West Mesa High School - El Chicote Yearbook (Albuquerque, NM)

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Foreign Languages Communication,-key to understanding, theme of language department in '71 In French I students are practicing oral drills while using the language lab. The language lab enables teachers to give students more individual help in specific areas. is With the thought in mind that com- munication is the key to understand- ing, the Language Department has strived to instill in the minds of its stu- dents the ideas, philosophy, culture, and the language of different countries throughout the world. This year four levels of Spanish and three of German and French were of- fered. Students who had completed Spanish II were permitted to take a trip in the spring to Guadalajara, Mexico. Here the students put to use what they had learned in the classroom. French I and German I provided stu- dents with the basics of the language. Advanced German and French classes increased the students' knowledge of the people of these countries and their language. lgilllf gilz 9 it T i l ll lg E Il is For a vocabulary exercise in German II and III, Mark Zimmer receives a point for writing on the blackboard. Gerri Lee gets one point for any correction she makes. Also looking for errors is Mrs. Regener. Academics 37

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Social Studies Department Learning the workings of the court system was a unit in Sociology classes this year. Here, judge Larry Wolfe and lawyer Robert Guitierrez listen to witness Joy Noffsinger while defendant Jerry Austin and police officer Richard Martin look on. Striving for a better future is social studies objective To meet the needs of minority group students, the Social Studies Depart- ment offered two new courses this year, Black Studies and Southwest History. To comply with state requirements, World History and U.S. History were also offered. Freshmen students were offered Civ- ics, while upper classmen had the op- portunity to take Sociology, a study of social problems. Juniors and Seniors could take Hu- manities instead of History and Eng- lish. These courses blended the cultural aspects of the United States or the World, from past to present, into a form that could help students learn from the mistakes of the past in order to work for a better tomorrow. 36 Academics Poster-filled bulletin boards for World History classes set the background for students in South- west History as they read material which has been assigned to them.

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Business Education Typewriters, adding machines make business scene Several new courses were added to the Business Department this year giving students a wider variety of classes from which to choose. Also Typing I was offered to freshmen. According to Mrs. Frost, this is working well and is to be continued next year. Filled this year was a Business Eng- lish class. This was a one semester course and was backed by Personal Money Management second semester. This class is designed to help students manage their own money-buying on the installment plan, handling a checking account, etc. Intensive Office Practice, a two-hour block class, was initiated this year. It is a Federally-funded program and has a maximum size of 20 students. In this course, the basic fundamentals of filing are learned and students spend several weeks learning to operate various office machines. The remain- der of the year was spent working in simulated office situations. Several courses of typing were taught. Typing I was offered to all students, and for those who wished to continue in typing there was Intermediate Typ- ing and Typing II. Students who were not interested in a business career could take Personal Typing and Note- hand. Data Processing was a one semester class that offered the challenge of learning different unit record equip- ment machines-keypunch, sorter, etc. For students wanting to learn about the economy, General Business was of- fered. If a student was pursuing a career in accounting or just wanted to be able to keep track of personal finances, bookkeeping was a helpful course. Combining ability and skill, short- hand students learned to take dicta- tion and were able to transcribe their notes. For a Data Processing assignment, seniors, Rita Wies and Tim DWYC1' wire 3 Control Pall- Leaming and practicing the fundamentals of Shorthand I are juniors, Beverly Sammons and June Cl board- Sanchez. 38 Academics Q ,,.,,, .