Friday, February 26, 2010

"El Rey Leon" (The Lion King) benchmark activity in Spanish 3-4

Mr. McVeigh's Spanish 3-4 classes are working on the WL Dept. benchmark activity this week.  After viewing the video in Spanish, students will be creating a short, original episode using coloring-book cutouts of The Lion King characters.  They will color the pictures and use them to illustrate their stories.  This activity was also done by Dr. Jacobson's students. Mr. Lawhead's students will complete the benchmark activity next week.  This fun and creative exercise will be used by the teachers to evaluate student progress.

French 1-2 students viewing Le Ballon Rouge

Mrs. Leidhoff's fist-year French stduents will view the short film by Albert Morrisse Le Ballon Rouge. This classic award-winning film is used in film schools for it’s simplicity and perfection. Students are also creating a brochure of their own school for students of a francophone country.





Students of second year are mastering the past tense and will be assessed on Friday. Forth year French students are practicing the difference of prepositional phrases and tying together complex sentences.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Preparation begins for Sp 5-6 interviews!

Mr. Lawhead's Span 5-6 classes began their new TPR/S story:  Salvador Busca Empleo.  This story, when memorized, will provide the scaffolding and support for students during the interview portion of their project.  Reminder:  sometime in late March or April, students will face a bilingual member of the community in a mock-job interview conducted entirely in Spanish!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Sp 5-6 Students Begin Preparing for Interviews

Mr. Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 classes are beginning to prepare for the course-required mock job interview to be faced in late Spring.  Pairs of students formed a company, advertised a position and interviewed other students in an informal warmup to the real thing.  Serious preparation begins next week!
Interviewer and student from several years ago.

Music Research Proj in Sp 5-6 and Poetry in Sp 7-8

Ms. Murrell's Spanish 5-6 students are beginning a music research project. Students will be researching
Merengue, Flamenco, Salsa, Pop, Rock, Ranchero, vallenato, tango, cumbia, música andina, bachata, mambo, and school-appropriate reaggeton. The will then be collaborating with High School students from Cincinnati Ohio to create a oral presentation with visual support.
Spanish 7-8 students are reading the Poems of Pablo Neruda. 20 poemas de amor y una canción
desesperada (20 Love Poems and a song of despair).
 Students will be representing the poems with a dramatic reading and images.

Picture Dictionaries & a Lectura

Mr. McVeigh's Spanish 1-2 students are making picture dictionaries illustrating all their new -AR verbs. Once they put the finishing touches on them, they'll be placed around the classroom for reference.
Spanish 3-4 students are reading: "El monte de nuestro alimento" and are working on dividing the legend into sections. After reading their section carefully, each group illustrates the action and will present a summary in their own words during class.

Buscando a Nemo - Spanish 1-2

Mrs. Trott's classes are watching Buscando a Nemo (Finding Nemo) in Spanish with Spanish subtitles.
Students, listen, read, see the action and discuss new vocabulary and expressions before, during and after the video. Students discuss the difference between American slang terms like "dude", "totally", "awesome" and "Oh goodness!" and their translations into Spanish.

Monday, February 8, 2010

New Semester Begins! Fall Semester grades submitted.

Fall Semester grades were submitted by 8:00 AM this morning.  Once processed, teachers have until midnight to make corrections, if necessary.  Your student should know his/her Fall Semester grade by Tuesday, February 9.  Report cards will be mailed to your home on February 26.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Teachers find stress-relief at Rancho Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve!

World Languages teachers and friends hiked to the falls in Rancho Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve on Wednesday after grading their students' mid-term final exams.  It was a wonderful afternoon and all agreed that another hike had to be planned soon!  In the group:  Michael McVeigh, Janet Ouadah, Janice Trott, Christine Leidhoff, Karen Lenhof, Richard Lawhead and...Cody!