World Languages wishes everyone a happy holiday!

Have a wonderful, safe, restful and happy holiday season!

Santons de Noel in French Class

Madame Leidhoff's students of first-year French learned about the celebration of displaying des Santons de Noel. Les Santons were made famous by Louis Lagnel in the late 1700s in Provence.  He sculpted them out of clay and with the use of molds, they became available to everyone.  They are usually representations of guilds: blacksmith, vine makers, cheese makers, seamstress etc. Thanks to donations from families of craft items, we were able to create our own. Many of our creations were more modern jobs… firefighters, police officers, actors, hula dancers and Disney workers etc..

Students of second-year French performed musical pieces and gave cultural presentations of the music.  Others chose to cook French and African dishes and gave cultural presentations in French as well.

¡Cantando con Alegría!

Dr. Jacobson's classes brought holiday cheer to many classrooms as they visited and sang holiday songs in Spanish.
 

¡Feliz Navaid y Prospero Año Nuevo!

Students in Señor Lawhead's Period 6 class celebrate the end of school for 2013 with a holiday celebration that included holiday songs in Spanish, food and good fellowship.

Talented Student Performs for French Class

Laura Q. plays a French Étude from the Renaissance for Madame Leidhoff's French class in the last week before Winter Break.  Note:  Laura is an accomplished player who is also working on a Spanish work for two guitars with Señor Lawhead.
 

French Students Go "Shopping"

Madame Leidhoff's students of second year French went “shopping” in “stores” created by students. There was an “epicerie” , “boulangerie” ‘charcuterie” etc… Student were assessed on courtesies and language in shopping in these food stores.

 

Students of advanced French studied “La Revolution Tranquille” of Quebec and discussed the cultural icons of this movement. Discussed as well was the speech Charles DeGaulle gave to the Quebecois people.  Critiques were very insightful.

It's World Languages Territory!

It's World Languages Territory when students climb the stairs to the second-level of the 200 building!  Our new bulletin board declares it so and celebrates the languages, students and instructors who call it their academic home.

Students view picture-stories and narrate them!

Students in Señor Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 class tell a story as depicted in a picture-story drawing of their own invention  Students later swapped drawings and told their partner's story to show their oral communication skills.

ASL Creating Stories!

Mrs. Redelings' ASL 3-4 class are putting together simple stories, using Unit 19 (Recreational Activities) vocabulary, verb inflection, adverbial facial grammar, and plurals. They also watched and discussed the documentary, See What I'm Saying, a film that follow the journeys of four Deaf entertainers. Students enjoyed the film and took a deeper look into the lives of Deaf people.

Akemashite Omedetou!

'Tis the season for creating Nengajo, or Japanese New Year's cards! All of Mr. Blackwelder's classes are creating their own nengajo surrounding this year's theme, Year of the Horse or uma-doshi. The best cards throughout the Japanese program will be selected in the three categories of artistic, humorous, and original, and will be sent on the the National Nengajo Contest. Two years ago, a Scripps student won! Best of luck to the Japanese students and Happy New Year's to all!

Cursos y La Hora en las clases de 1-2

Señorita Chen's Spanish 1-2 classes are learning to talk about different class subjects they are taking this year along with how to tell time in Spanish.  They practiced writing out sentences to say what time each of their class periods take place and they shared them out-loud in class by saying things like, “Mi clase de español es a las nueve y media de la mañana”.

In Honor of Anchorman 2

Students from Spanish 3-4 with Profe Bañuelos this week created in groups of six a broadcast sports report that reported the result of a sports competition that included side interviews with players from the competition.  2 students were anchormen, 2 were field reporters, and two were players.  The performance used the preterite (past) tense along with how to properly say who beat who with a score. 

ASL students gloss sentences with each other

Students in Mrs. Redelings's ASL 3-4 practiced their production and receptive skills by signing and glossing sentences with each other. Sentences included newly learned verb inflections of repeated action and continuous action.

Spanish 3-4 students tell each other stories with cartoons!

Students in Señor Lawhead's Spanish 3-4 class hold up a stick-figure cartoon to help each other tell the new TPR/S mini-story:  "¡Odio Acampar!".  Rather than reading it from a paper, students use visual clues only to help them tell the story.

For more information on TPR/S methods, check out these links:

 

www.blaineraytprs.com

www.tprstories.com

 

Busy week in Dr. Jacobson's Spanish classes!

