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!

French Students Study and Create Art

Madame Frederickson's French 5-6 students viewed paintings by some of the most prominent French impressionists, did a written response to one work, read a short biography of Claude Monet and a summary of impressionism. Finally they created and presented their own artwork, and explained 3 characteristics it shared with impressionist art

World Languages Students to Support Tijuana School

Every year, the World Languages Department supports a school that serves the many poor families that live and make their living from the Tijuana municipal dump.  Students are asked to sponsor a child or young adult at the school for Christmas.  After receiving a "letter-to-Santa" and an information sheet, students and their families promise to purchase three gifts totalling no more than $75.  These gifts are delivered as gifts "from Santa" at Christmas time.  The first letters will be available Monday, Novemeber 15.  M. Patten is organizing the project for her senior project and Mr. McVeigh is the contact teacher. 

ASL 1-2 students gearing up for second set of signed presentations!

Mrs. Redelings' students have been learning how to sign clothes and colors, noun-verb pairs, and various other vocabulary. They have also begun delving into some linguistics of ASL, such as types of verbs and glossing. They are now gearing up for their second set of signed presentations of the semester on the topic of 'My Family.

French Students Visit S D Museum of Art

On Saturday, October 6, several students of different levels/classes of Madame Frederickson viewed the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art. We viewed an extensive collection of lithographs, paintings, drawings, all of it enhanced by information from our docent, Solange.

Also, French 5-6 students presented skits à la "Top Chef" to practice use of vocabulary about food preparation.

¡Problemas en el Aeropuerto!

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 3-4 students also act out new vocabulary in short skits for the enjoyment of their classmates.

¡Ay! ¿Dónde está mi pasaporte?

Señora Trott's Spanish 3-4 classes will begin preparing 3 minute skits using travel and airport vocabulary to resolve real life travel situations. "I forgot my passport!" "Where is the bus stop?" "I am allergic to peanuts." "May I speak to the flight attendant?" "Where is the pilot?" "I can't find my boarding pass!" "Where is the tourist information office?", etc.

El Desafío de las Banderas (Challenge of the Flags)

Señor Bañuelos's Español 1-2 & Español 3-4 classes participated in "El Desafío de las Banderas." A challenge activity where they attempted to name all the flags of the Spanish-speaking countries that decorate the classroom.

French students read and perform Les Míserables

Madame Leidhoff's students read comics on Les Miserables, based on a book by Victor Hugo. Afterwards, they did scene representations based on the play. This helped to reinforce the vocabulary learned in a cultural and language context....fun!

French students view Rue Casse Negre

Madame Leidhoff's French class viewed Rue Casse Negre last Friday. It is the story of young boy of colonial Martinique who earns his education despite poverty and becomes the great French author Joseph Zobel.

Spanish 3-4 students sing "De Colores"

Señor Lawhead leads his class in singing "De Colores" on Friday for a little educational "break".

Spanish 1-2 students do lunchtime presentations for peers.

Dr. Jacobson's  Spanish 1-2 classes prepared 'Spanish Newspapers' including articles and poems about Mexico's holidays, weather and independence day. Students read to school mates in front of the World Language Bulletin Board during lunch. Students also recorded readings on 'mini 'recorders which they played for their listeners.

French students are busy with new things to learn!

Madame Leidhoff's second-year students have launched into the past tense with games, paired discussions and lotterie.  First-year students are learning to express themselves with the new "-er" verbs. Third-year students are beginning a Unit on the French Middle Ages next week.

French 5-6 students study Impressionism

Madame Frederickson's French 5-6 students viewed paintings by some of the most prominent French impressionists, did a written response to one work, read a short biography of Claude Monet and a summary of impressionism. Finally they created and presented their own artwork, and explained 3 characteristics it shared with impressionist art.

トイレはどこですか？(Toire wa dokodesu ka?)

