Sp 5-6 students prepare for oral exam

Kaylyn tells a story in Señor Lawhead's class.  Students view a cartoon and create a story spontaneously with no notes in preparation for next week's oral tests.  Fluency and creativity are emphasized in this first exam.

 

Spanish 5-6 reads La Llorona & create spooky stories

In the spirit of the season, Sr. McVeigh's Spanish 5-6 and 7-8 students are working with scary stories! The 5-6 students have read "La Llorona" and will be working with partners to re-write a version of the traditional Mexican legend. Spanish 7-8 students have also read "La Llorona," but instead of re-writing that legend, their task is to create a new spooky story to be shared in class on Monday. Drop in and see the presentations!

Students do the teaching in French

Madame Leidhoff's students of Advanced French are are practicing how do give instructions by presenting a five step lesson to the class. The class will learn from others how to knit, surf, solve math problems...etc.

¡Tico, Tico, Tico!

Profe Bañuelos taught his students a little about Costa Rican culture and how Costa Ricans refer to each other as Ticos. Profe shared pictures from a colorful tour guide, along with some of his experiences and pictures from when he went to the capital San José, Costa Rica in 2007.

Comment dites vous?: "EE-I-EE-I-O?

Madame Frederickson's French 5-6 students have been learning vocabulary to compare/contrast the city and the country, and sang a version of Old MacDonald to learn what "French" farm animals "say." Then in groups they prepared and recorded a mini-debate on the pros and cons of life in the city, in the country, and in the neighborhood where they live.

Film and Stories Interest French Students

Madame Leidhoff's 2nd year French students discussed past events from Marcel's perspective from the Provencaie film LA GLOIRE DE MON PERE from Marcel Pagnole.

Students of Advanced French are preparing vocabulary from La Ville and are begin to research international stories dealing with urban living to discuss next week.

Students of First year French play a story game on Friday. They are continuing to create language using ER verbs.

Oral Presentations, Costa Rican Culture and childhood!

Students in Ms Ranzolin's Spanish classes have been working on their second oral project this week. They will be presenting it next Wednesday and Thursday. Also, students learned about the culture and beauty of Costa Rica. Students in Spanish 3-4 practiced their vocabulary by creating skits which they shared with the class, while students in 5-6 wrote about what they were like when they were little.

Sign Libs in ASL 1

In an activity called Sign Libs, Mrs. Redelings' ASL 1 students created and signed silly phrases using Unit 3 vocabulary, colors, numbers, and people signs.

Pablo y Pili teach Indirect Object Pronouns

Profe Bañuelos' Spanish 3-4 class viewed the much anticipated tutorial episode of Pablo Y Pili. Pablo Y Pili are two wacky animated characters that are part of the classzone.com website. This week's lesson was about Indirect Object Pronouns.

Students use "foldables" to learn verbs

Students in Dr. Jacobson's Spanish 1-2 classes enjoyed constructing a foldable using a question/answer format to reflect a conversation using various forms of Ir (to go), Gustar (to like), Hablar (to speak) and (Comer) to eat. Students included illustrations to demonstrate word meanings.

 

Presentations on Japanese School Life

Mr. Blackwelder's Japanese 5-6 class is studying about a variety of aspects of Japanese school life: class schedules, routines and procedures, club activities, school events, and school issues/problems. The unit of study will culminate with half of the students presenting a PowerPoint on an element of school life while the other half are assigned as their producers, helping create visuals and editing speeches.

Spanish 7-8 Presentations

Sr. McVeigh's 5-6 and 7-8 students presented their first individual projects this week. Students were asked to create a unique presentation that answered the question: "Who am I and how do I reflect my culture?" Students have shared personal portraits, slide shows, letters to a future grandchild, original songs, and so much more! Bravo for a job very well done!

Sp 3-4 students interview "Una Persona Famosa"!

Señora Trott's Spanish 3-4 classes are preparing for their first skit project: Entrevista con una Persona Famosa. Students will interview a famous person in a T.V. talk show setting. The famous person can be anyone from Harry Potter to the President!

Great California "Shakeout"

SRHS and World Languages students participated in a disaster preparedness exercise 10/20 at 10:20 AM.  Although some hilarity was present during the duck-and-cover exercise (see photo), preparing for emergencies was seriously discussed in light of the recent Southern California blackout. The exercise went smoothly and classes were interrupted for no more than 30 minutes.

Around the Clock in ASL Time!

Students in Mrs. Redelings' ASL 1 class signed around the clock in an activity called "ASL Time." Students moved around the room signing and learning about each others' favorite colors, numbers, days of the week and TV shows. Classes also practiced numbers through fun activities such as playing BINGO and writing down silly sentences about animals.

Fairy Tales in French. "La Belle et la Bête"

After learning the vocabulary of a fairy tale and using it to read a condensed version of "La Belle et la Bête," Madame Frederickson's French 5-6 students wrote and illustrated their own fairy tale with the same vocabulary. They are now narrating and recording them for later presentation in class. The tales contain several Halloweens' worth of pumpkins, enchanted castles, fairies, magic wands and powers, ghosts, and spells.