Students in Dr. Jacobson's class have recently demonstrated grammatical competency of the present, past, future and imperfect tenses through an exam that also included questions regarding the vocabulary from their current unit of study.  Students in each class are currently working on a skit that each group will present the week before the holiday begins, some using phrases from Dr. Jacobson's book 'Spanish Across America: A Ready-To-Use-Resource.'  Spanish 7-8 and AP students are writing an argumentative essay.  Additionally, students are practicing holiday carols in Spanish they will sing to schoolmates as they visit classes around the campus in a few weeks.  On Friday, students enjoyed a traditional Mexican treat of 'buñuelos'. 

Profe Bañuelos visita Jerusalén, Israel!

 Over Thanksgiving break, Profe Bañuelos traveled to Israel.  He had a great time in the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while taking a day trip to the ancient fort of Massada and floating in the Dead Sea.  Pictured is Profe in the Old City part of Jerusalem on Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock shrine in the background.

Japanese students complete performance assessment!

Mr. Blackwelder's (Blackwelder sensei) Japanese 3-4 classes have just completed a performance assessment that included 1) how to introduce yourself on the phone, 2) giving a formal invitation in Japanese that includes a date, place, time, and event type, and 3) effectively and politely declining or accepting a formal invitation. For many skits, students used the excuse of sickness to get out of unwanted invitations, including a description of at least three common symptoms. Excellent performances all around!

Students rewarded with video for high grades!

Señorita Chen has a test policy for her classes that states: if 80% of the class gets 80% or higher on the chapter test, the class gets to watch a Disney movie (in Spanish with English subtitles). Since most of her classes were so close to achieving that 80% she decided to bend the rules a little bit. On Tuesday all students made corrections to anything they missed on the test, even if they got an A or a B so that they would be worthy of watching “Buscando A Nemo” this week.

Pen-Pals in Señora Trott's Class!

In response to the message from Lawhead Richard, Wed 12/4

Trott Janice

Señora Trott's Spanish 1-2 students have just written letters to their pen pals describing their perfect date. Using these descriptions their pen pals will play matchmaker. This activity uses nouns, adjectives, verbs and descriptions learned so far this year.

Fri 12/6

Señora Trott's Spanish 1-2 students have just written letters to their pen-pals describing their perfect date.  Using these descriptions their pen-pals will play matchmaker. This activity uses nouns, adjectives, verbs and descriptions learned so far this year.  Spanish 3-4 students are preparing posters, written and oral presentations that describe a Spanish-speaking country they visited last year.  This will reinforce the use of the preterite tense.  For example:  I ate paella in Valencia last summer.

Happy St. Nicolas Day!

 Madame Leidhoff's students of French learned the Legend of St. Nicolas and received goodies in their shoes today.

Students of first year French practiced their numbers into thousands by playing French Monopoly entirely in French while students of second year French are gearing up for cultural projects of Food or Music from the French-speaking world.

Advanced French students read six different  short stories from Maupassant and did group presentations as well as assessments of them.

Welcome back! School begins Dec 2!

The World Languages Department welcomes back its students from what it hopes was a relaxing, safe and fun holiday with family and friends.  School begins Monday, December 2 and there will be three weeks of school before Winter Break arrives.  Be sure to settle down and do your best!

Bonne l'Action de Grace!

Madame Leidhoff's students of second and third year French wrote guided essays on the things they are grateful for in their lives and the holiday traditions of their families.

Today, students of Advanced French participated in a discussion activities on current events, social issues and opinions of today’s world.

Mr. Blackwelder presents at ACTFL in Orlando, FL

Mr. Alex Blackwelder, World Languages Japanese teacher is in Orlando, Florida attending two seminars and presenting on the Japanese program at the ACTFL (American Council of Teacher of Foreign Language) national convention.  You represent us and the Japanese program well, sensei!

La Llorona analyzed in Spanish 5-6

Students in Spanish 5-6 with Profe Bañuelos watched the animated movie from México "La Leyenda de la Llorona."  It was viewed to see another version of the legend.  Later on in the week they read a different version and worked on truly understanding the written version and its comparisons and contrasts to the film version.