Mr. Blackwelder's Japanese 1-2 students finished their unit centered on the Japanese classroom: objects in the room, teacher commands, and a classroom "survival guide" (which includes the critical skill of asking to use the restroom). Students are currently creating skits to demonstrate their understanding of the material and to make their first presentations in Japanese

Les Trois Ours (The Three Bears) & Le Concours Truque

Madame Leidhoff's first-year French students performed Les Trois Ours (the Three Bears) in front of their peers. It was great fun to see them speak French with each other sans notes after only 8 weeks of class.

Students of second year French read the African tale Le concours truque about a girl, daughter of a tailor, whose father must choose between two suitors and sets up a contest that she has rigged.

Mr. McVeigh's classes are busy!

Mr. McVeigh's Spanish 5-6 have just completed their "¿Cómo era, como soy?" project that describes themselves as they were as children and how they are as young adults.

Spanish 7-8 is tackling literature with a reading of Una Carta a Dios by Gregorio López y Fuentes.

Spanish AP have read and are analyzing a complex story of fantasy and reality called: Continuidad de los Parques.

Spanish 5-6 students create Biografías y Retratos (Portraits)

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 students put the finishing touches on the biographies and hand-drawn portraits of their partners.  After several drafts and peer-editing, these finished projects will be graded and the artwork displayed in the classroom.  Great job, students!

French Students pantomine "Déjeuner du matin"

Madame Frederickson's 5-6 students narrated the action in "Déjeuner du Matin" while classmates enacted it. Despite the departure of the narrators just because the bell rang, these actors finished their performance.

Advanced French students study ancient language and culture

After presentations on the geography of provinces in France, Madame Leidhoff's students of Advanced French are immersed in the language and culture of the Gallo-Romain time period of France. Students are creating conceptual maps and timelines of events of conquered France. Students have presented skits of readings of Asteriks and Obeliks, and song La Tribu de Dana de Manau.

Japanese students study student life.

Mr. Blackwelder's Japanese 5-6 students are working on an in-depth study of school life in Japan, from social issues to school events to a typical classroom schedule. As part of the unit, students viewed the film "Toki wo kakeru shojo" ("The Girl Who Leapt Through Time") which highlights daily student life and all the drama within (romance, bullying, etc). Next, students will choose a particular topic and complete a research project on an aspect of school life shared by the U.S. and Japan

¡Bienvenido Señor Bañuelos!

Mr. Andrew Bañuelos has joined the World Langauges Department to teach Spanish 1-2 and Spanish 3-4.  Students had to await the assignment of a permanent teacher until the school's enrollment became final.  World Languages Department members are very familiar with Mr. Bañuelos because he has substituted for many of our classes.  We're delighted that he is a new member of our department!  You can find him in Room B-10!

Interviews for mini-project

Mr. Lawhead's 3rd year students interview each other in Spanish to gather information for a biography. This mini-project introduces the vocabulary from Unidad 1;Etapa 1 and gives students a change to meet each other. A hand-drawn portrait of each student will also be part of the project (that's the fun...and funny part!).

¡Viva México! SRHS World Languages Welcomes Visitor

SRHS World Languages Department is pleased to welcome Señor Álavaro Noriega Moreno from the Mexcian Consulate who is here to share the joy and celebration of Mexico's bicentennial with our students. This presentation was arranged by Dr. Julie Jacobson and will be held in the theater on Wednesday, October 6 for 3rd period Spanish classes and other invited students.

¡Viva México! and congratulations on their 200th year of independence!

Open House 2010-11 World Languages Represents!

Parents and World Languages teachers meet at the September 30th Open House.  Although the time in each class was short, it gave parents a chance to ask questions and meet their children's teachers face-to-face.

Voicethreads, Debates and Literature in Spanish

Sr. McVeigh's 5-6 students are working with Voicethreads (voicethread.com) to create a brief audio-visual travelog of a Spanish-speaking country
Using Voicethreads, Spanish 7-8 students will research a Mexican state and create an oral presentation that describes the state's geography, history, people, and culture. Also, Thursdays are debate days where students argue topics of their choice.

