Busy days in Spanish!

Sr. McVeigh's Spanish 5-6 classes are enjoying the end of their unit on food. After creating menus and designing their own restaurants, students are now creating videos or posters, outlining the steps necessary to prepare their favorite dishes. Spanish 7-8 students have been reviewing for the upcoming final exam with a variety of activities. We've watched commercials from around the Spanish-speaking world, seen BBC Mundo news programs, and even edited Spanish tweets! After the AP Exam on May 8th, AP students are ending the year with South American literature. We've read stories by Gabriel García Márquez and are now working with Julio Cortázar.

Sra. Ranzolín returns!

Students and staff are happy to welcome back Sra. Ranzolín after a 6-week leave of absence.  She admits to being a bit tired at the end of the day but is busy preparing students for their end-of-course exam in just two weeks.  That's right students!  Just two weeks!

おめでとうございます (Congratulations!)

Mr. Blackwelder, Japanese teacher, and the World Languages Department are proud to acknowledge the accomplishments of the following students who won top honors in the National Japanese Exam: 
Kathy Huynh, silver certificate;
María Rendón, bronze certificate
Shannen Alday, bronze certificate 
These young ladies bring honor to our school, the World Languages Department and Mr. Blackwelder's Japanese program! 

Cuando yo era niño

Señora Trott's student's are reading stories of their childhood to their classmates in a carousel activity. "Cuando yo era niño (a) .." . When I was little... These books show outstanding creativity and effort and, of course, practice the two past tenses in Spanish, the imperfect and the preterite. Many students are so proud of their creations that they plan to save them for many years to come. Please feel free to stop by my room and view some of these amazing projects!

"Fantasy Notebooks" finished

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 classes finished their "Fantasy Scrapbooks" on Friday.  These projects consist of a 300-500 word autobiography and a scrapbook of pictures of their fantasy lives.  Students could choose to be themselves in the future, a well-known celebrity or even a fantasy character or object.  Students were only limited by their imaginations.  See Malissa's fantasy as a circus performer in the video below:

French student wins scholarship!

Congratulations to Kendall for her award of $1000.00 scholarship from the Foreign Language Council San Diego- Virginia Garo Keane Memorial Fund. Kendall will be attending Tufts University! Madame Leidhoff and the entire World Languages Faculty is so very proud of her and all the hard-working students in the French program!

Ensayos (Rehearsals)

Students in Profe Bañuelos' Spanish 3-4 class took to the quad outdoors to do progressive step-by-step rehearsals of their upcoming 2nd Benchmark performances scheduled for next week. Performances will be done in front of the classroom accompanied with a Powerpoint presentation.

French 1st year complete Autobiographies

Students of Madame Leidhoff's first year French are sharing their AUTOBIOGRAPHIE. This project is a synthesis of language we have learned all year. They are amazing! Beautifully created with pride
in their language skills!

ASL 2 students prepare final presentations

Students in Mrs. Redelings' ASL 2 class practiced giving and confirming map directions. Also, students prepared for the final presentations, a few of which were done this past Friday. This is the longest presentation they have signed to date and they are doing well!

French 5-6 perform Snow White

Madame Frederickson's French 5-6 students presented the plays they'd been rehearsing for Mme Leidhoff's advanced class, including versions of Snow White and adaptations of a story viewed and studied in class. Performances were clever, convincing, hilarious; the hosts provided beautifully-presented transitions; the backdrops were stunning when they weren't collapsing. Outstanding!

19 Students Honored as "Estrellas"

19 students were honored in Sr. Lawhead's 5-6 classes as "Estrellas" (stars) for having earned superior scores on three components of the Entrevista de Empleo Project (Mock-job interview).  To earn a place on the board, students must have received an A on the curriculum vitae, the compare & contrast essay and the interview itself.  Congratulations to these outstanding students!

¡Gracias, Sra. Morrill! ¡Buena Suerte!

Sra. Nina Morrill finished her long-term substitute position with us as students and the department expect the return of Sra. Ranzolín next week.  The department thanks Sra. Morrill for her help these past six-weeks and wishes her well.  Here is a picture of her with her guitar singing (sin duda) "Marisabel".

Vocabulary & Creating Visuals for ASL

Mrs. Redelings' students in ASL 2 practiced getting new vocabulary and signing their last presentation, "My Goals after Graduation."