Action Connection Reflection Projects in French

Madame Leidhoff's students of French 5-6 did Action Connection Reflection projects.  Students needed to DO something with French culture.  Students sang, sewed, researched, designed, crafted models to imitate something coming from the cultures of the French speaking world.  Presentations started today and will continue next week.

 

Students of First year French made family trees and presented their families.

La Persona Ideal in Spanish 1-2

Señorita Chen's students are using “ser” to describe what someone is like with a small project over the next couple of days called:  “La Persona Ideal”. Students will brainstorm characteristics that they find attractive in someone they like, create a paper doll version and present it to the class.

 

 

Trip Project and Fashion Show in Spanish

Students in Ms. Ranzolin's Spanish 3-4 class are putting together a project about a trip they took. They get to show their understanding of travel vocabulary as well as the past tense. Students in Ms. Ranzolin's Spanish 5-6 class have been working on putting together a fashion show completely in Spanish. The fashion show will be next week, complete with music and themed outfits.

Les Trois Ours performed by Fr 1-2

Madame Leidhoff's students of French 1  did a theatrical performance of Les Trois Ours.

Students of French 5  have read a piece of literature called Tout Bouge Autour de Moi  de Dany Laferriere, who is a great Haitian writer who won the Prix Medicis  in 2009.  AP French continues to practice essay writing prompts for the exam….

Pan de Muerto

In recognition to the Mexican holiday/tradition Día de los Muertos, celebrated on November 1 and 2, students in Spanish 3-4 and 5-6 with Profe Bañuelos sampled the sweet-tasting pan de muerto.  Profe spoke a little about the history of the tradition, and showed a documentary that showed not just the traditions, but the food that is eaten in certain areas of México.  Pictured is a photo of two students with one of the pan de muerto.

Speaker from Madagascar Illuminates French Classes

The French Program welcomed Mr. Eggers, a San Diego native and a University of Colorado graduate.  He spoke with Madame Leidhoff's classes about the culture of Madagascar, a French-speaking country.  Living in Madagascar, Mr. Eggers is a Peace Corps volunteer.  He spoke of the demographics, geography, animals, socio-economics and his life in the highlands and capital city, Antananarivo, as a teacher.

Carta al Futuro

Students in Spanish 5-6 with Profe Bañuelos created a four page book to the future, written for their future grandchild to read it at their 18th birthday.  In it they described themselves, their current arch-enemy, what's going on in their life now, and what they see themselves doing in their mid-20s to 30s.  Students then shared aloud their books to each other in groups of four.  This student reads about his arch-rival Justin Bieber.

Students getting ready to show that they can SPEAK Spanish too!

Both Spanish 3-4 and Spanish 5-6 students in Señor Lawhead's classes took their Unit 1 vocabulary test on Friday.

In TPR/S, Spanish 5-6 has continued the mini-cuento:  ¡Basta, Chismosas! and Spanish 3-4 is working on:  No Queda Muy Lejos.  These mini-cuentos are helping students to prepare for their first oral testing which will be happening in the next couple of weeks.

Learning Descriptive Classifiers in ASL

In ASL 3 this week, Mrs. Redelings's students continued to solidify their understanding of descriptive classifiers by creating posters matching everyday objects with appropriate classifiers.

 

ASL 1 students discovered classifiers for the first time and how they can be used to describe hair and clothing.

Spanish students using on-oine websites to improve oral proficiency.

Dr. Jacobson's students practiced oral language speaking skills in the computer lab by responding to prompts presented through 'Spanishear' online technology.  Additionally, AP Spanish students are responding to prompts related to the challenges of migration on youth through Michigan State University's 'Conversations' website, providing learners an opportunity to record and listen to their individual speech production.  AP students are delivering individual presentations, comparing the causes and results of migration as related to the U.S and other Spanish speaking countries.

All students have engaged in rigorous study and testing of the present tense, examining stem-changing, spelling irregularities and accent mark placement of a wide array of both regular and irregular verbs.  Spanish 5-6 and 7-8 have worked to reinforce their fluency of expression through reading poetry, identifying rhymes, rhythm and various examples of figurative language.  Dr. Jacobson read aloud a poem she wrote titled 'Para los Aztecas,' regarding the arrival of Hernán Cortés to Veracruz on the eastern coast of Mexico.

Les étudiants français très occupés

Madame Leidhoff's students of first year French are practicing sentences using “er”verbs, and using this language to express their likes and dislikes.