AP Spanish students are working on their first unit, "La vida y la muerte." They have already read their first piece of literature connected with our unit's focus on life and death and will be expanding their knowledge in the weeks to come.

TPR/S, Reading and Telling Stories in French

Madame Leidhoff's students of French 3-4 did a TPR/S lesson called Celine and Oliver to review verbs.

Advanced French students read “Le Petit Nicolas, Maxent et la magie”
Students of first year French learned to tell their first story in French!

Review Poster and Tests. Time to show off!

Mr. Stanko's Spanish 3-4 class is almost done reviewing material from Spanish 1-2 and will be showing off their academic success with a test on block day. Spanish 5-6 students are designing review posters to share with the class in preparation for their "etapa preliminar" test.

"¡Muchas Gracias! to the Hoffer family

Señor Lawhead and his students would like to say a sincere:  "¡Muchas gracias!" to the Hoffer family for its generous donation of office supplies for the classroom.  In these days of severe budget cuts we are very grateful for their thoughfulness and support!

ASL students volunteer at Deaf Community Services picnic!

Six ASL students from Mrs. Smith's class volunteered to assist the Deaf Community Services (DCS) "End of Summer Picnic". They helped run games and serve food.  Once again, our signing Falcons did an outstanding job and impressed DCS. The agency has Deaf Awareness Day on October 2 and their Holiday Party in December.  They've asked the students to volunteer again!

French 1-2 students learning "beaucoup"!

Madame Leidhoff's students of first-year French have learned the calendar, salutations, numbers to thirty and classroom vocabulary. They have discussed accents and discussed the greeting in Senegal and France. Students are also learning about the French-speaking country of Morocco.

American Sign Language very busy!

Mrs. Redeling's classes have been learning how to fingerspell, sign numbers and produce correct facial grammar for different types of questions.  Introducing oneself, asking for simple personal information and learning the parameters of signs have been the focus of the first two weeks.

¡Viva México! Sp 3-4 students learn about its Bicentennial!

Señora Trott's Spanish 3-4 classes are creating a travel brochure describing events occurring in Mexico this year, 2010. Mexico is celebrating both the Bicentennial of its Independence Day (September 16, 1810) and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution (November 20, 1910). This travel brochure will highlight some of the many events planned this year in celebration of these important anniversaries. ¡Viva México!

Mini-project finished and hard work begun in Spanish 5-6

Mr. Stanko's Spanish 5-6 class just completed a mini-project, "Todo lo mío," reviewing how to talk about themselves, their families, friends and activities. They are now reviewing those "oh-so-fun" regular verbs and the "deadly" stem changer verbs.

Bonjour! Au Revoir! Un, deux, trois...trente!

Madame Leidhoff's students wrapped up their reviews this week and students of French 1-2 know their numbers to 30, salutations and days of the week!

¡A Cantar! Spanish students sing!

Mr. Lawhead's students finished the second week of school with song!  With Mr. Lawhead playing the guitar, students sang:  De Colores, La Cucaracha and Pobre Nacha.

Review and Déjeuner du Matin

Madame Frederickson's French 5-6 students are reviewing the past tense via a song, a campus walk, and poems. They'll sequence and act out "Déjeuner du Matin" and give the poem a different title. After reading "Le Message" they'll write and illustrate a poem containing their "message."

Vive le francais!

Madame Leidhoff's students of French are setting up their Interactive Notebooks, getting their textbooks and playing icebreaker games. We are off to a wonderful beginning!

2010-2011 has begun. Welcome new colleagues!

Scripps Ranch High School World Languages Department has had an excellent start! Teachers and students are excited!  Follow this blog to see what exciting activities our classes are invovled in each week!

We welcome two new teachers to the department: 

Mr. Edward Stanko, Spanish 3-4 & 5-6

Ms. Debbie Redelings, ASL 1-2

Good-bye! Au Revoir! ¡Hasta luego! Sayonara!

The World Languages Department would like to thank its students for all their hard work, parents for all their support and each other for the love, support and atmosphere of creativity and dedication found on the 2nd floor of the 200 buidling.  Have a great summer! 

