ASL 2 students present "Dream Trip"

ASL 2 students in Mrs. Redelings class are traveling around the world in their next presentation "Dream Trip." In this newest presentations they will be answering a variety of questions about their trip, such as transportation, famous places, and how much their trip will cost.

French students decorate room with "stained glass"

Madame Leidhoff's students of 2nd year French studied the construction of cathedrals during the middle ages and the basic vocabulary of their architecture.  After this unit, students make stained glass for the windows in the classroom. 
1st year French studied French meal habits in France and Friday are enjoying a French breakfast with croissant and tartine de confiture with chocolat chaud.

 

Spanish 5-6 researching careers for interview

Señor Lawhead's Sp 5-6 classes spent Friday in the library using the Career Crusiing program to research careers based on their interests.  They will choose a career and prepare a résumé in preparationn for the May 2 - 3 mock-job interview project.

Spanish students writing legends, doing skits and preparing for interview!

Students in Ms. Ranzolin's Spanish 3-4 classes have been busy writing their own legends. They will be sharing these after break. Students in 1-2 wrote a skit about ordering food in a restaurant, which they will present to the class after break as well. Students in 5-6 continue to be busy preparing for their upcoming job interview project. They completed their essays, and they wrote their résumes. Now, they are busy interviewing each other for practice.

Profe Bañuelos & Blackwelder-sensei travelling!

Profe Bañuelos is visiting Toulouse, France and Barcelona, Spain this spring vacation.  Mr. Blackwelder is in Japan leading a group for Explorica.  What great experiences they will be able to bring back and share with students next month!  Bon voyage!

Spanish 3-4 create roles for Plaza las Américas in Puerto Rico!

Señora Trott's Spanish 3-4 classes are off to Puerto Rico for a shopping trip!  After researching the Plaza Las Americas Mall in San Juan, students selected a store in the mall and are now creating their roles as salespeople or customers. Does it fit? How do I look? What a bargain! are just a few of the many expressions that the students will use in these funny and entertaining skits!

French 5-6 discuss professions

Madame Frederickson's French 5-6 students recorded themselves as their groups discussed the advantages and disadvantages of a number of professions - traditional and not (fire eater, clown) - and classified professions as dangerous, exciting, prestigious, useful, intellectual, etc. Then they played Family Feud and scored points for guessing what other groups said.

Spanish 1-2 practice restaurant vocabulary

Students in Dr. Jacobson's Spanish 1-2 classes, using prepared phases in Spanish as a basis for a skit, developed dialogues related to the themes of 'el restaurante', 'la tienda', 'el banco', 'el automóvil' or 'la ropa'. Students enjoyed discovering the Spanish words and phrases for the ideas they wanted to express, practicing word order and correct verb conjugations. Each group then presented their created 'dramita' to the class

 

Una Leyenda Azteca

Students in Profe Bañuelos' Spanish 3-4 class are learning an Aztec legend about Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, an Aztec warrior and princess, respectively. The legend tells how at their deaths they were transformed into volcanoes that currently are located on the border of the state of México and Puebla. Popocatépetl still is an active volcano.

McVeigh wins Pasta for Pennies!!

Scripps Ranch High School ASB sponsored the Pasta for Pennies fundraiser to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Students pitched in their loose change in a box representing one of several teachers.  Each teacher promised to do a stunt if he/she won.  Our own Señor McVeigh won by an overwhelming margin, no doubt due to the following promise:

"If I win, I promise to dress up as a leprechaun and ride a unicycle around the quad!"

He will make good on his promise this Thursday at lunch. Expect video in next week's blog!

Spanish 5-6 students prepare essays

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 students are busy writing a compare/contrast essay for the Mock-Job Interview Project.  After interviewing one another about the results of the Color Career Test, they are completing their rough draft this weekend to be followed by two rewrites and a final copy.  This is the first major piece of advanced writing in Spanish for students and quite a challenge!

Singing and Signing in McVeigh's Spanish classes!

Sr. McVeigh's Spanish 7-8 students have been singing their way through the subjunctive. To supplement their grammar lectures, students have been working with and singing along to "Ojalá que lleva café" by Juan Luis Guerra and "A Dios le pido" by Juanes. Who says grammar has to be boring? Thanks to Mr. Lawhead's inspiration and lots of technical assistance from Mrs. Redelings, the Spanish 5-6 students have been practicing for the upcoming Mock Job Interview using a combination of TPR/S and ASL. Students are memorizing a story in Spanish while associating the Spanish words and phrases with signs borrowed from American Sign Language. Stop in and watch us sign!

Spanish 2 classes study poetry

Spanish 2 students in Dr. Jacobson's classes began their study of Unit 4, illustrating new vocabulary and using them in comparative sentences, practicing direct object pronouns from sentences and pictures presented on video and through the online interactive program 'Classzone'. Students ended the week by analyzing a poem by Alma Flor Ada and finally by presenting the poems each had prepared for the poetry contest. The contest winners and an 'Online Spanish Poetry Book' can be found on Dr. Jacobson's SRHS website under Homework/Tarea.

