East High School - Speculum Yearbook (Aurora, IL)

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Any period of the day tinds the library a busy spot. English The English Department offers a wide variety of courses to meet the needs of all students. Subjects included are American and English Literature, Business English, Public Speaking, Journalism, Elementary Composition, Grammar Review, Classical Studies, and Library Science. All students are required to take English l through VI, as this includes a review of grammar fundamentals, oral and written themes, the reading of certain masterpieces of poetry and prose, and the history and development of American Literature over a period of three centuries. The students then may make their own choices to complete the four years. For col- lege preparation, it is advisable to continue with English Vll and Vll l, covering twelve centuries of English Literature, its back- ground, history and development. Journal- ism, of value to the future news writer, teaches the forms of writing in a newspaper and gives a true insight to a reporterls work. The commercial student will value Busi- ness English, covering the forms used in business writing. Public Speaking is a pop- ular course as it gives self confidence and poise, an asset to any student. Library Science covers an elementary training in library routine. Each student is required to complete a definite amount of outside reading for each course, choosing the books from an approved list of several hundred titles, most of which may be obtained from the school library. Mary Margaret Budd, an oral theme chairman, has just introduced Mary Crego, the speaker. I ,T 5 l . l 1 .... - , t L ., sul' DEPARTMENTS

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Dressed in a Spanish costume, Jean Rosenbarger talks to the members of of the Spanish Club. DEPARTMENTS VVhile Betty Crowell ex- hibits posters, Eileen Stark and VVinifred Licht make notes for the next Ger- man Club meeting. Foreign Language The Foreign Language Department offers two years in Spanish, Latin, German and French. Through studying the customs of foreign nations, their languages, the geogra- phy of their country, their history, music and literature, the Department tries to help the student know and understand people of other lands. These courses aim to give the student a reading knowledge of the language studied and a fair conversational vocabulary. Each language sponsors a club where pictures, plays, music and talks supplement the class work. lklany interesting speakers are brought in to tell first hand impressions of their trips abroad. The German classes enjoy learning and singing the native songs, and hearing topics on countries, kindred to the one being studied. Spanish newspapers bring direct contact with foreign affairs to the Spanish students. Rdany contests for scholastic standing are carried on in these classes. The Latin classes publish their own paper, 'Alles Latinaen, which is given to each Latin student. lt contains items related to Italy, sometimes a Latin puzzle and various other subjects. The first tivo semesters of French are foundational material. The last semester consists of college preparatory work. Niany interesting lessons center about Paris, the French provinces, and the customs of the people.

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Emery Dillon constructs the figure as Anita McCullough reads a prob- lem from her geometry book. If 1 ff, .X XX DEPARTMENTS The intricacies of the slide rule seem to have been mastered by Lor- raine Hochsprung, Robert Stoner, and Fred Suhler. Mathematics The Matliemzitics Department offers Arithmetic, Beginning and Advanced Alge- bra, Plain and Solid Geometry, and Trig- onometry, not only as the basis of the engi- neering profession, but also training the student to think in a logical order. Arithmetic enables the student who does not attend college to master common busi- ness problems. One becomes acquainted with formulas and graphs in Algebra, while advanced Algebra treats advanced phases of the work. Plain Geometry takes up the study of plain figures and logical proof, while Solid Geometry is a study of solid figures and relationships. Trigonometry, as well as Geometry, is needed in all mathematical work. To be successful in engineering one must have a thorough knowledge of advanced mathe- matics. The surveyor's transit, level, tape, and slide rule are the instruments used in Trigonometry. In the spring the Trigonometry class does field work which gives the students experi- ence in surveying. The class or sometimes a smaller group goes to the woods and fields with their surveying instruments and sur- yeys the land. Some of the boys draw maps from the notes they take on the trip. ..24.. .