Norwell High School - Shipbuilder Yearbook (Norwell, MA)

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Page sixteen THE SHIPBUILDER Continued From Previous Page come, we will be heart and soul with Czechoslovakia. These letters were all in English, but just as often the correspondent writes his or her letter in French. In return we write our letters in Eng- lish. In this manner valuable prac- tice in reading a foreign language is received at both ends. Such corres- pondence not only affords the student an enjoyable pastime, but also broad- ens his knowledge of how the rest of the world lives. LAWRENCE NEWCOMB, Jr. +++ SOCIAL STUDIES Social studies include United States and modern history, economics, and Problems of Democracy for the up- per classes. In grades seven through nine there is a course of combined civics, geography and history. The classes are taught, not by the tradi- tional single text book style, but by the use of a variety of pamphlets, bulletins, papers, books and maga- zines. The social studies collection is filed by unit subjects in a large clos- et titted for the purpose. In studying a unit, each pupil re- ceives work sheets of activity and problems, vocabularies, outlines, and reference lists. These are used as guides to enable each pupil to work independently, at his own rate. Each student gets credit for his own inter- est, initiative and ideas. No two pa- pers are done alike. The teacher acts as a guide in explaining prob- lems, and suggesting ideas at a con- ference between pupils and teacher. He also helps to find and plan the use of materials. All work, in its first form, is checked for possible ini- provement before being iinally made into booklets. In the course of a year each pupil writes eight to twelve units - ill- ustrated with graphs, charts, clip- pings and other material that makes the booklet interesting. This method of teaching has ap- pealed to everyone, and is very inter- esting. VIRCINIA HALL, '39 REPORT OF UARSENE LUPIN By Maurice le Blanc, famous writer of crime stories This tale is composed of six minor stories, all individual, yet all in chron- ological order and recounting the adventures of a certain part of the life of Arsene Lupin, gentleman burg- lar. The first story, L'Arrestation d' Arsene Lupin, tells how, journey- ing on an ocean liner, this man was arrested for the theft of jewels and money. The story, written in the first person, is a surprise as the sup- posedly innocent guest telling it turns out to be the guilty one. The second story, Arsene Lupin en Prison, deals with his attempts at escape, and his final success by which he was released by the court as being the wrong prisoner, and had really disguised himself, is told in L'Evasion d' Arsene Lupin. The fourth story, La Perle Noir, is, I think, the most exciting. The Countess of Andillot was relieved of a precious black pearl and assassin- ated early one night. Arsene, ignor- ant of this, and having the same idea, crept in and discovered her. Sus- pecting a certain man of having done this, he posed as a detective, forcing him to give up the pearl. Le Mysterieux Voyageur was the account of Arsene's train ride from Paris while sought for escaping, his li ing hed up by a bandit whom a lady passenger supposed to be the hunted Lupin himself, and how, by the help of the police, he recovered his stolen papers, which in the hands of the police, would have sent him back to prison. Le Sept de Coeur contained an interesting episode in which Arsene played the good samaritan against a couple of blackmailers. I very much enjoyed reading this book, for the following reasons: C15 The stories were interesting, humor- ous, mysterious, with plenty of ac- tion, chills, etcg C21 The French was extremely easy to read- that is, by the help oi' footnotes and analyses of syntax. I didn't have many new words to look up, and also most of Continued on Page Twenty-eight

