Languages and Other Countries

Librarian in the spotlight: Frith

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Find out about your local librarians!

1. What is your name? Frith

2. Which library(s) do you work at? Karori and Cummings Park (Ngaio) libraries

3. What’s the best thing about being a librarian? The box of stamps I have under the counter. There are so many!

4. Favourite book? This is the first book in my favourite series – The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (we have this book at Karori library, by the way). Gen the thief is caught in jail when he is offered a job by the King’s Magus… but there’s a catch. There are four books so far, but I can’t tell you anything more about them, because there are so many plot twists it would ruin things for you. You’ll have to read them to find out.

5. When I read I like to…? I like to read on the roof! I live on the second floor above a café, and I can climb out the front windows onto the café roof to sit with a book in the sun.

6. If you wrote a book, what would it be about? I can’t tell you. I write so slowly, someone else might get my idea and finish writing the book before I did.

7. If I wasn’t a librarian, I would be a …? I would be a Sign Language Interpreter, someone who translates English into sign language (and the other way round) for Deaf people.

8. Favourite food? Fish, bacon and banana pie. It sounds disgusting, but tastes delicious (the secret is butter, lots of butter).

9. Favourite place in the world? The Rose-Red City of Petra. It’s in the country of Jordan in the Middle East and is built of caves in the rock of the mountain. It’s thousands of years old and still standing.

10. My dream library would have…? My dream library would have pets. Not just a library cat, but pet mice, rabbits, or even a puppy that visits. The borrowers could name them, help feed them at storytimes, and kids learning to read could read to the animals and pat them. Imagine snuggling up in an armchair to read with the library rabbit!

 

 

Niue Language Week 6-13th October

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Falaalofa lahi atu!

 

The theme for Niue Language Week is ‘fakamau, fakamanatu mo e fakaaoga tumau e vagahau Niue‘ which means ‘maintain, retain and develop the Niue language’.

The Pacific Island of Niue is very small and has a population of 1’400 people. It’s known as The Rock of the pacific, and is located about 2’400kms northeast of New Zealand. Niueans are automatically New Zealand citizens and have the same queen as New Zealand – Queen Elizabeth II.

90-96 % of Niueans live in New Zealand (22,473 people in 2006) and is our 4th largest Pacific Island population group. This also means that 70% of those that can speak Niuean live in New Zealand.

This week is Niuean Language week . Because the population is small and most of the Niueans live in New Zealand (where English is mostly spoken), it’s really important that the language is learnt and used by Niueans so that it survives.

Here’s a useful language guide for everyday words. You can also visit the official Niuean language website too, and the Wikipedia page is good for language experts. Why not give some words and sentences a go?

 

Here’s some cool facts about Niue:

  • It’s the largest coral island in the world
  • It was settled by Polynesians from Samoa in 900AD. The first European to see Niue was Captain James Cook in 1774AD
  • Captain Cook called the island Savage Island because he thought the islanders had blood smeared all over them. ‘Niue’ means ‘behold the coconut’.
  • Niue has free wireless internet for everyone who lives there. The first country to do so.
  • Every primary and secondary student has a lap top provided for them to do their school work on.
  • There is only 1 TV channel, 1 newspaper and 1 radio station.
  • Air New Zealand is the only airline that flies to Niue.
  • February is the hottest month, and March is the wettest (most rain falls over summer). Temperatures as high as 38 degrees have been recorded in Niue! That’s hot!
  • Niue is home to the Coconut Crab, that largest living crab in the word! It can grow up to 91cms wide. Scary!
  • Niue is on the other side of the International Date Line, which means that is is 23 hours behind New Zealand. Which means that at the moment it is yesterday in Niue.

New Non-Fiction for February!

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Want to learn more about stuff? This month in the library we’ve got books about time and how people have measured it in history (The Time Book), words and the English language (The word snoop), the best way to make people laugh (Funny business), some more disgusting facts and trivia (Why does ear wax taste so gross?), and how does the internet work anyway (How did that get to my house? Internet)?

 

For more new non-fiction arrivals have a look at the My Library Children’s Non-Fiction page.

Dragons: Chinese Dragons

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Chinese Dragons are the friendliest kind of dragon. In China they are known as “long.”

They live in lakes, pools or rivers, where they hibernate throughout the winter. They are responsible for bringing the rain. Although they have no wings they are able fly.

They are able to change their size, from incredibly small, to incredibly large. They can also shapeshift into people, animals and objects. They have a long, slender, snake-like body, with four legs and with five claws on each paw. Chinese dragons have hairy manes, with a beard and tufts of hair on the backs of their legs. They also have a long whisker on either side of their mouth.

They come in five different colours: red, white, black, yellow and blue/green. They have five large scales under their chin which lie in the opposite direction to the other scales. Each dragon has 117 scales: 81 can be used for good and 36 for bad.

Chinese dragons have incredibly sharp eyesight, but they are hard of hearing. They are often shown grasping or reaching for a pearl, which is a symbol of wisdom, good fortune and immortality.

Find out more:

Nicholas: the books and the website!

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book cover in French!If you’ve read the Nicholas books by Goscinny you should check out the Nicholas website – it’s got some cool games and activities, including Cowboys and Miniature Golf (which I was about as good at as I am in real life), plus you can join the Nicholas club and get some free stuff. So who or what is Nicholas then? The website does a better job of explaining than I ever could. Make sure you check out the books in the library too!