Profe Bañuelos's Spanish 3-4 class viewed a short online tutorial about Direct Object Pronouns at Señor Jordan's Blog Site. The site is a part of the links provided on Profe Bañuelos's SRHS website in order to assist students.

See Jordan's Blog Site!

Mándala Projects and Presentations in Spanish

Sr. McVeigh's AP Spanish and Spanish 7-8 students have been working on their Mándala projects. AP Spanish students are finding symbols and images to support the story "Cajas de Cartón" while Spanish 7-8 students are doing the same with "Una Carta a Diós." Everyone will be presenting their work on Monday, so feel free to stop in and see what our students are doing. Spanish 5-6 students have just reviewed the imperfect tense and on Monday will talk about what they used to do when they were little kids.

Film, fairy-tale and organizing a party in French

Madame Leidhoff's first year French are learning to express the things that please them and things they do not like. Having viewed the film Les Choristes, they wrote ten creative sentences about the film and the charactars.

Students of second year French are reviewing the past tense, learning direct and indirect object pronouns in the context of organizing a party and giving gifts. 

Students of advanced French are testing in spelling changing verbs and have read the fairy tale by CHARLES PERRAULT Cendrillion.

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 classes have drawn a portrait of a character that they will use in upcoming stories and descriptions.  These two students chose him as their subject.

Dialogues, skits and a new song.

Students in Ms. Ranzolin's Spanish 1-2 practiced using the verbs "ser" and "gustar" by writing dialogues which they shared with the class. Spanish 3-4 students practiced using their new vocabulary and worked on a class activity in which they wrote skits. Spanish 5-6 students used their new vocabulary to write comparisons between themselves and others, they also learned a new song

"Refranes" decorate the WL hallway bulletin board!

Spanish is rich with 'refranes', short phrases that give insight into cultural perspectives. Dr. Jacobson's students chose a refrán, and portrayed its meaning pictorially as well as through translations. Students' work is now displayed on the World Languages bulletin board in the hallway of the upper 200 bldg.

French Culture through the ages

Madame Leidhoff's  Advanced French students read, decoded and performed a farce from the Middle Ages - La Farce de Maitre Pathelin (circa 1464) It was hilarious and the students had fun doing all three scenes. Beee
Based on a text, students also studied and discussed, in French, the relations between America and the French-speaking world from the founding fathers to contributions of Monsieur Chevrolet and  Celine Dion.  Students then sang songs from Celine Dion's album Plamadon.

Upper levels of Spanish hard at work!

Sr. McVeigh's Spanish 5-6 students are busily working to describe themselves and others. After a brief memory exercise, students will be working in teams on Monday to recreate a photo they saw for only ten seconds in class today.  The 7-8 students are preparing for the second review test on the preterite, imperfect, and perfect tenses. On Monday, they will start reading their first short story, "Una Carta a Dios." Let's see how close our brainstorming gets us to the real plot of the story! Last but not least, the AP Spanish Language students have completed the next section of the AP practice test by writing their first in-class essay this week. 

Students speak Spanish using TPR/S methodology

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 students put their TPR/S mini-cuentos to work by viewing a cartoon that they have never seen before and telling the story in their own words spontaneously.  To learn more about TPR/S, please check out Señor Lawhead's school website.

Spanish 1-2 students play the role of customs agents

Dr. Jacobson's students engaged in an activity where group members played the part of customs agents, asking questions of classmates who played the role of family members entering the United States with passports in hand. Students asked questions regarding the names and country of origin of all family members, date of entry, destinations, and planned date of return. Students enjoyed the conversational aspect of the activity, filling out information on their passports, thinking of a common family last name all would share and deciding on places they would visit.

Spanish 3-4 uses skits to learn commands

Profe Bañuelos challenged his Spanish 3-4 class to create a short skit using "tú" commands just a day after learning them. The skits involved one of the actors looking for someone/something and having others command him/her in a certain direction to find what he/she was looking for.

Oral Presentations, Sharing and First Exams

Students in Señora Ranzolin's Spanish classes had their first oral presentations this week. Students in 3-4 shared about themselves and prepared a presentation on how to use the verbs "ser" and "estar. " Students in Spanish 1-2 also shared about themselves. Students in 5-6 wrote about a funny event from their past and shared it with the class. We also completed our preliminary chapters in all our classes, and are preparing for our first exams next week.

Video highlights Deaf Culture in ASL

Mrs. Redelings' ASL 1 students finished their test on the first half of Unit 2 after a week of signing with partners and as a large group. As part of discovering Deaf Culture and community, students watched the first episode of a television series called 'Switched at Birth' in which one of the lead characters is deaf. Students noted specific examples of language, education, and technology related to deaf people.

Sr. McVeigh's Spanish 5-6 and 7-8 students completed a review exam this week and are just starting their first full unit of study. Both classes have gotten project menus for the upcoming units on "el individuo y la personalidad." They can't wait to talk about themselves, their families, and home cultures! The AP students have finished reading "Cajas de cartón" and are starting to research the role of immigration in the 21st Century.