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g THE Page fifteen FRENCH DEPARTMENT Many think that the study of French has little or no practical val- ue. With the following I hope to show otherwise. They are letters written by young people in France to members of our foreign languages class. They serve to illustrate one tangible advantage in taking French in high school. Pupils obtain their correspondents through a bureau in Boston which se- cures and distributes the names of French boys and girls who desire to correspond. These letters are copied exactly as they were written. Any errors in grammar are not mistakes on my part, but mistakes that a person might naturally make when writing in a language not native to him. This first letter is from a French boy who has had the advantage of a great amount of travel. He seems to have come from a family of some means, for as well as being well edu- cated in school he has broadened him- self by touring over most of Europe. At the time he writes this letter he is in London attending the Corona- tion of King George VI. Today we have the coronation of King George the sixth, which was very emotioning. The King and the Queen were crowned in the St. Paul's by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and they were taken in their carriage to Buckingham Palace. London was not more to be recog- nized, everywhere garlands and flags. The whole city was in joy, at each window the Union-Jack. Everybody walks, the head lifted up, the eyes looking at heaven. Each place cov- ered with crowds. But this is nothing compared to Oxford Street. Sunday evening this large street was all covered with crowds, running, and fexcuse the ex- pressionj were flowing like the waves and streamings of a great river. You can hardly understand what the coronation is for an Englishman. Now every, I myself, am shouting: Long life to the King. The church, I want to say, the Westminster Ab- bey, is surrounded by black crowds, awaiting the sovereigns. In the roy- al carriage are the sovereigns, the royal princes, Girard Lashel, and CExcuse me for having forgotten herb the heiress of the throne Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth. Now the sovereigns are already in the Buckingham Palace, surrounded by thousands and thousands of crowds. The whole British army, filed before the royal balcony and then presents the weapons, the cortege of Queen Mary follows, and the Scottish regi- ments play upon their bag pipes. The soverigns are hailed, but the princess Margaret and Elizabeth are hailed longly too. Do you come to Paris for the Exi- bition? I hope so. You will welcome to my family and I shall show to you the whole city. Now I hope to see you soon in Par- is, for if you come, you will be receiv- ed like a home. This next piece is a short excerpt from another letter written by the same boy. Except my studies, I sometimes go to the movies or we have a party. Always the same old dances: Lam- beth Walk, Big Apple, The Flat Foot Flotty and so on. Sometimes we lis- ton to Bing Crosby, or by radio, to good ol' Duke Ellington. The concluding letter is from a girl who has not studied English as long as the boy who wrote the previous letters and thus is not able to express herself quite so well. Her letter is rather interesting, however. I have been seeing in a French newspaper, that a terrible hurricane has ravaged the New United States but I am happy that the Massachu- setts have not suffered very much, because I am afraid for you and your family. In your last letter, you asked me to tell you what I think of the affair, German-Czech. France and England are very, very strong, and the United States are for us. We have been afraid because, the war was near, but M. Daladier, Chamberlain and Roosevelt have made very much good work. I hope that we will have no fear of war any more, but if the war does Continued on Next Page

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Page seventeen THE LEONARD ALLEN FUND In memory of LEONARD JAMES ALLEN 1907 - 1939 In the Fall of 1933 Leonard James Allen came to Norwell as teacher of English in the Junior and Senior High School. He died in Norwell on March 17, 1939. In those five and one half years Mr. Allen gained the respect and affection of all who knew him. His death was a loss to the community he had grown to love and to look upon as his home. By personal association, by direc- tion of school dramatics, and by his work in the class-room, Mr. Allen de- voted himself to imparting to the boys and girls of Norwell that respect for the written and spoken word and that appreciation of good literature that was so deep and sincere a part of his own nature. The establish- ment of a school library by means of which all the children in the school might have access to good books was his great ambition. As a memorial to Mr. Allen and to perpetuate the work in which he was so deeply interested the Leonard Al- len Fund for the purchase of books for the school library is to be estab- lished. The nucleus of the Fund will be created by voluntary donations from all who knew Mr. Allen and from any others who might be interested and wish to participate in such an under- taking for the benefit of the com- munity. The increase of the Fund and the memory of Mr. Allen's name will be carried forward through the years by the school children themselves. Mr. Allen's birthday, February 28th, or some other designated date of each year will be Leonard Allen day. On that day all school children who wish to participate will bring to the school their pennies to swell the Leonard Allen Fund for their library. The Fund, itself, will be adminis- tered by a selected group of trustees who will supervise its investment and spend a specified portion of its in- come for the annual purchase of books. By this procedure the Fund, itself, will continue to grow and hence the money available for the purchase of books will increase with each new year. Everyone is welcome to participate in this memorial to Mr. Allen. All who wish to be Charter Members by subscribing to the nucleus of the Leonard Allen Fund may give their contributions to the temporary re- ceiver, Mrs. C. Campbell Baird, Main Street, Norwell, Mass. + + + CLASS ROOM CONDUCT As I have become a graduate of Norwell High School, I take the above title in mind. I often wondered if my class room conduct was the best that I could offer. Of course, I can't say that I didn't try my best. There are many phases of class room conduct, a few of which I am going to explain or describe. First, there is the person who comes in banging the doors and making all the possible noise he can, while morning exercises are being conducted. Na- turally, he did not chance to look through the little 8 x6 window pane in the door, to see if the exercises were being carried on. Second, comes the person who just loves to open his desk cover, yank out his books, drop them on his desk, and then sit down with a big grin on his face, while the teacher looks angrily at him. The next phase that comes to my mind is the person who speaks to his classmate while the teacher is read- ing the notices to her class room. This is a hindrance, because with the un- dertone only few in the class room will be able to hear all the notices, thus probably not hearing the impor- tant ones. It is also hard for the teacher due to the fact that she has to speak louder. As conduct does mean a lot in the carrying on of the school, pupils should try to cooperate in classes and the study hall. Classes cannot be carried on as well and the pupils can- not do their studying thoroughly if we do not have this cooperation. BARBARA WEARE