They are also working on visuals to accompany their presentation.

The Castilian "Lisp"

In connection to learning how Spaniards speak Spanish (known as castellano there, not as español), Profe Bañuelos taught his Spanish 3-4 students how to speak with the Castilian lisp (el ceceo castellano).  In this clip, Iris the says the sentence below in "normal" Spanish, followed by saying it using the Castilian ceceo and using a "heavy s."

Ayer hizo calor en España.  Y Barcelona le ganó a Zaragoza cinco a cero.  Con dos goles de Andrés Iniesta y tres goles de Lionel Messi.

French students run flea market!

Madame Frederickson's French 5-6 students practiced the vocabulary of buying, selling, description, and persuasion at the class flea market. Students bought merchandise with the “dollars” they’d been earning and made stalls with French names to sell their items. Students learned: 1) some people will buy almost anything, 2) candy is very profitable.

Japanese visitor delights classes

Mr. Blackwelder's students were delighted to have a guest from Japan visit their classes on Friday.  Akane is a friend from Mr. Blackwelder's days in Japan who is visiting for a month.  She answered students' questions about Japanese culture, language and customs.  She was very impressed with Scripps Ranch High School and noted the differences in teaching methodology and philosophy.

Spanish 5-6 "Fantasy Scrapbook" project

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 classes have begun their end-of-year Fantasy Scrapbook project.  Students choose to write an autobiography and produce a scrapbook looking back over their lives. As to what they were and the life they had, they are only limited by their imagination.  This fun project also reinforces and reviews the Imperfect and Preterite tenses.  Subjunctive and Perfect tenses will also be incorporated into the writing.

International Penpals this summer!

Señora Trott's classes are writing penpal letters to China! Letters will be delivered to Mrs. Trott's Chinese students in Nanjing in July and replies delivered to Scripps students next fall! These letters are written in English and include such popular themes as sports, fashion, food, school, family, music and slang expressions.such as YOLO (you only live once). A great cultural exchange for all!  See an earlier post for details of Señora Trotts upcoming Chinese adventure!

Francophone artists studied in Adv. French

Madame Leidhoff's students of advanced French presented French-speaking Africain artists and their works: musicians, authors, visual artists, architects...
Students of first year French presented the play Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood) to the pre-school children on campus in French.

Entrevista de Empleo 2012

Spanish 5-6 students in Sr. Lawhead's, Sr. McVeigh's, and Sra. Ranzolin's classes faced their greatest challenge of the Spring Semester by completing the Entrevista de Empleo Project.  Students researched careers, higher-education and training.  They wrote a compare/contrast essay in Spanish, created an authentic curriculum vitae and prepared themselves to face a Spanish-speaking member of the community in a mock-job interview.  Comments from our interviewers were very positive concerning students' skills, preparation and professional dress and demeanor.  For their willigness to help the World Languages Department with this project, we want to thank:  Sra.. María D. R. Rangel, Sra. Ivana Belloso, Sra. Janice Trott, Col. Mike Hogan, Sra. Angels Gaffrey, Sra. Mary Waldron, Sra. Claudia Cohen, Sra. Joan Woods-Petties, Sra. María-Angélica Linton, Sra. Odette Lacarra, Sra. Marisol Hall.  !GRACIAS!

Teachers march in support of colleagues

Sr. Lawhead, Sr. McVeigh, Mr. Johnson and Ms. Ahern joined 500 teachers in a march on May 1st from Roosevelt Middle School to the Normal St. Education Center in support of the 1665 educators who received layoff notices.  19 teachers received layoff notices at SRHS with 2 from the World Languages Dept.  This does not include those educators declared "in excess" and the many classified staff also "pink-slipped".

Indigenous Culture in México

Spanish 3-4 students in Profe Bañuelos' class learned about the importance of indigenous culture and history in México. Besides of the language of Spanish, there are 62 indigenous languages spoken in México. Focus was shifted away from the Aztecs to other influential tribes/empires like the Zapotecs in the state of Oaxaca, the Toltecs in the state of Hidalgo, and the Mayans in throughout the Yucatán Peninsula. Profe Bañuelos also showed how the ancient game of "juego de pelota" was played by of México's ancient civilizations