Mike McVeigh, Leigh Murrell, Alex Blackwelder, Richard Lawhead, Christine Leidhoff, Julie Jacobson, Arinn Smith, Janice Trott (not pictured:  Karen Lenhof, Julie Frederickson)

¡Gracias a todos por un año magnífico! I'd like to send a huge thanks to my colleagues, students, and parents for a wonderful year at the Ranch. Have a safe and interesting summer and I'll see you all in September! Mr. McVeigh

Au Revoirs les etudiants! Madame Leidhoff

It has been a rich and challenging year. Hope you all have a wonderful summer and keep on "signing!" Mrs. Lenhof

¡Que tengan unas vacaciones maravillosas!  Gracias por todo.  Mr. Lawhead

Once again, a member of the WL Dept. has been selected "Teacher of the Month".

Congratulations Mrs. Trott!

Here is our pantheon of honorees this year!

French Students finish autobiographie and "propaganda"

Madame Leidhoff's first-year French students are finalized and presented their “Autobiographie” last Friday.

Advanced students are preparing for their thematic final on WWII and the collaboration of France with Germany, the Resistance, and the Louis Malle film, Au revoir les enfants. This week, samples of propaganda were evaluated and students created their own piece of “propaganda”. Madame Leidhoff exclaimed:  "Students were so creative and passionate about their work!"

¡Compra esto! Sp. 3-4 students create commercials!

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 3-4 class brought the Imperative Mood (commands) to life with original commercials presented to class in video and in live-action. Click on the thumbnail to see sample.

Spanish AP Creates Original Telenovela!

Srta. Murrell's Spanish AP-Language class has created an original telenovela complete with three advertisements, original music composition and scoring.  Other Spanish classes in the World Languages Department are eagerly awaiting its premiere!  Stay tuned to this blog for a preview!

Mi Marciano Project in Spanish 1-2

Señora Trott's Spanish 1-2 class is working on a final project that will review all that was learned in Spanish this year. The project is called "Mi Marciano/My Martian. Students create a creature from another planet and write and illustrate a story that describes the life of this creature. This project can be in the form of a book, poster, i-movie or power point and will be shared with the class.

ASL using Expressive Skills and Receptive Vocabulary

Mrs. Smith's ASL 4 & 6 classes have been demonstrating their mastery of Expressive skills.  They use desciptive language to describe pictures from magazines and a significant personal item.  They also have been working to complete their Receptive vocabulary exams with almost 300 items.

Fantasy Notebooks in Spanish 5-6

Mr. Lawhead's end-of-the-year project for Spanish 5-6 is the creation of a "Fantasy Notebook".  Students choose to live the life of their fantasy (or imagination) and write an autobiography of it along with creating a scrapbook of  "memories". 

Student teaches making salsa in Spanish 7-8

Ms. Murrell's Spanish 7-8 class is continuing its "enseñanzas". Here a student teaches the class how to make salsa. He has the class working hard following his instructions to make the salsa.

Spanish 3-4 Writing and Illustrating Children's Books

Mr. McVeigh's and Mr. Lawhead's Spanish 3-4 classes worked as individuals or pairs to create Cuentos Juveniles (Children's Books).  Besides being fun, the project was excellent practice for all of what students have learned this year.

French food, Children's Stories and WWII.

Mrs. Leidhoff's French students are busy!

1st yearFrench are learning about French breakfasts Le petit dejeuner. Croissants, chocolat chaud and tartine with Nutella were shared this week as well as crepes with strawberry and cream (which are normally not served for breakfast).

2nd year students are writing children’s stories - practicing their past tense.
Advanced French students are learning about the occupation of France by the Germans during WWII. The Vichy Government and the two leaders Petain and de Gaule are also studied. This study is in recognition of 70 years since the war. All content is presented and performed in French.

Flea Market in French Class!

