World Languages teachers get into the spirit of Hallowe'en

Gorilla - Mr. R. Lawhead, Spanish

Japanese man - A. Blackwelder-sensei, Japanese
Sumo wrestler - Ms. L. Murrell, Spanish

Día de los Muertos in Spanish 3-4

Mr. Lawhead's Spanish 3-4 students recently watched a video about the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico.  They are creating tombstones and obituaries for real and imagined people to practice using the past tense.

Día de los Muertos in Spanish 7-8

Ms. Murrell's Spanish 7-8 class is preparing their Day of the Dead presentations for November 5th.  You can follow their project in their Wiki.  Spanish 5-6 researched a country, created a map and then wrote a story using the past tense in Spanish on the class Google site.  You can also review blog posts for Spanish 7-8 here and Spanish A-P here.

Ms. Frederickson's French 5-6 students are performing skits where they are TV chefs presenting a cooking show.  In honor of Halloween, their dishes contain strange ingredients with extra points for a truly hideous "plat du jour"!

Spanish 5-6 students face oral evaluation

Mr. Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 students are preparing for their first oral evaluation after weeks of TPR/S training.  Students will view a 4-panel cartoon and describe the story it represents.

Students experience and adapt French Literature

Mrs. Leidhoff's AP French students are adapting a narrative story of La Genie du Mangier to a presentational piece.  French 7-8 students are reading Les Miserables and will be adapting it to TPR/S (Total Physical Response w/Storytelling).

Travel logs in Mr. McVeigh's classes

Mr. McVeigh's Spanish 3-4 classes have started a Short Story/Travel Project.  They will create a travel log that describes a real (or imaginary) friend and visit three destinations in a Spanish-speaking country.

Mrs. Arinn Smith - Teacher of the Month!

The World Languages Department is delighted that our own Arinn Smith, ASL teacher, has been honored by students with election as "Teacher of the Month".  Congratulations, we're proud of you!

Study Abroad Programs in Spanish

Mrs. Trott's classes had the opportunity to hear Mr. Rene Martínez from Learning Programs International present information about programs for Spanish study in other countries.  These programs are available for people looking to improve their Spanish proficiency, earn college credit or just looking for volunteer opportunities. 

Mr. McVeigh's students are doing informal role-playing with one student playing a nosy reporter and the other a pampered star! Do the students actually know that they're learning narration in the past and using interrogatives?  Shhhhh!

ASL 1-2 students give presentations

Mrs. Lenhof's ASL 1-2 students are giving their first presentations:  "Who Am I?"  They also enjoy playing a game called "Sign Libb" for reinforcing their descriptive vocabulary.

Newcasts in the French Honors & Spanish 1-2 news

Mrs. Leidhoff's French Honors students took the roles of newscasters and were recorded giving their newscasts to the delight of the class.  Meanwhile, French 1-2 students are learning the rudiments of telling likes and dislikes with a visual aid.

Country Profile Projects

Mr. McVeigh's Spanish 1-2 class will be recorded this Wednesday as they present their research on Spanish-speaking countries.  With parent-permission, we hope to post some of these videos on the blog and Mr. McVeigh's school website.

ASL Club and other class news

75 students have signed (is that a pun?) up for the ASL Club!  ASL 1 and ASL3 are mentoring between levels and have their first "meet & greet" this week.  Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Lenhoff are having a lot of fun watching their students put the language into action!

French 5-6 takes a walk!

Ms. Frederickson's French 5-6 class took a walk around the campus last week and wrote about what they saw and what they did.  Students got a little fresh air and a good lesson on the two past tenses in French.

Interviews

Mr. Lawhead's Spanish 3-4 class is busy preparing questions to interview each other.  Interviews will happen on Monday and a poster will be made with all the information gleaned from each other along with a hand-drawn portrait of the interviewee (a source of great amusement).