May 2013

Carbondale Community High School

Foreign Language Department

Foreign Language Faculty

Ms. Holly Eastman, French.

Ms. Linaya Germann, Spanish

(Returning Chair for 2013-2014).

Ms. Sharon Lorinskas, German, ESL.

Ms. Jane Rendón, Spanish.

Ms. María Taylor, Spanish.

Mr. Arnold Taylor, Spanish

(2012-2013 Chair).

Inside…

Highlights……………..2

German………………..3

French………………….4, 5

Spanish ………..……...6, 8,

Recognition…………….7, 9

2

A note from Señor Taylor…

As another academic year comes to a close, I (like all of us) reflect on accomplishments and improvements that

can be made for next year.

It has truly been a great year for the CCHS Foreign Language Department. CCHS has won first place in both

divisions in Spanish at the SIU Foreign Language Day (now two years in a row for this honor). We also won a

first place in German and French. Our students work hard and train to set the benchmark. Thirty eight great,

challenging high schools were in the competition—one teacher mentioned that they had a 2 1/2 hour bus ride

just to get here. Other highlights include inducting 10 students in to the National Spanish Honor Society, CCHS

students receiving several awards including the coveted gold medal for the National Spanish Exam, five stu-

dents taking the AP Spanish exam, and some 100 French, German, and Spanish students receiving dual credit

from JALC (some of which now have two semesters—thereby completing their university- level requirements).

What an opportunity! This demonstrates just one of the many facets that make CCHS shine.

Several faculty members from our department attended a Foreign Language Teacher dinner last week at the

Newell House in Carbondale and we were commended by our colleagues throughout southern Illinois for our

efforts (we politely took the credit—even though our students did the work). These dear colleagues (area high

school, JAL, and SIU teachers) discussed their programs and challenges and offered creative solutions to

many of them. That night I thought to myself once again how lucky we are to be Terriers.

Last summer some of us attended the AP conference to receive updates on the new Foreign Language exams

that are in place. The expectations are higher and our students are acting accordingly. Students are doing

many assignments with technology and the curriculum is time-consuming and challenging.

As far as making improvements, we are constantly reflecting on what’s best for our students. Next year we

plan to implement a class to receive students who come to us from a fifty-fifty dual language emersion pro-

gram. This relatively new program at CES95 will soon be graduating students who will be entering high school.

Since these students are already bilingual, we will be able to continue to challenge and expand their horizons.

A non-English class consisting of Spanish and Latin-American literature is being considered. We are planning

to attend a department wide conference in May to explore the latest trends and seek methods to reach all stu-

dents. We embrace continuous improvement, as you will see in this newsletter from the various approaches

that we have used.

We welcome back Ms. Germann as department chair who will be back from her leave of absence. She plans

to prepare over the summer for the exciting new school year this fall. We are happy that she was able to spend

some quality time with her family and we are happy that she is back.

In closing, I’d just like to add that it was a pleasure to serve this department as chair for the past two years and

helping maintain the tradition of excellence at CCHS.

3

German Class News

The summer of 2012 marked the first time in many years that students from Car-

bondale High School have traveled to German for the AATG Summer Study Trip.

Stephanie Mueller, Matthew Tsung, graduating senior Zach Mick, and Frau Lorin-

skas spent three weeks in Passau, Bavaria attending St. Gisela’s Gymnasium

and visiting points of interest in southern Germany and Austria. As a group, they

visited the cities of Munich, Salzburg, and Nürnberg. They went hiking in the Ba-

varian National Forest, took a walking tour of the Altstadt in Passau and a boat

ride on the Danube and Inn Rivers. All the students stayed with host families,

who also took them on weekend excursions. Frau Lorinskas hopes to take anoth-

er group in the summer of 2014.

A new “Ausflug” during this school year was a trip for the German II, III and IV

classes to St. Louis for a day with a variety of experiences related to German his-

tory and culture. The primary purpose of the field trip was to view the exhibit “Es

Lebe die Freiheit”, “Long Live Freedom”, at the German Cultural Center. It dis-

played the results of recent research into the lives of German youth resistance to

Hitler and National Socialism before and during World War II. They students then

enjoyed a concert by “The Dorfrockers”, a young German band that combines tra-

ditional German music with a contemporary rock sound.

Later in the afternoon, the group toured the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and

learned more about the horrors of The Third Reich, including a personal account

from a survivor.

