and check it out. Do note that schools carry out changes in accord with the recommendations that are made so concerns are likely to have been dealt with.

The Citizen’s Advice Bureaux site http://www.cab.org.nz/information/Choosing_a_School.html#4

offers sound advice about what to look for when visiting a school and during an appointment with the principal

Reports are found atwww.ero.govt.nz , a site which also offers advice to parents of

five year olds. A list of questions to ask when you

visit the school, is most helpful

New Zealand Language

New Zealand has three official languages: English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language. People coming to study and work at academic institutions have to pass an English Language test, but sometimes it can still be confusing. Speakers may use occasional Māori words or phrases and also there is New Zealand slang which can be quite different from the English used in other parts of the world.

About 800 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea. Joseph is proficient in three languages: English, Pidgin and his own tribal language which is different from that of his wife. He would like to know about our New Zealand slang and to find out some unusual New Zealand phrases and words. He is also interested in trying out Māori words and in knowing about the extent to which the Maori language is used.

In the University of Canterbury Library web pages http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/maori/maori.shtmlthere are links to a wide range of resources including those associated with Māori language. Choosing Kōrero Māori from this site leads to a trustworthy Māori Language Commission site which fosters the language for beginners and experts. Words are pronounced clearly, learning is organised in small chunks and there are activities for testing progress.

Try http://www.korero.maori.nz/home.html

If you wish to find the meaning of a Māori word, or find the Māori equivalent of an English word, locate a Māori-English, English-Māori dictionary in the library or book shop, or go online where the Ngata Maori Dictionary is available. http://www.learningmedia.co.nz/ngata/

New Zealand Language

Using the library catalogue

Relevant books may be found in the library catalogue.

New Zealand Language

Using web tools

Web tools can also assist, with uncovering the mysteries of New Zealand language.

Searching for “zealand, slang, language” in the library catalogue produced seven results. The same search in the Google search engine, narrowed to NZ pages, produced 11 700 hits. While this seems a ridiculously large number to consider, on the first pagethere are several worthwhile links.

These Victoria University International web pages are especially designed for international students. They may help you too. Theycover Maori Language, New Zealand Slang and University Vocabulary

New Zealand Immigration Your Gateway to NewZealandlocated athttp://www.nz-immigration.co.nz/is a web site of interest to newcomers to New Zealand. New Zealand Slang accessed from Lifestyles on the home page, ranges from “barbie” and “chunder” to “rattle your dags” and “wop wops”. These may not be found in your everyday phrase book.

http://www.vuw.ac.nz/international/studentlife/glossary.html

However restricting the search to New Zealand pages misses the wikipedia entry. While it is not possible to guarantee the quality of this information it is very comprehensive, easy to read, and ofinterest to someone who wants to understand the differences in language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_English

Skills learnedWhen Joseph first came to New Zealand he had never used the internet. He has had to learn how to

• use the library catalogue • search the internet effectively • evaluate the information he has found

He has also learned that he can get information from

• Marketing and international liaison staff at Dunedin College of Education • His course lecturers

and he has learned that he can also talk with

• Librarians, by going to the Information Desk • Chaplains at the Student Centre • Medical staff at the Student Centre • Other visiting students who may have had similar questions

and there are other places where information is available including

• the Community Notice Board at the Dunedin Public Library • bus stops for bus timetable notices