Students of AP French are gearing up for a practice on the Persuasive Essay portion of the exam. 

Students of second and third year French will play the roles of “les grillots”,  in telling an African tale…. Ventre-Rond, a story from Madagascar about a brother and sister left behind by their parents. On their ventures, they meet an Ogre!

Progress Reports distributed last Friday!

Parents should know their student's current grade in World Languages classes with the distribution of progress reports on Friday, October 18.  Parents with questions or concerns should contact the teacher directly via telephone or e-mail.  This information can be found on the Scripps Ranch High School website.  Also, the Parent Portal is up and running so that parents can check their student's progressive regularly on-line. 

Back by popular demand...

After spending the weekend in México City, Profe Bañuelos returned to teach his Spanish 3-4 and 5-6 classes the song and dance of "Ay Si Te Beso" by Brazilian singer Michel Teló.  The lyrics use direct and indirect object pronouns.  Many students requested Profe to teach the song/dance again after using it last school year.

County Supervisor to speak to World Languages classes!

Dr. Jacobson has invited County Supervisor Dave Roberts to speak with World Languages classes on November 1st during 1st period.  He will be discussing the benefits of speaking a second language as related to trade and tourism in San Diego and sharing his recent experience with a Japanese delegation visiting San Diego.

Classical and Spanish guitar from Los Romeros in Spanish 5-6!

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 classes viewed the PBS documentary:  The Romeros: Royal Family of the Guitar.  Along with the history of this local classical guitar family comes the history of Spain and the Spanish guitar.  Great music and something different than what students normally hear!

"To be or not to be"? Ser vs. Estar!

Señora Trott's Spanish 1-2 classes are learning how to express what they like, what they like a lot
and what they do not like.  They will present their projects to the class on Friday using only a poster and no written notes.
Spanish 3-4 students have just completed a review of ser/estar and are currently working on stem changing verbs.  Their second project "Estrella" will begin next week.

¡Me Gusta Español!

Señorita Chen's Spanish 1-2 classes finished their chapter test last week and are now busy learning how to express their personal likes and dislikes in Spanish.

First Presentations of the Year in ASL!

 

Mrs. Redelings's ASL 3 students signed their first presentation of the year, Something Special. Part of the assignment was to bring in an object of personal significance to show the class.

Goal: Fluency, Creativity and Accuracy!

Señor Lawhead's Spanish 5-6 classes took a break from the drill-n-kill worksheet reviews for next week's test to hone their speaking skills in Spanish.  Students featured are looking at a drawing on the overhead projector and telling the story without notes.  Their goal: fluency, creativity and accuracy (in that order)!

Periódico Project in Spanish 5-6

Students in Ms. Ranzolin's Spanish 5-6 class will be sharing their "Periódico" project, where they showed their knowledge of the present and past tenses by writing articles for a student newspaper. Students in her 3-4 class have been working on describing different types of people.

Likes, Dislikes, Debates and Monuments in French!

Madame Leidhoff's tudents of Advanced French class competed in formal debates on topics they chose and researched.

Students of French 1-2 have begun the to express things they like and do not care for..

Students of French 3-4 are working hard on the study of the monuments of Paris.  They have chosen a monument and will present its history, architect, artist to the class next week.

Vivir mi Vida

In order to review the use of Ir + A + Infinitive Verb from Spanish 1-2, students in Spanish 3-4 with Profe Bañuelos listened and read the lyrics of the catchy salsa song Vivir Mi Vida by Marc Anthony.  Students then sang the chorus: "Voy a reír, voy a bailar, vivir mi vida lalalala. Voy a reír, voy a gozar, vivir mi vida lalalalá"

Students Sing in Spanish!

Señor Lawhead's class sings the well-known song of the Mexican Revolution "La Cucaracha".  Along with singing, students learned a bit about Mexican history and who "La Cucaracha" was.

Vocabulary Quizzes y Mejores Amigos Collages

Señora Trott's classes have just completed their first vocabulary quizzes.  In addition, Spanish 1-2 students are preparing their first oral presentations this week.  They will have a short conversation with another student in front of the class.  The project is called Hola, ¿Cómo estas?

Spanish 3-4 students are also preparing a collage of pictures that depict their best friend or a special family member. Using only this visual clue, students will describe this person to the rest of the class.