Mrs. Frederickson's French 5-6 students practiced the vocabulary of buying, selling, and trying to get the best deal at the class flea market. Students purchased jewelry items, stickers, school supplies, and lots of edibles from classmates. Sellers each made a small stall and posted their business's motto. They used various strategies to entice buyers, including animated exhortations to purchase wares, undercutting competitors' prices, and rapping in French about their merchandise.

ASL student performs for local community event!

Mrs. Smith's ASL 5-6 student, Melissa L. performs ASL at a local community event.  Melissa is a senior who will be attending Point Loma Nazarene University.

Teaching Field Hockey and more in Spanish 7-8!

Ms. Murrell's Spanish 7-8 students are working on their 5 step lessons. Here are some pictures of a recent Field Hockey Lesson. Students must teach something to the class using only Spanish. The students must participate and maintain the use of Spanish during the lesson. We have had many wonderful lessons so far including: how to make recycled paper, yarn octopi, salsa, how to use chop sticks, how to speak Chinese, and many many more.

Deaf People Who Changed the World!

Mrs. Lenhoff's ASL students will be wrapping up their presentations on "Deaf People Who Changed The World." Student's were surprised that Thomas Edison, Ludwig von Beethoven, and others were deaf people who accomplished so much.

Congrats French AP students! French 1-2 & 3-4 doing projects!

Madame Leidhoff's French AP students survived their four hour AP exam!
Students of second year French are going to present timelines of their childhood and students of first year French are drafting their autobiographical books.

French 5-6 earning "money" for upcoming class flea market!

Mrs. Frederickson's French 5-6 students are being paid for participation these days. They're earning "money" to spend at the upcoming class flea market. They're also reading about holidays in France (Mother's Day) and in other countries, and will use their vocabulary to create a new holiday and present/demonstrate its name, origin, colors, special foods, song/music, customs.

Spanish 1-2 students creating family tree books!

Mr. McVeigh's Spanish 1-2 students are creating family tree books that describe themselves and at least seven additional family members.

French students to take AP test!

Madame Leidhoff says: "Bonne chance to the eight amazing French students who will take the AP French exam. I have full confidence that their hard work will pay off. Vive le francais! French treats before the test. All good for the memory."

Good luck to Spanish AP students y ¡buen provecho!

Ms. Murrell's Spanish AP Language students are getting ready to take their AP exam on Tuesday at 7:30 am. Students will be meeting for a "Good Luck" breakfast at 7am in the classroom.

Spanish 5-6 students collaborate with students from Cincinnati, OH!

Ms. Murrell's students worked on a collaborative project with some 3rd year Spanish students from Cincinnati Ohio. Students made recommendations using the subjunctive tense about visiting San Diego. "I recommend that you visit...." Then the Cincinnati students made comments about the Scripps Ranch students
suggestions.
Here are two examples.

Video of the Entrevista Experience!

Mr. Lawhead's periods 2, 3, 4 & 6 are featured in this 4 1/2 minute video documenting the mock-job interview experience.

Spanish 5-6 students experience mock-job interviews in Spanish!

Ms. Murrell's period 1 and period 5 classes met with native-speakers from the community in a mock-job interview experience.  They presented interviewers with a curriculum vitae, job application form and interviewed in Spanish for the career that they had researched.

Spanish Advanced Placement Students to offer tutoring

Miss Murrell's Spanish AP students will be offering tutoring in Spanish after school on Wednesdays.

The game of Boules and Les Grottes de Scripps

Madame Leidhoff's first year French students learned to play boules or petanque, as well as vocabulary dealing with leisure activities.
Students of second year French studied the imperfect tense and the Caves of Lascaux and their discovery near the village of Montignac. Students found these cave drawings so compelling they were inspired to create their own. They call the wall Les Grottes de Scripps.

French Students Rehearse Plays

Mrs. Frederickson's French 5-6 students put the finishing touches on the plays they will perform next week. Lines are memorized and final props gathered. Lady Gaga sings all her lines. The evil queen in Snow White deserves her mirror-with-an-attitude. Scooby Doo speaks Scooby French and is hearing ghosts as always.

