AUCKLAND HUNGARIAN CLUB

On December 6, fittingly on St. Nicholas Day, the community of the Auckland Hungarian School gathered for its traditional Christmas picnic and family day. The event unfolded in a joyful atmosphere, framed by laughter, shared games, and delicious Hungarian treats. The day began with a colorful cultural program, during which each group proudly presented what they had been working on over the past months. The celebration opened with a touching video clip that brought this year’s

Since Halloween had taken place the evening before, our day began with a roundtable discussion: who had what kind of costume, how much candy they collected, and whether they celebrate this holiday at all. Hanna arrived shortly afterward, so we could also go through the wall calendar together—we definitely wanted to wait for her, as we know it’s one of her favorites. And although from November 1 it might still seem like Christmas is far away, since this was our last school day

The morning at the October Auskola started in a special way. Dorián graduated, that is, said goodbye to the small group and spent the school day with the middle group. The number of children in the small group remained the same, however, because a new little girl joined us – Szofi, who recently moved to Auckland from Hungary. Therefore, we began the day by getting to know each other, with introductions and a name-memory game so that everyone would feel comfortable. Then, as u

The September Hungarian school session began in a cheerful atmosphere: the children warmed up for the joint work with outdoor movement games. This was followed by a short introduction round, as three new students joined the group, giving everyone a chance to say a few words about themselves. The focus of learning this time was the seasons. The children learned the names of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and then together explored the characteristics of each using a color

Our morning began with warm-up games.First, we passed around some “claps,” then the “armpit-penguin,” and finally several rounds of making funny faces — we all had a great time. After that, as usual, we reviewed the calendar, the weather, the seasons, talked about winter, and also about recent and upcoming “winter” holidays. We had our morning snack and then ran out to the playground to get some fresh air. The break ended with an advanced round of hide-and-seek, because the o

This AUskola day was mostly about play and crafts.At the very beginning of the day, for the first time this school year, we joined the others in a common warm-up game. Both the younger and older children enjoyed this equally. After that, we moved into our own, familiar classroom, and during morning tea, we talked about how everyone’s winter break had gone. We continued with “Hairdresser” math and a visual memory game. For the craft activity, I originally planned to make butt

In early July, we held a day camp for Hungarian children in Auckland.The idea was born during a conversation in June, when we were thinking about how to enrich the community programs during the school holidays. Originally, I had planned an excursion, but due to the weather, it didn’t seem ideal this time. That’s when the inspiration came: what if we held a day camp instead? Back in Hungary, I’ve been organizing camps for years with my dance club, where we spend the summer wit

On this day, we continued getting to know Hungarian letters, sounds, and syllables . We made a little robot-person out of a clothespin who, it turned out, was excellent at syllabifying.We played a domino game with occupations and also a game of "hangman."After pizza, we headed to the playground, then it was time for storytime.First, we watched Ludas Matyi in slide film format, then we got to know Lázár Ervin’s clever character, the Rabbit Interpreter, through old-fashioned s

On this day, we continued getting to know Hungarian letters, sounds, and syllables.We made little robot-people out of clothespins, and they turned out to be excellent at syllabification! We played a domino game with occupations and even a round of “hangman.” After pizza came the playground, followed by story time. First, we watched Ludas Matyi in slide film format, and then we explored the clever Rabbit Interpreter by Ervin Lázár through traditional storytelling. After trying

Our April Auskola Day was exciting and rich with playful learning, singing, crafts, storytelling, and bonding, especially since three new children joined our group this year. We started the morning with the wall calendar and planned the day together. We talked about the alphabet and animals and created a team chant using the first letters of our names. Then came the geese and ganders for a quick game, followed by morning tea and crafts. The kids could choose to make a lamb, a

On the first day of the 2025 school year, we made the most of the glorious weather by meeting the students at Auckland Domain. After introductions, we kicked off the day with some games popular among children in Hungary. The colour shark and canoe-turmix-pancake games were particularly well-received, with everyone joining in enthusiastically. Following our lively warm-up, we headed to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. The older students explored the war history exhibition, ga

The camp was as vibrant and special as life itself, with everyone's faces aglow with joy — teachers included — as the sun warmed the dark sands of the west coast. Teachers Erika and Dora led fifteen children on an extraordinary adventure. Andi Gondi, the camp's extraordinary cook, worked tirelessly to satisfy the campers' insatiable appetites, while Ursula and Peter, the caretakers' pride and joy, ensured everything ran like clockwork. The inviting black sand and towering dun

Once again, the Auckland Hungarian community’s school, AUskola, can look back on an eventful and exciting year. Throughout the year, we faced many challenges and celebrated many successes. Although it was difficult to find a suitable school building at first, we eventually found a solution and felt very much at home all year long at Grey Lynn School. We fondly look back on two successful field trips: a wonderful world opened up to us on Tiritiri Matangi, the island of birds,

During the November session, the children and I looked at the calendar and noticed that Christmas and many other holidays were approaching. Each child made a letter from the word “HOLIDAY” ("VAKÁCIÓ" in Hungarian), then we assembled the word, and Edina showed them how to chant it backwards: “ó, ió, ció, áció, káció, and vakáció!” We talked about the anticipation of the holidays and what everyone was doing to prepare. After a fun jumping game outside, Edina invited the childre

Kids in the AUskola Today at school, we “traveled around the world” with the older kids in just five hours (well, virtually). Before we started, we immediately encountered a puzzle: A naked man is lying in the middle of the desert. Next to him is a matchstick. What could have happened? With Barchoba, we solved the puzzle and agreed that we wouldn’t travel by hot air balloon. Then we watched a short video about the 10 most dangerous roads in the world — so traveling by car was