Belleville Township High School - Bellevinois Yearbook (Belleville, IL)

Page 24 text:

Using the new French film-and-text course, Mr. Stover helps Nancy Greenwood and Randy Birdsell to improve their accents. French students use the language laboratory. Students of a second-year honors French class made masks showing various characters of Jean de la Fon- tains ' s fable, Le Corbeau et e Renard. Showing the masks are, Michelle Fass, Patty Whitsell, Leslie Brooks, Linda O’Neill, and Cheryl Engler. Foreign language study is the key to the under¬ standing of people of other countries. It also helps us to better understand the grammar and usage of our own language. A main goal of learning other languages is to establish an over all cultural and social bond with other peoples by studying the structure of the language and reading the literature of the people. In the modern study of languages, more and more emphasis is being placed upon the spoken word. Government grants are given to individual schools so that they can establish language laboratories. This vear, a modified lab is in use for the first time at BlHS. About one hundred and forty first-year French students are using it. Through regular use of new lip-synchronized color films, tapes, texts, and oral drills, students gain an over all, natural contact with the language. By seeing films of real-life situa¬ tions and by learning what is said in these situations, the students learn to speak French in the same way they learned to speak English, by hearing it.

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Careful listening is also stressed in English classes. Here Mr. Saun¬ ders begins playing a recording of Macbeth for his English class. Mary Corneliussen waits to consult him on her theme about the play. Ken Greenlee illustrates the fine points of speaking. daily stressed in class. The wide range of literature studied gives the stu¬ dent new outlooks and ideas. Outside of class, stu¬ dents read library books and then are required to express thoughtful opinions on the reading matter in the book reports which are required each year. To go beyond his own limited horizons, it is important for each student to enter the world of literature. It is also necessary for the students to be acquainted with the growth of literature and with its authors. This valu¬ able information can be used by the student in the future when he seeks to evaluate his reading material. I he reading of books is important, for it introduces the student to culture and richer enjoyment of life. Dan Daubach, Mel Trotier, lee Ann French, and Ruth Meng discuss the techniques of debating before they take part in a tournament.

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French, German, and Spanish are the modem languages taught at B.T.H.S. Now the student may take four years of his chosen language. If the student choses to do this, upon completidon of high school he will have basic knowledge of the language. Should he visit the country sp eaking the language he studied in high school, chances are good that he will be able to converse with its people. I lowever, being able to speak a language is not the only value of foreign language study. The stu¬ dent is also taught to read and a new and rich literature is opened to him. The student can read foreign books with the meaning intact and little lost in translation. Latin can also be taken for four years. However, the goals of studying Latin are not the same as those of studying a modern language. Because Latin is no longer spoken, all emphasis is placed on reading. The Latin student learns to dissect sentences and to ferret out their meanings. He reads works of Julius Caesar, Cicero, Ovid, and Virgil, and learns about the Roman civilization and about its influence on our lives. Larry Burro decorates the Spanish room by hanging a travel poster. Spanish, German, and Latin are taught here. Senior Shelia Barber, dressed as a Roman patrician, explains Roman customs to a freshman Latin class.