ASL students compete with original board games

Mrs. Lenhof's students just wrapped up an intense competetion in the Board Game Olympics based on vocabulary signs and grammar parameters for Units 3-14.  The students made up rules for their game board and played against other teams.  Each period tried to beat the others' time for using ASL conversationally while interpreting the signs on their cards.

All About Food

Mr. McVeigh's classes are doing presentations next week--all about food!  Spanish 1-2 students have created a diner menu and the Spanish 3-4 students will be "going out to a restaurant", ordering a meal and chatting with their friends.

Students study Hispanic culture!

Dr. Jacobson's Spanish 3-4 students are studying Hispanic cultural figures and presenting their research.  Here, a student presents artist Frida Kahlo and takes questions from the class.

Students visit Japan during Spring Break

Eight Scripps Ranch students spent their Spring Break in Japan with visits to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto through Explorica Travel Agency.  Mr. Blackwelder, SRHS Japanese teacher, chaperoned the trip and provided colleagues with a trip log via his Facebook account.  From sakura (cherry blossoms) to shabu shabu, by all accounts the students had a wonderful time!

Mmmmm delicieux! French students study Rochefort cheese!

Mrs. Leidhoff's students of fourth year French learned the process of making Rochefort cheese, the geography and industry of the villlage of Rochefort and the 2000 year old legend behind its invention. Afterwards, there was a sampling of the Rochefort cheese with Anjou pears, baguettes...mmmm delicieux!

Selena is remembered with film and reflections.

Mr. McVeigh's Spanish 1-2 and 3-4 classes spent some time before the break learning about Selena since the 15th anniversary of her death is coming up next week. Spanish 3-4 students are sharing their reflections about the film on their class blogs. Spanish 1-2 students will have some in-class discussion and potentially another type of blog activity after they return from spring break.

Spanish 1-2 students creating family trees and singing!

Señora Trott's Spanish 1-2 classes are creating a family tree in Spanish. They have also learned three new songs, one about family, one about food and one about conjugating verbs in Spanish.

ASL students create game cards

Mrs. Lenhof's students are using their understanding of ASL linguistics to create game cards with the parameters for the vocabulary from Units 3 - 14. Students will then choose a gameboard and create challenging instructions to play their game within their specific unit of study. After some testing and revisions, student groups will rotate through the various games as a review of past vocabulary and reinforcement of interpersonal and interpretive communications in ASL.

French students perform for pre-school children!

Mrs. Leidhof'f's students of first year French are practicing the play Le Chaperon Rouge (in full costume) for the preschool children at SRHS. Student will be perrorming the 7th and 8th of April.
Students of second year French are doing a representation of the fairy tale Moitie-de-poulet.

Spanish 5-6 collaborates on-line with students in Ohio!

Ms. Murrell's Spanish 5-6 class just finished collaborating with students in Cincinnati, OH on a Spanish Music research project. See a sample at this link
They are also busily working on their big Trabajo project. Students just completed their essays. They will begin research over spring break and start their résumé's the week when they return.
Spanish 7-8 and AP just completed presenting on Human Rights issues in the Spanish Speaking world. Some of the topics that students researched were: Argentina and the Dirty War, Dictatorships in Chile, Spain and the Dominican Republic.

Spanish 3-4 practice Spanish with short skits

Mr. Lawhead's Spanish 3-4 class took the theme of "Los Traviesos" (the "bratty ones") and acted out a funny family conflict.

Madame Leidhoff's French classes study Napoleon!

Mrs. Leidhoff's students of Advanced French are studying Napoleon. Using a text from Le Petit Robert, students self-directed in French the creation of a timeline as long as the classroom! Students will begin researching a topic of their choice: art, code civile, arc de triomphe, etc. of the Napoleonic Era and present it to the class.

Studying culture and writing to pen pals

Dr. Jacobson's Spanish students are deeply engaged in studying Spanish-language culture.  They can be found researching such famous names as:  Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Benito Juárez and César Chávez.  Other names include famous poets and dancers.  Other students are celebrating literature in Spanish by reading and presenting a classic fairy tale in Spanish.

