Valparaiso High School - Valenian Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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Language progresses expression Dy Larkin Riley Oohl Ugo! Ling! Booga!” Verbal communication began millions of years ago with stronge expressions like these by primitive man. Though these babblings may seem strange to people today, prehistoric man actually started longuoge with his spoken gibberish, crude drawings, and body longuoge. The English language is now a major key to communication, be it writ- ten or spoken. Valparaiso High School students, as well as all those in Indiano, must have at least eight English credits to graduate. Mrs. Lenore Hoffman, En- glish Department chairperson, said, The English Department tries to oc- commodate this increased demand for English courses by offering a wide vari- ety of classes under the phase elective program.” This program, created to make the English curriculum more responsive to students ' individuol needs, consists o1 three phases. Phase one includes the honors classes, designed for students capoble of handling more advanced material. An A earned in an honors class is worth one extra point with re- gord to students ' GPA thon is on A in a phase-two class. Phose two is made up of courses for the above over- age, college-bound student, and phase three caters to students with a lower ability level in the English studies. Electing their (the students ' ) own classes seems to somewhat eliminate disciplinary actions in class, Hoffman said. This woy, students are catego- rized according to their ability level. If we put a random group of students into a class and start teaching, either the smarter, more talented students would PREPARING TO PERFORM The Sunshine Boys ' by Neil Simon for Porents ' Night, seniors Dove Baker and Scott Newsom rehearse os dramatics teacher June Weilend critiques them. be bored or the students who aren ' t as learned would be lost. Though the phase system is im- portant, so is parental stress in edua- tion, Mrs. Diane Moryl, English teach- er, said. Valparaiso need not worry about o lock of emphasis on learning, according to Hoffman and Moryl, since VHS has placed well obove the na- tional average on the Scholastic Apti- tude Test (S.A,T.), The English Department doesn ' t “Electing their (the stu- dents’) own classes seems to somewhat eliminate disciplinary actions in class.” — Mrs. Lenore Hoffman. necessarily focus on the S.A.T. ' s, but teachers do prepare students by teoch- ing them various skills which improve their overall approach to test toking. We also prepare students by giving them a solid bockground in English skills, Hoffmon sold. In addition to Speech and a gram- mar course, American Literature is also required to groduate. As the English Departmentfurthers students ' communicative skills, slang expressions such as Hey mani Cool! Like, totally awesome! will remain a thing of the past. Society will continue to better itself rather than return to the monosyllabic expressions of primitive man. English

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TENSION RISES AS sophomore Scott Moesch antici- pates adviset Glotia Zimmetman ' s comments re- gotding his sophomore officers copy. Volenian stoff members quickened their work poce os deadlines approached. CONT EMPLATING HIS PAPER ond the solitude of the nature center, junior Dotren Pederson awaits inspirotion for an ossignment. RESEARCHING ROBERT BORK ' S nominotion to the Supreme Court, senior Amy Baker and sopho- more Seon Osner prepore for o group discussion in Genetol Speech. English

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Broadening ho rizo ns awareness Dy Larkin Riley A healthy combination of work ond ploy allowed the Foreign Lan- guage Deportment to broaden the hor- izons of its students and teach them the value of on open mind. Instructors in- corporated fun and gomes os well os serious study in giving students on op- preciotion of cultures around the world. Various fun octivities which en- couraged cultural learning included the annual Christmos porty, where stu- dents of different languages shared “Taking a foreign language seems to expand one’s vocabu- lary and helps students listen better when learning.” — Mrs. Marcia Arnold Christmos troditions and exotic foods, and the Mardi Gros festivol which sev- erol classes observed. Aside from mere entertainment, much work went into learning and teoching foreign lan- guages. Although learning con be tedious, students who speak a foreign lon- guoge fluently have a distinct advan- tage in the business world. According to French teacher Carolyn Hordebeck, the ability to deal with foreigners con be valuable in many areas, particular- ly in banking and business coreers. While almost anyone con be trained for a certoin position, mastery of a for- eign language takes years to develop. College-bound students olso found foreign longuoge study to be worth their efforts. Many universities, including Butler, Depauw, and Notre Dame, now require two years of for- eign language credit, and nearly all colleges recommend that students study a language. Teachers also improved students ' cultural awareness by sharing person- al anecdotes and past experiences, as all instructors hove previously trav- elled obroad. Such overseas experience was an added bonus to students who partici- pated in the school-sponsored trip to France. The Spring Break voyage wos the first offered to students since 1974. A total of 63 students, parents, and teachers toured historical places of in- terest including Paris, Versailles, ond the benches of Normandy. According to Marcia Arnold, de- partment chairperson, foreign lan- guage teachers were faced with two mojor problems. Lack of sufficient doss time and lorge doss sizes creoted ob- stacles in the teaching process. A sotisfoctory number in a class is between 10 and 15 students, Arnold said. Otherwise, it ' s hord to give indi- viduol ottention or tell if someone is having problems with pronunciotion. The department expressed hopes of incorporating oriental languages into future curriculum and also planned to experiment with team-teoching, a method of teaching which would ex- pose students to vorious styles of in- struction. While learning o foreign lan- guage requires hard work, the Foreign Longuoge Deportment mode every ef- fort to moke it on enjoyable process. Entertoining classroom octivities and serious study together attracted stu- dents and gave them o skill which is sure to prove useful in the future. PRAaiCAL KNOWLEDGE RANKS high omong Spanish instructor Kevin Cessna ' s goats, as he ex- plains the conversion of kilometers to miles. The metric system is used In most foreign countries. 30 Foreign Languages