John H Reagan High School - Spur Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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STUDENTS IN LANGUAGE CLASSES utilize the tapes and equipment in the lab to perfect accents and speech patterns. Charles Griggs — B.A. University of Texas French Mrs. Cora Fuller— B.S. Kansas Stale College Latin, English Mrs. Doris Henderson — B.A. Eastern New Mexico University Spanish Mrs. Edda Hodnett— B.A. University of Hamburg German Cecelia Houk — B.A. Southwest Texas State Spanish, English Mrs. Elizabeth McAndrew- B.A. University of Texas Spanish Mrs. Vivian Scott — B.A. Sot them Methodist University Spanish, English LISTENING WITH RAPT attention to one of her students is Mrs. Edda Hodnett. Administration — 209

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Lan guages Communication Aim of Teachers, Students r FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT . . . Never before has communication played such an im- portant part in world affairs. In high school, students must begin to respect the traditional customs and ideas of other countries. This is one of the purposes of Reagan ' s Foreign Language Department. Besides the classical Latin, Reagan offers three contemporary foreign languages — French, German, and Spanish. Salve is one of the first words that Latin students learn. From this fundamental expression, they acquire a wide vocabulary that helps them understand the history of certain English words as well as the vo- cabularies of the five Romance languages. Although Latin is no longer spoken and is often called dead, students seem to revive it as they study the cultural aspects of ancient Rome. French students find it difficult to master the gutteral sound of the language. They also learn that French is as hard as English when it comes to silent syllables. Songs, plays and novels are an active part of the curriculum. Guten Tag and Auf Wiedersehen are common ex- pressions heard around all German classes. The lan- guage lab is quite valuable, as it is to all modern languages. Several classes had Mrs. Edda Hodnett, a native German, as their teacher, while others learned under Mrs. Dorothy Strieber, who has also lived in Germany. Spanish is perhaps one of the more useful languages that students take, since Texas is so close to Mexico, and the Spanish have had such a great influence on the state ' s culture. ItITtII IH ' MM ' IHO i ' i:u«l LATIN TEACHER Mrs. Cora Fuller sits quietly while students continue on translations, declensions and verb conjugations. i STUDENTS 1 WATCHING FOR STUDENT mistakes in French pronunciation requires concentration from Charles Griggs. STRING- !lll(i ««s a || 208 — Administration .

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' ' ' ■ » « ' MinuuwMaoa ih Social Studies Current Events Dominates Study SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT . . . This year was special for all social studies classes because of the Presidential elections. Only once in four years are students able to observe such an important event and discuss the issues of the candidates. World geography is a freshman course where stu- dents learn about all the countries of the world and the people who inhabit them. A world history class begins by studying the beginning of man and actually presents to the students the progress man has made and the problems that had to be overcome. American history concentrates on America ' s history from the days of the explorers up to the present time of growth and expansion in the country. American his- tory and world history are also taught in unique com- binations with English in two team-teaching efforts. The two classes, involving sophomores in World Cul- ture and juniors in American Culture, take a new approach to studying the development of literature with events in history. Civics is a semester course taken by seniors, deal- ing with the na tional government and its operations. State and local government are also closely studied by civics students. Special courses like Economics and Texas History are offered as electives for those who have completed the required social studies courses. Texas History gives students a better knowledge of, the unique history of the Lone Star State, and Economics deals with com- plicated matters of corporation finance, business cycles, money values and inflation and deflation. STUDENT DISCUSSIONS ABOUT civil rights and other controversial subjects fascinate Frank McDonald. 2 1 — Administration IN BRIAN SCHENKS Texas History class, Manette Dodge gives one of the many class reports. R EPU6 MRS. BETTY FRANKS directs the making of collages in her Ameri- can Culture class. The class is a combination of American History and American Literature. ..