All students continue exchanging letters with their pen pals at Mira Mesa High School.

TPR/S Practice

Mr. Lawhead's students teach original stories to each other orally using TPR/S methods.  The focus at this time is telling a story in the past and correctly using both the Imperfect and Preterit tenses.

World Languages Teachers Attend Conference

Mr. McVeigh, Mrs. Leidhoff, Mrs. Trott and Ms. Murrell attended the CA Language Teachers Association (CLTA) conference this past weekend at the Town & Country Conference Center.  Many new ideas, techniques and teaching materials were shared with the department on Tuesday.  Ms. Murrell was also a presenter at the conference.  She shared ideas on lesson planning with Google Maps.

French classes using TV as a theme

Mrs. Leidhoff's students of first year French are doing celebrity interviews based on talk shows such as Tyra, Oprah, Jay and Dr. Phillip.  Celebrities answer 6-7 questions presented by the host.

Students of second year French are creating commercials as one might see on TV.  They are presenting with props and will show mastery of reflexive pronouns in this activity.

Spanish 1-2 students prepare "Talk Show"

Mrs. Trott's Spanish 1-2 classes are preparing a "Talk Show" project to be performed in class next week. Each group has a "host" and three guests. The guests might be a famous person, celebrity or another student. The host will ask questions and the guests respond.

ASL students researching and writing

Mrs. Smith's ASL 4 and ASL 6 are preparing for their next formal presentations. They have been researching different Developments Disabilities, Mental Illnesses and The Americans with Disabilities Act. They will be presenting mastery of using GLOSS, a written system of ASL, by script writing and illustrating their increased fluency levels relating to ASL syntax and grammatical structure.

Students of Japanese Excel!

On Saturday, February 27th, 42 students from the Scripps Ranch High School Japanese Program took part in the annual Japanese Cultural and Academic Proficiency (J-CAP) competition. Wearing their custom SRHS quiz bowl t-shirts (courtesy of Justine Shin and Michael Choung), students excelled in all aspects of the competition: the Jeopardy-style quiz bowl, the “create your own manga” exercise, and the cultural workshop on sumie Japanese art. At the end of the day, students took home 1st and 3rd place in the 2nd year group and 2nd place in the 4th year group, boasting the highest number of top finishing teams among all schools. Yoku dekimashita! Go Falcons! Congratulations Mr. Blackwelder!

Spanish 5-6 students take on-line "Color Career Counselor" quiz

Mr. Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 will take an on-line survey that evaluates their choice of colors to make recommendations about career possibities.  Students will print out the results and bring them to school on Monday.  They will share the recommendations with a partner and discuss whether they agree or disagree with the results and how they compare with each other.  This will be the information-gathering start of a compare and contrast essay that is part of their Mock-Job Interview project.  All of the above, of course, will be done entirely in Spanish.

"Color Career Counselor" link

Spanish 3-4 is blogging and describing the "Perfect Fiesta"

Mr. McVeigh's 3-4 students will be turning in a mini-project that describes their ideal fiesta. They're also blogging to describe a "friend" when he or she was younger (imperfect vs. preterit practice).

Spanish 1-2 students have also completed the second Benchmark and are working on the SRHS brochure project that Mrs. Trott shared.

French 5-6 students presenting plays to other students!

Mrs. Frederickson's French 5-6 students are rehearsing plays to present to Mme Leidhoff's French 3-4 class. They'll be doing Snow White and two student-created skits, "Last Room in the Hotel" and "Family Feud."

Students enjoy speaker in ASL 1-2

Mrs. Lenhof's ASL 1-2 classes enjoyed a presentation by Gigi Howland of Dawn Sign Press, a company that publishes learning materials and textbooks American Sign Language and Deaf Culture in high schools and colleges throught the United States. 

Next week, students will be practicing their skills during a restaurant project.

"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.