The Department of World Languages celebrated National World Language Week with different activities throughout the district that emphasized the importance of learning other languages. Students unleashed their creativity through a poster display titled “The Magic of Language,” showcasing the importance of language learning. Adding even more color, our department proudly presented its inaugural “Welcome to World Language” mural, which served as a canvas for students to express their favorite phrases, reflecting the joy and creativity they experience while learning a new language. In addition to murals and poster contests, individual schools continued their celebrations throughout the week. For photos and information visit: http://jfkworldlanguages.weebly.com/
Kennedy students participated in multiple activities to celebrate World Language Week. Congratulations to our poster contest first-place winner, Daniella Tejada, and second and third-place contestants, Noelle Ressa and Jonathan Salerno. The enthusiasm continued with our WL Trivia Challenge, where representatives from each class participated in an exciting final round, testing their general knowledge of languages. Congratulations to our first-place winner, Lucas Linn, as well as Maisie Leo, Mason Schlesinger and Nathan Domb for their top scores in the tournament. Finally, Cougar TV took the celebration a step further with a special segment featuring students from the ENL program. They shared their favorite phrases, inviting their peers to guess the language and the meaning of their phrases. This weeklong celebration truly highlighted the depth and richness of language learning at JFK.
Merrick Avenue Middle School celebrated National World Language Week with a series of events and activities. Throughout the week, students voted on their favorite posters in this year’s poster contest, the theme of which was The Magic of Language. The WL department also hosted a spirit week with each day dedicated to a language with students and staff wearing something that represented the country or flag colors. Students from our ENL program and International Buddy Club delivered daily announcements in various languages and shared fun facts about countries. Students participated in “Human Bingo” during which they had to find people who accomplished different activities related to world languages and travel to get Bingo. They also created a wonderful mural with greetings and positive phrases in many languages.
In class, Mrs. Hayes’ 7th-grade French students explored language through music with Roxxem, an educational website that offers musical listening challenges in multiple languages. Señora Steinhaus’ Spanish and Italian classes learned about the differences in breakfast foods across Spain, South America, and Italy. They watched videos and compared pictures of breakfast foods from around the world in appreciation of cultural diversity. Students ended the week by discussing their own daily breakfast intake in the target language.
Signora Di Chiara’s and Señora Cohen’s students learned Idioms in Italian and Spanish. They were surprised to see how many idioms people in other countries use daily to express their thoughts! Students had fun drawing the idioms and using them in context in class. On Friday, Señora Kelly’s, Signora Di Chiara’s and Señora Cohen’s students focused on the importance of celebrating International Women’s Day by discussing inspirational women in their lives.
Students created mini plaques and displayed them around the room to honor the women who have impacted their lives. Sra. Cohen’s classes also learned about the life and art work of Frida Kahlo. They learned about her self-portraits and created their own masterpieces!
Sra. Kelly’s classes participated in the Juegos Olimpicos all week. Each day the students competed in various events. They participated in a Geography Bee, Murder Mystery, Blooket contests, and a Corn Hole tournament. The winning team will be announced on Monday, March 11th. Who will it be, Argentina, Spain, or Mexico?
Madame Schleith’s 8th-grade French students learned about Canada and began to prepare for their upcoming MAMS/GAMS Islanders French night in April by learning about Canadian hockey players on the New York Islanders and Montréal Canadiens! Students researched and prepared slides in French, and did a gallery walk to learn about the various players. In addition, students drew some scary aliens and learned about famous French scientist Marie Curie, as part of their Health unit and International Women’s Day.
Students in Mrs. Schleith’s ENL class wrote emails to the main character in the novel they are reading, explaining how they felt coming to a new country, new school and not speaking the language. They gave advice on how being “bilingual” or different is an asset and something to be proud of. To recognize International Women’s Day, they researched famous women from their native countries and prepared presentations.
At the International Buddy Club meeting, with advisor Mrs. Schleith, student Madeline Chernobilsky gave a culture presentation about Ukraine and Uzbekistan, sharing information about the customs, traditions, food, and many other interesting facts.
