George Washington High School - Monument Yearbook (Cedar Rapids, IA)

Page 8 text:

English Department ,EJ,M. 0' Tenth-graders Susan Smith and Dick Hopkins examine a model guillotine while readi-ng Dickens' A TALE OF TWO CITIES. ,yu- Seniors Ricard Feller and Kathy Phlegar scan Washington High's literary magazine for which Creative Writing class serves as an editorial board, while Harry Owens prepares a theme for class. Listening to actor Hal Holbrook's recorded impersonation of Mark Twain are Sarah Greenlee and Mike Collins. Heritage pu- pils have visited Twain's native Hannibal, Missouri, and have heard Holbrook in person in Cedar Rapids. English instructors like to believe that the subject they teach is useful twenty-four hours each day. Speaking, writing, thinking, and even dreaming require a working knowledge of English. The difference between illiteracy and liter- acy lies in accomplishment and skill in reading and writing. After reaching a level of reading competence, pupils find that books are a never- ending means of self-education. Likewise, pupils who master correctness of expression are eager to try their own creative powers. Besides a full program of learning, the Eng- lish curriculum at Washington High School in- cludes accent on speech in the tenth grade, ac- cent on American literature in the eleventh grade, and stress on English and World literature in grade twelve. Required outside reading lists have been re- vised so that pupils will be spending this time with books of quality and worth. Senior English courses teach the art of research, creative wri- ting, and a higher level of accomplishment. -4-

Page 7 text:

Table of Contents Curriculum ...... ....... 4 Classes. . 94.... Sports ...... ..... 1 56 - 3 - 24 ...... . . Seniors Activities

Page 9 text:

i Jw i 'J Language Department U' i . 1 Q p . 251531 H A M3 Mr. Muller, Mr. Sewell, who is head of Audio Visual in Cedar Linda Delzell experiences using the new laboratory equipment as Rapids, and Mr. Diaz admire and discuss the new laboratory for Gingie Van de Roovaart and Susan Prastka watch. the Foreign Language department. Gingie Van de Roovaart and Linda Delzell practice the use of the laboratory microphones while Susan Prastka looks on. -5 It is a great challenge to do all that should be done in teaching foreign languages. A set of goals has been adopted teaching students to read, write, and speak the foreign language, teaching students to know the culture, beliefs, attitudes of the people in the lands whose language is studied, teaching students to seek more than practical use or material benefit from the study of languages, preparing students who intend to go on in lan- guages as scholars, and teaching students respect for the peoples of foreign lands, for their contri- butions to the world, and for their problems. The scholarly approach is the most whole- some approach to learning languages, but in an era when the practical applications of the lin- quists' abilities become more obvious, the public school is beginning to mechanize. The Federal Government is encouraging and partially subsidi- zing the teaching of languages to increase the numbers of those who can speak and use them in the practical sense. The addition of modern language laboratories this year will help more students to learn foreign languages. The Foreign Language department offers three and even four years of preparation in French, German, Latin and Spanish.