Finally, everyone enjoyed an authentic German dinner at The Dreamland Palace

Restaurant in Waterloo, Illinois. Students sampled dishes such as Sauerbraten,

Weisswurst, Schnitzel, Spätzle, Rotkohl, and Apfel Strudel before heading home.

4

La Classe de français

2012 - 2013

French 1

This year, students in French 1 have been busy! Besides studying new vocabulary and grammar, students

have given multiple presentations throughout the year. Recently, students have been working on cultural

presentations for their classmates. Each group was given a different topic: cinema, art, literature, sci-

ence, and music. The group “taught” their classmates about how France and other francophone countries

have influenced these topics. For the art group, the students created fun projects for their other class-

mates. The students had to build the famous French monument the Eiffel Tower using candy. The sci-

ence group showed their classmates an experiment of changing pressure in a soda can they had learned

in chemistry but was first discovered by French scientists.

5

French 3 and French 4

These students in their combined class have really come together and work hard this year. The students wrote re-

search papers on a topic of their choice in French. In the spring, the students have created videos reenacting French

historical events. These include the Crusades, Marie Antoinette, and prehistoric France. The students worked hard on

these videos with props and costumes. Also, students have worked on writing their own short stories which we put to-

gether in a book called “La Petite Sylvie.” For the multicultural festival, every student got involved by creating posters

that were on display. Many students also worked at the French table during the event.

6

La clase de Sra. Rendón

Students in Mrs. Rendón's Spanish classes are busy wrapping up the school year. Students in both

levels have enjoyed learning about countries, culture and foods. Most popular among the countries studied are

Puerto Rico and Argentina. Musicians from Puerto Rico have been instrumental in broadening the appeal of

salsa music, which has grown in popularity worldwide. Instruments and rhythms of salsa are used by top art-

ists on the music scene today, across many genres. Recently, students attending Foreign Language Day at

SIU took advantage of the opportunity to receive instruction at both sessions of salsa dancing. While students

are eager to brush up on their salsa moves, they are a little more reluctant to try the tango, a music and dance

form which comes to us from Argentina.

In the classroom, students recently wrote and performed skits. As a form of review and practical application,

students worked in small groups to write a skit. The skit had to contain elements or vocabulary and/or gram-

mar from each chapter previously studied. The students then had to perform their skits for the class. They

were able to use notes on note cards as a prompt, however they were not allowed to read their complete lines

verbatim. Mrs. Rendón was extremely pleased with the success of the assignment. The students showed that

they are very creative and imaginative. They came up with a wide variety of interesting topics. Skits included

scenes from a restaurant, a blind date, a party and a robbery, to name a few. Students enjoyed watching their

peers' performances. It is agreed that the project was a huge success!

7

F o r e i g n L a n g u a g e S c h o l a r B o w l

The Foreign Language Faculty is very proud of our students who represented the school very

well in the competition. Knowledge of languages structure, culture, comprehension, and spoken

language were tested.

SIU hosted 38 High Schools from our area. Besides the competitions there were fun activities

such as salsa dancing lessons, name writing in different languages and many presentations

from around the world.

At SIU TERRIERS

TAKE 1st PLACE in

both Spanish levels

and win first place

trophies in French

and German!

8

Students in Mrs. Taylor’s Spanish 2 are finishing the year just as strong as they

began working on research papers in topics related to Foreign Language acqui-

sition as an end-of-the-year project. A couple interesting titles are “Language

Boost your Brain” and “Increase your Brain Power at any Age with a Second

Language”.

Spanish AP 4 students are preparing for their upcoming AP test as they are fin-

ishing their Imagina SAM’s using the netbook cart.

Conjugarte is a relatively new discovery that encourages drawing, verb conjuga-

tion drills, and Latin-American art —all in one activity. This is a fun way for stu-

dents to appreciate art, culture, and grammar.

La clase de La Sra. Taylor

El Club de Español

A trip to the local panadería

was a fun way to experience

the Spanish-speaking culture

and practice communicating

in Spanish.

This year (because of all

their hard work and fund

raising) the Club was able to

help Terrier Giving with 5

Christmas gifts of clothing for

students.

9

Nikki Fox was recognized just after

the last newsletter was published—

Go Nikki!

Nikki is also the first inducted member to our

newly founded chapter of the National

Spanish Honor Society. The name of our

chapter is appropriately named Vicente Fox.