Finally, the department sponsored a drive in conjunction with BMUST of various items to donate to the Community Cupboard and Bethany House. Thank you to the entire World Languages Department for inspiring students through these educational, spirited and fun activities! For more photos visit: https://sites.google.com/view/mamswl
During the week of March 4, Mepham celebrated National World Language Week with a series of events and activities. Throughout the week, students voted on their favorite posters in this year’s poster contest, the theme of which was The Magic of Language. Each day, students watched a video about traditional dances from countries representing the department’s offerings and answered trivia questions. Students also created a mural with positive phrases, greetings or their favorite words in different languages. During the week, students participated in “Human Bingo” where they had to find people who accomplished different activities related to world languages and travel. In addition, the department sponsored a drive in conjunction with the BMUST Women’s Committee of various items to donate to the Community Cupboard and Bethany House.
Mrs. Hayes’ French classes explored language through music with Roxxem, an educational website that offers musical listening challenges in multiple languages. Her sophomore class participated in Manie Musicale, an international, bracket-style competition modeled after March Madness, where students vote on their favorite French song from a field of sixteen. French Honor Society held a bake sale on Monday to raise awareness and funds for the Eastern Congo Initiative.
The Mandarin Honor Society, under the direction of Ms. Qiu, created a dragon watercolor painting for the World Language hallway in honor of the Year of the Dragon. Students wrote their lucky phrases on each dragon scale for good luck. Mandarin Honor Society members also decorated the World Language display case to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
On Wednesday, the Spanish Honor Society, under the direction of Ms. Feldman and Ms. Lo Monaco, hosted a “Scattergories en Español” event. Students worked collaboratively to score points by identifying objects, people, or expressions within a set of categories in the target language. Students used their skills acquired in their World Language classrooms, as well as their creativity, to compile as many words in Spanish in the time limit.
To celebrate World Language Week and International Women’s Day, Ms. Bursky’s classes watched a video about the history of women’s rights and then researched and created biographical posters about famous Hispanic women including Rosalía, Sonia Sotomayor, Ellen Ochoa, and Rita Moreno. Students also honored important women in their life by identifying their best qualities and why they are inspiring.
Ms. Montuori’s Italian Honor Society researched traditional Italian dances and created informational posters about them to share with the Mepham community along the World Language hallway. Also, Wednesday, March 13th is the 19th annual Italian Culture Night. The honor society has been busy for weeks preparing for the night. This year’s theme is Gelato.
Ms. McNeil’s College Spanish classes researched famous Hispanic artists. They created presentations highlighting the artists’ lives and their artwork. They also attempted to “Mimic a Masterpiece” where they recreated a work of art by the artist they researched. For more photos, visit:https://sites.google.com/view/mephamwl
During World Language Week, the World Language Department at Calhoun High School involved students in a variety of activities. Over the course of the week, students and teachers from the entire building visited the poster display for this year’s poster contest. Voters chose their favorite entry for the theme The Magic of Language.
Each day, students from French, Italian, Mandarin, and Spanish classes represented the language they are studying or from their own heritage by reading a morning announcement in the language. Each student shared details about the language’s culture and fun facts about the country. This year, classes created two murals by writing kind words and expressions in many different languages. The murals were displayed in the World Language hallways.
Ms. Dand and Ms. Maldonado organized a slideshow for the department’s teachers featuring popular music videos and trivia questions for each of the four world languages that students study at Calhoun. Students watched the videos and answered the questions to compete for a gift card raffle. Ms. Han and Dr. Chen decorated the hallway with traditional Chinese decorations, students’ character writing, and a student-created dragon to represent the Year of the Dragon.
Thank you to all of the students who participated and to our World Language teachers for organizing the activities for the week! For more photos visit the department website: https://sites.google.com/view/chs-world-languages/home
Grand Avenue Middle School also celebrated World Language Week with many fun activities for students. Once again this year, Grand World Language students created impressive posters for the annual contest based on the theme The Magic of Language”. Students, faculty, and staff were able to vote all week as they visited the display in the main lobby.
The daily morning announcements included messages in a world language shared by a “mystery speaker” staff member. There were hundreds of entries guessing each day's guest announcer and the language that they were speaking. In World Language class, students created a unique mural filled with positive and kind messages from many different languages that was displayed in the World Language hallway. Students also participated in trivia games, a spelling bee, target language game day, an art “modernization” project, and a collection for BMUST’s donation drive for the Community Cupboard and Bethany House.
Thank you to all of the World Language teachers and to everyone who participated! For photos of Grand Avenue’s activities, visit the department website at: https://sites.google.com/view/gams-dowl/home
Click here to view the photo slideshow.
Date Added: 3/20/2024