Vocabulary: Amend: change a contract or law Investigate: to examine the detail of something in order to find out the truth Police: a verb, meaning to control and watch over something Commission: a part of the government that is independent from the government in conducting investigations and making judgements Attribute to: to say that something ...…

Vocabulary: Screening: being shown in movie theatres or on TV Take on: this is phrasal verb which means to adopt, to accept something new Episode: one story in a series, usually there are about ten episodes in a series of TV shows Forbidden: not allowed, prohibited Nightmares: bad dreams Anticipated: expected in the future Previous: coming befo ...…

Vocabulary: Vote: a democratic process of making a decision as a group Core values: basic ideas that are shared by a group to ensure social harmony A bill: a proposal for a new law Proponent: someone who agrees with an idea Opponent: someone who disagrees with an idea Enact: when the government allows a bill to become a law, they enact it Answe ...…

Vocabulary: Kiwi: a native bird of New Zealand Brought over: transported Nest: Nest can be a noun, meaning the home of a bird, but it can also be a verb, meaning to build and live in a nest. Sanctuary: a safe place Answers: Twenty rare kiwi have been moved to Shakespeare Regional Park near Auckland. These birds are little spotted kiwi, New Zeal ...…

Vocabulary: Anniversary: a time that is exactly one year after an important event Interest: curiosity, when people want to know about something Parental leave: when somebody has a new baby, they can stop working for a short time so that they can stay home and look after the baby In office: this means working in a political position where you we ...…

Vocabulary Contamination: pollution of food Harshly: an adverb meaning harsh. Harsh means very strict, or too strict. Punnet: a container for berries Answers: In the last month Australia has struggled with a health scare related to strawberries, and this is now something that New Zealanders also need to be careful of. Last week in Australia, th ...…

Wedneday 19 September, 2018 A New Rhino in Auckland Zoo Vocabulary: Breeding program: When people plan for captive animals to have babies Settle in: become accustomed to a new home Calves: the plural of “calf”, a baby ruminant (an animal that eats grass) Answers Hamilton Zoo has sent a young female white rhino to Auckland Zoo as part of a breed ...…

Vocabulary: southern: an adjective meaning “in the South” southerly winds: winds that come from the South towards the North a record: the best/worst yet Answers: Although it is now Spring, heavy snow has started to fall in the southern part of the South Island. Drivers are being told to put chains on their wheels if driving between Queenstown a ...…

Vocabulary: Announce: tell everybody Demolish: destroy, knock down Space: an area of land Low income: if you have a low income, it means that you don’t have enough money Development: a building project Tram: a small train in the city, such as in San Francisco Answers: The government has announced plans to build 10,000 more houses in Mt Roskill, ...…

Vocabulary: Celebrate: Do something fun to show that you are happy Perform: to do something in public. Usually if you perform a song or dance, you feel nervous because everyone is watching you. Compulsory: if something is compulsory, you have to do it, you have no choice. Promote: if you promote something, it is a little bit like advertising. Y ...…

Vocabulary: induct: If you induct someone, you bring them into a group. venue: the place where a group event, such as a wedding or a concert, can be held prevent: to prevent something is to stop it before it can happen involved in: If you are busy with a particular group activity, you can say that you are involved in it. So we can say, “She is ...…

Vocabulary: rate: rate is similar to speed, but is used to talk about how often something happens, rather than speed of movement. investment: People often say, “if you want to make money, you have to spend money.” This is the idea of investment. environmental protection laws: Laws that control pollution or other damage to the environment are ca ...…

Vocabulary: rent: money that is paid to a landlord to be able to live in a house tenancy: an agreement to rent a house tenant: someone who is renting a house to go through a process: to do a number of things in a particular order, step by step bid: to compete with other people who want to buy or rent something by naming the highest price that y ...…

This week the founder of ESLNews, Pat Syme, is retiring after building and taking care of this website for over ten years. The new administrator of this website is myself, Melissa Cassidy. I wish that we could throw a party for Pat to thank her for her selfless work, but we are all in many places, so a real-life party would be difficult to mana ...…

The Prime Minister announced today that salaries of all MPs will be frozen for a year. That means there will be no increase – or decrease. They will stay the same. Each year, an independent organisation (it’s called the Remuneration Authority) decides on the salaries of MPs. This year the decision was an increase of 3%. MPs have no control over ...…

