Flying Kiwis off to Chile

“We’ve had a fantastic response to this year’s call for Flying Kiwi nominations. Forty one schools from all around New Zealand put forward some outstanding students for consideration – it’s been a quite a task to narrow it down to just seven students,” says Mr McPherson.

“These senior Spanish students will spend three weeks in Santiago, going to school and living with Chilean families, immersing themselves in the language and the culture.” The Flying Kiwis programme was developed in response to the successful Chilean government-sponsored Penguins without Borders programme which sees Chilean students coming to New Zealand to study. “New Zealand is the first country to develop such an exchange with Chile and I am thrilled to be able to give our young people the chance to experience a taste of the Chilean way of life. “One of last year’s Flying Kiwis said he wasn’t very confident speaking Spanish before he went but the experience in Santiago helped him get top marks in end of year exams. And he plans to go back to South America in the future.

“Flying Kiwis and Penguins without Borders create bonds between our countries and lifelong connections for both the Chilean and New Zealand students taking part,” says Mr McPherson. Almost 240 ‘Penguins’ have studied in New Zealand since January 2013. There are currently 96 Chilean young people studying at schools in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Chile is a small but growing source of students for New Zealand and is our second largest source of students from South America, after Brazil. Chilean high school students value the opportunity to improve their English language skills as they experience a different culture and lifestyle living with New Zealand families.