Advanced French students campaign for presidency!

 Students of Madame Leidhoff's Advanced French gave their campaign speeches, showed video clips and rallied for votes in front of Mrs. Frederickson's French 5-6 class. Ballots showed a very close call between the Lutte Ouviere Party and the UMP of Nicolas Sarkozy.

French 1-2 finished their unit of leisure time and activities. Students learned the game of petanque. Our tournament was very exciting.

Mrs. Trott, Teacher of the Month!

Mrs. Janice Trott, Spanish 3-4 teacher, was selected as Teacher of the Month by students in a school-wide vote.  She was also selected in Spring 2011.  Mrs. Trott has a wonderful rapport with students and teaches with a very interesting and excellent balance of language structure and culture.  We're very proud of her!

Blackwelder-sensei presents at CLTA!

Japanese teacher, Mr. Alex Blackwelder, is attending and presenting at the CLTA (California Language Teachers Association) this weekend in Los Angeles, CA.  He will present on his excellent experience this past summer with the Japanese Institute in Japan.  For more details on his experience, check the September 10 blogpost

French students review film and present skits

Madame Frederickson's French 5-6 students wrote a review of a film the class watched, and presented skits that incorporated a conversational version of this review, to practice vocabulary useful for discussing TV shows, movies, books, entertainment options and preferences.

Thank-you parents and students!

The World Languages Department wishes to thank students, parents and our head custodian for continuing to donate empty inkjet cartridges and laser toner cartridges!  This month, more than $200 in Staples gift certificates has been earned towards the purchase of office supplies!  Thank-you! 

Mock-job interview preparation and more!

Students in Ms. Ranzolin's Spanish 5-6 class have been busy researching careers in preparation for their big job interview! They also completed a compare and contrast essay about their future career plans and those of a friend. Students in Ms. Ranzolin's 3-4 class completed their country research about Puerto Rico, and students in 1-2 completed their research on Spain. Both classes created beautiful posters which they shared with the class.

French students gear up for presidential elections!

Madame Leidhoff's students are gearing up for the 2012 French presidential elections. Speeches, political clips & ballots are all in preparation for our elections in the library Wednesday. We have eleven candidates running.

Puerto Rico: ¡Que cante mi gente!

While learning about the importance of music in Puerto Rican culture, students in Profe Bañuelos' Spanish 3-4 class learned the lyrics of the classic 1970s salsa song by Héctor Lavoe: Mi Gente. A song that displays the pride amongst boricuas (Puerto Ricans). Some students were taught by Profe to play some of the "foundation" instruments of Puerto Rico. Seen here from left to right are the bongos, maracas, and the clave.

AP Spanish students read "Apocalipsis"

Sr. McVeigh's Spanish AP students have read the story "Apocalipsis" by Marco Denevi that proposes the eventual obsolescence of mankind due to the relentless progress of technology. A bit "Outer Limits," perhaps, but very interesting reading! They are now preparing a response to a prompt of their choice regarding the role of machines and technology in our lives.
Spanish 5-6 students practiced giving commands by marching around the baseball field. After practicing as a class and in groups, students worked in partners, directing each other to walk, skip, or run their way around the field. It was quite a sight to see!

Yoku Ganbarimashita! Japanese 4th year wins 1st place!

On Saturday, February 25th, Mr. Blackwelder's Japanese classes took part in the Southern California Japanese Culture and Academic Proficiency (J-CAP) competition held at San Diego State University. The 3^rd year team of Rachel D., Kathy H. and Priscilla L. won its preliminary quiz round, and the 4^th year team of Joelle L., Jeremy S. and Desiree V. took lst place among all 4^th year teams.

How long has it been? It's been...

Students in Profe Bañuelos' Spanish 3-4 class learned how to question (and answer) how long has something been going on or how long has it been since something happened. Pictured is David asking a question to Kelton (with Colombian vueltiao hat) who is thinking of an answer.  

Sp 1-2 reviews grammar and family tree

Students in Dr. Jacobson's Spanish 2 class engaged in 'Power Point' activities, reviewing vocabulary related to the family, comparative expressions, possessive adjectives and stem-changing verbs. Additionally, students began to prepare an 'Arbolito de la familia' (Family Tree), using varied colored ribbon to demonstrate relationships. For each person, students described what a family member likes (Gustar), does often (Present Tense) and is frequently doing (Present Progressive). 

World Languages mourn colleague's passing

Although Bob Dean was not in our department, those of us who knew him mourn his passing.  He was a great physics teacher, a conscientious and caring colleague and someone who's life and beliefs exemplified integrity and compassion.  We'll miss him.  We extend our condolences to his family.

ASL 2 Presentations

This week, students in Mrs. Redelings' ASL 2 class finished up presentations, in which they introduced a friend to the class, using time vocabulary, food signs, and non-manual topicalization facial grammar.