Junior

My name is Junior I am a South Pacific Samoan and part Chinese but mostly Samoan. At home my family members speak to me in Samoan and I reply back in Samoan sometimes. When I was little I was not scared to speak Samoan in public because it was the only language I knew. I went to a Samoan preschool called Tino e Tusi. Through my preschool and primary school years I have learnt the A,B,C to understanding words like comfirming or multiple languages. Now that I am all grown up Im still not embarrassed to speak my own language in public exept for when relatives or Samoan friends come over because if ask my mum or dad something in private I know that they will ask what is she or he doing and my mum or dad will tell them what I just told them and sometimes it's something personal.

Zoe

How we celebrate Christmas in India!

CLOSED- all schools are closed for 10 to 14 days for the Christmas season, not a second earlier and not a second later as all the Christian families start pre-paring for Christmas from around the end of November.

We start the Christmas season by writing and sending cards to all our friends and family from all over the world. Then we get to the fun part making all the Christmas SWEETS! ! !
From Chirstmas cake, to fudge, custard, and chocolate!
BUT WAIT ! ! ! That's only the beginning.

Then we would call the tailor to make us some clothes for Christmas, after we would go out and buy some gifts for all our family and friends. Within the days before Christmas we would decorate our homes and also help decorate the church. We'd also go Christmas caroling with people form within the parish and go for Christmas parties.

As Christmas got closer we'd prepare a Christmas lunch; go and visit family and friends and of course we'd all help to decorate the Christmas tree and put the star on top.

On Christamas eve we'd go for midnight mass, but because the were so many people; would have to be outside, and the on Christmas morning we'd all open up our presents then we would all have lunch together! And that is how we celebrate Christmas in India!
By Zoe Rodricks

Mikaela

There are so many unique cultures in the world. And all of them are special. There is one culture that I love. The Filipino culture. Of course there's only one Phillipines and I'm not in it. But I continue my culture at home. My Mum and Dad both come from the Phillipines so they speak Tagalog and English to me. We sometimes do your ordinary daily things differently. Like how we cook our food; how we wash the dishes and more. See, lots of cultures do things differently and that's what makes them so interesting and special. I love my culture and I'm proud of being a Filipino.

Bobby Jo

Hi I am called called Bobby Jo. I was born in New Zealand but my Mum comes from Cebu in the Phillippines. My Mum can speak Tagalog and she does when she's on the phone. I know some words in Tagalog, but I like to speak English.

Zoren

Hello kamusta which means how are you. In my house we speak Tagalog.We have an accent of batagas which is my Mum's home town. In Filipino traditional beliefs are to make loud sounds at New Year to get rid of the bad spirit. And the traditional things around Christmas, We celebrate with a party for every suburb, And for rich people they usaully have butlers and maids. The traditional people recite the Apostles Creed instead of the Nicene Creed, We go to Mass every Sunday and we celebrate black Nazareno. In our house we have traditional things. We pray where ever we go. We have to have good grades etc. In our culture the most important things is that God is first. When I was young I was never ashamed of my culture because our culture is one of the happiest cultures.

Gabriel

My Mum sometimes speaks to me in Spanish and she's from Chile so we celebrate Chiles independence day which includes lots of dancing and eating. We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, opening preasents at midnight and also Christmas dinner. On Christmas Day we eat the left overs and yummy things all day and watch videos all day. New Years Eve we have family dinner and dance all night and in Chile everyone goes to the market to eat, in the morning right after the party. We are all football fans; we all support South America no matter what but we are also loyal to the All Blacks. We always great each other with a hug or a kiss. We are a very social family; we love to talk, dance eat and debate. I have always been proud of my Spanish/Latin/Kiwi culture which makes me a Chiwi.

Shweta

Hi my name is Shweta Nand.My culture is Hindu (Indian). My Mum and Dad come from Fiji where they grew up and learnt how to speak Hindi. At home they talk to each other in Hindi, but when they talk to me in Hindi I frequently respond to them in English. In our culture we have so many different things compared to many other cultures; for example we aren't allowed to eat beef, pork, ham, bacon because cows and pigs are sacred to us, so we can only eat chicken and lamb. We aren't allowed to live with boyfriends before marriage. On Mondays and Thursdays we have a special prayer ritual and so we can't eat meat. At weddings we can't cook meat. At funerals we have to wear white and if a person has died in your family then we aren't allowed to cook in the house and so friend's and relatives prepare food for the family. In our religion we pray to many Gods who have different names but we still believe that 1 God is all Gods.