World Languages get pie-in-face and waterballooned, all for good causes!

Mr. Blackwelder, Mrs. Leidhoff and Mr. Stanko all volunteered to take some abuse to help clubs raise money at the Winter Carnival, December 15th, in the quad.  What good sports!

Gifts delivered to "Tijuana Dump School"

Mr. David Lynch, founder of the school, is briefly seen at the beginning of this video followed by an interview with Meg P., the senior who organized it.  The van full of gifts for students in Tijuana is truly impressive!

Cooking! Le Roi de Lion (Lion King), Disco! avec Buche Noel!

Madame Leidhoff's French students have many activities to keep them focused before de vacances!

French 3-4 students studied cooking vocabulary and presented a cooking show!

Advanced French students presented news in French from around the world!

French 1-2 learned family vocabulary watching Le Roi de Lion!

All celebrated the holiday with disco ball and Buche de Noel!

ASL "So you think you can sign" competition!

Mrs. Redelings and Mrs. Smith launched the 1st Annual "So You Think You Can Sign" competition. ASL 1 competed against ASL 3 using vocabulary learned during the first 12 weeks of school. The event was run by ASL 5 students who taught the rules, presented the vocabulary and kept score. This is the first time that all 3 levels of the ASL program interact in a language exercise presented in a game format. The response from students was very positive. The points will be tallied and the coveted trophy will be kept in the winning classroom until the next competition.

ASL preparing presentations of "My Family"

Mrs. Redelings ASL students have been learning how to sign clothes and colors. They have also been delving into the linguistics of ASL such as types of verbs and glossing.  They are now preparing their 2nd set of signed presentations of the semester on the topic of  "My Family".

World Languages play Santa Claus to Tijuana kids!

Meg P., a senior member of the Spanish Honor Society, coordinated this year's collection of gifts for the Tijuana Dump school.  More than 150 children were "adopted" for Christmas by World Languages students.  Meg, with the help of Mr. McVeigh, promoted, coordinated and collected the gifts.  This was her senior project.  Great work!

Spanish 5-6 produce videos and AP students get ready!

Mr. McVeigh's 5-6 students are filming their reality show projects. They are working to describe various personality characteristics and relationships while recycling several past and present grammar structures.
AP Language students have recently completed their second formal essay and are presenting grammar lessons each week in preparation for the AP Exam.

Spanish 3-4 students using TPR/S to teach a story and vocabulary

Mr. Lawhead's Spanish 3-4 students are using the Total Physical Response w/Storytelling method to share and teach a story to each other.  Watch as a couple of  "teachers" put their "students" through the learning process.

ASL students sharing "Sign Libs"

Mrs. Smith's ASL 3 and 5 are preparing for their final formal presentation for the semester. ASL 3 will be presenting on a significant personal item and ASL 5 will be presenting on various teen health topics. For a bit of fun time signing both levels have been working on creating a Sign Lib which copies Mad Libs. The students are having a great time sharing their Sign Libs with partners and presenting to the class.

Japanese students learning about the holidays!

With the holiday season now upon us, Mr. Blackwelder's Japanese 3-4 students are learning about religion in Japan, the role of Buddhism and Shinto in the daily life of the Japanese, and Christianity's presence in Japan. Students are also learning about cultural practices surrounding New Year's Day, the most important holiday in the Japanese calendar year.

Police Artist activity in Spanish 5-6

Mr. Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 classes worked with adjectives to create "police artist" sketches of "criminals".  In pairs, one student would be the witness and view a photograph of a "criminal".  The student would then describe the criminal in Spanish to his/her partner who would sketch the suspect.  Much hilarity resulted from the sketches of one of the criminals:  Señor Lawhead himself!

Let's Bargain! activity in Spanish 3-4

Mr. Stanko's Spanish 3-4 classes will be doing a marketplace bargaining situation where students will be vendors or consumers and will have to bargain for lower prices in order to "buy" certain items (with fake money, of course).

Fun activities in all Madame Leidhoff's French classes!

French 1-2 students presented decorated T-SHIRTS that have illustrations of their personality.
French 3-4 students are now creating fantastical stories after a grinding study of the formation of the past tense.
Advanced French students continue story-telling and literature of courtly love and legends. Students told stories using cartoon strips in forms of the past tense.

Spanish 1-2 skits of comical situations

Dr. Jacobson's Spanish 1-2 students developed skits using words and phrases from the textbook that reflected a typical conversation with friends and augmented vocabulary to create scenes with characters in comical situations.

"Mi amigo del mismo escritorio" project in Spanish

Profe Bañuelos's Español 1-2 class worked on their "Mi Amigo Del Mismo Escritorio" (My Friend From The Same Desk) project over the Thanksgiving week-long recess. It is a project that utilizes a all of the Spanish that the students have learned since Profe Bañuelos has become their teacher.

French students graph popular tourist destinations

It can be tricky to express the idea of going to or being at a place in French, so Madame Frederickson's French 1-2 students practiced this by polling their classmates on how often they go to local tourist destinations and graphing the results. Popular places are the beach, Fashion Valley, Sea World, and Balboa Park. Rarely visited are Old Town and the Hotel Del Coronado.

Travel Diaries in Spanish 3-4

Mr. Stanko's Spanish 3-4 classes completed a travel diary project where students describe what they do on vacation (using chapter vocabulary) and then create that scene and take a picture of it. It brought out the creativity in many students!

Chanson de Roland in French Class

Before Thanksgiving, Madame Leidhoff's advanced French class, divided itself into five teams and presented the entire series of events of the Songs of Roland.The class analyzed the themes of Medieval literature through the stories of Tristan and Isolde and Bayeux Tapestry.

Fun week!