Steven Adams is back in New Zealand this week to run three basketball camps for children from 8 to 17 years old. They are 5-hour camps held on one-day. The Auckland one was yesterday with a large number of kids and many expert coaches to help out. Palmerston North camp is next on Sunday, and Dunedin on 22nd August. Then later on Sunday 19th, Ma ...…

Tomorrow, August 15th, primary teachers are going on strike. One thing they want is better pay – a 16% increase spread over two years. They also want teaching to be a more attractive career for young people. The average age of teachers is getting older and it is important for the future to attract new teachers. Teaching is much harder these day ...…

The government plans to ban single use plastic bags by some time next year. Single use are those bags which we use to carry a load of groceries. Many people in fact say these are not single use, they reuse plastic bags, especially to line a kitchen rubbish bin. Of course, there are other uses for these bags, but it is true that most of them end ...…

What happened about the two alt right Canadian speakers? Did they come to New Zealand? Yes, they did, but the public meeting to hear them speak was cancelled because of a concern about violent protests. They were interviewed by some media and anyone interested in their views, can listen to them speaking on You Tube. As a result of the visit fro ...…

New Zealand has a Fire and Emergency agreement with USA, Canada, Mexico and Australia to help fighting wildfires. This agreement works both ways. Immediately after the earthquake in Christchurch in 2010, American USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) came to help. In fact, USAR from many countries also came bringing their skills and equipment to help. ...…

Here’s a story with a happy ending. An Australian soldier, who is also a mountaineer, was climbing alone last weekend in Mt Aspiring National Park. He left his sleeping bag and food in a mountain hut while climbing on Sunday because he expected to be back at the hut in the evening. However, he was stuck on the mountain in freezing temperatures, ...…

The Prime Minister has come to the end of her 6 weeks maternity leave. Winston Peters, who was the acting Prime Minister while she was on leave, flew out of New Zealand at midnight last night to Singapore for meetings. He is the Foreign Minister. Ms Ardern is now back as Prime Minister. She lives in Auckland but will travel to Wellington on Sat ...…

Vic is the popular name for the Victoria University of Wellington. Students there will tell you that they are studying at Vic. Now the university council wants to change its name to the University of Wellington. Why? Because there are many other Victoria universities around the world, like Victoria University in British Colombia, Canada. Austra ...…

Joel Amosa The winner of the Lexus Song Quest last night was Joel Amosa, a bass baritone. He was one of 5 finalists at the Auckland town hall last night. They each sang one song accompanied by a pianist, then two songs accompanied by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. There is always an international judge. It was a long journey to get to the ...…

The Auckland City Council decided this week that the underground rail link needs to expand to cope with future growth. Rail has been more popular than expected with passenger numbers increasing and It is a much better idea to allow for future growth now before construction starts. The Council decided to build longer platforms at Aotea Square an ...…

The New Zealand International Film Festival opened last weekend in Auckland. After that, some of the films will travel to 12 other towns in New Zealand. You can check the programme in a town nearest you. It’s a great opportunity to see films from many countries and in many languages including French, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, ...…

The West Coast of the South Island has been the centre of coal mining since the 19th century. The economy of the West Coast in recent years, has been dependent on mining, fishing, forestry, dairying, and tourism. Forestry has reduced because native forests in that area have trees which are several hundreds of years old, so they cannot be cut do ...…

This month is excellent for finding the five planets which we can see with the naked eye. Mercury and Venus are in the sky soon after sunset and then start to disappear. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible later and if the sky is clear, they are very easy to see. Mars is the red planet. Venus is the brightest. Neptune and Uranus are visible e ...…

Hate speech is a crime. You can’t say thing like, “All blue people are murderers.” However, it is sometimes hard to draw the line between hate speech and free speech. Two Canadian speakers, Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux, are touring Australia at the moment and planned to come to New Zealand next. Both speakers have far-right views about r ...…

Yesterday, July 12th 30,000 nurses went on strike for 24 hours from 7am. It was quiet in most hospitals as non-urgent surgery was cancelled. Appointments to see specialists were also cancelled. A number of nurses volunteered to work while their colleagues marched in the streets, carrying signs. Nurses say it’s not just more pay that is needed b ...…