Glastonbury Foreign Language

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Upcoming and Current Events
Recent Events

Upcoming/Current Events

50 YEARS OF FLES

Glastonbury celebrates the 50th year of its elementary foreign language program in 2007.

Recent Events

RUSSIAN EXCHANGE

The foreign language department welcomed guests from St. Petersburg, Russia, for the first part of our new Russian exchange program. 14 students and 2 teachers of English were with us from May 14-28. They stayed with Glastonbury families, attended classes with their host students at GHS, and went on excursions to area attractions.

VENEZUELAN TEACHERS AND STUDENTS VISIT SMITH MIDDLE SCHOOL

Five Venezuelan students and their two teachers arrived in Glastonbury on April 30th and stayed for one month. The students are staying with Glastonbury families and attending class at SMS. The teachers are coordinating various activities with the seventh- and eighth-grade Spanish classes. The teachers and students come from Colegio Integral El Avila in Caracas.

AHORA Magazine

Smith Middle School students produced the second edition of Ahora magazine, the school's first bilingual newsletter. They wrote articles in Spanish and English about the district's literature project, the Chinese New Year, the Hindu festival of Diwali, and the French students' trip to Quebec. They also wrote reviews of the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" and the SMS production of "The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood." Read the issue.

SPANISH and FRENCH EXCHANGES

Glastonbury High School students of Spanish and French traveledl, respectively, to Aravaca, Spain and Dinard, France to stay with native host families for two weeks in April 2007. With their GHS and Smith teachers as chaperones, the students enjoyed a variety of cultural activities and opportunities to improve their language skills and expand their horizons.
Spanish exchange: April 13-27
French exchange: April 13-27

SPANISH SPELLING BEE

On Tuesday, March 27th, 2007, Glastonbury Schools celebrated its 21st Annual Fifth Grade Spanish Spelling Bee Contest. Excitement filled the Smith Middle School auditorium as spellers from Buttonball, Eastbury, Gideon Welles, and Naubuc competed for the title of Best Spanish Speller . Parents, friends, family, and teachers all held their breath as talented students, one by one, calmly spelled challenging words such as: “chaqueta,” “aquellos,” “cerezas,” “canoa,” and “dormitorio.” All of the students were well-prepared and spelled with confidence.

The contest lasted nine exciting rounds with each round becoming more difficult. That was when “Alicia” Alison Dugas from Gideon Welles walked to the microphone one last time to spell her winning word: “educación.” This year's contest was very competitive which resulted in ties for second and third place. Both “Luisa” Florez from Naubuc School and “Maria” Manushi Patida” from Buttonball School walked away with second place ribbons. Tying for third place were “Juanito” Jonathan Rico, from Buttonball School and “Pablo” Kurt Jaisle from Gideon Welles.

This year's Spanish Spelling Bee Contest was organized by all of Glastonbury 's elementary foreign language (FLES) teachers lead by Liz Berman, FLES teacher at Hopewell , Jean Trusz, FLES teacher at Buttonball, and Tim Alstrum, FLES teacher at Hopewell.

CT COUNCIL OF LANGUAGE TEACHERS
POETRY RECITATION CONTEST

On April 4, 2007 more than 46 students from Glastonbury participated in the Connecticut Council of Language Teachers annual poetry recitation. Over 1,200 students from across the state and 94 schools competed in more than 14 language categories. Students were required to memorize and recite a poem in front of a panel of judges. The three elements being judged were memorization, dictation and interpretation. Glastonbury students won three gold medals, three silver medals, and four bronze medals. Thank you to all students who participated as well as our Judges and chaperones: Antoinette Kisluk, Joanna Guinan , Jimmy Wildman, Jocelyn Tamborello-Noble, Allison Raggie, Pamela Jones, Toussaint Olivetti and Grisselle Aponte. Below are the results:

GOLD MEDALS:
Pauline Zajal, Japanese (Smith Middle School)
Suzanne Kwoka, Russian (Smith Middle School)
Joshua Manzano, Spanish (Smith Middle School)

SILVER MEDALS:
Meghan Pirsig, Russian (Smith Middle School)
Shreya Joseph, French (Glastonbury High School)
Sarah Flaherty, Russian (Glastonbury High School)

BRONZE MEDALS:
Ariel Brand, French (Glastonbury High School)
Eric Zhang, French (Glastonbury High School)
Delaney Kimball, Russian (Glastonbury High School)
Kristy Abo, Russian (Glastonbury High School)

NATIONAL RUSSIAN ESSAY CONTEST

The National Russian Essay Contest is a national and international competition open to students of Russian at all levels. Students are invited to spend up to 2 hours after school writing in Russian on a given topic. This year's contest was held November 14 th , and the topic was “Life in America .” Students wrote about traditions, holidays, their daily routine, and what America means to them. The essays were judged by teachers of Russian from across the US , and were awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals, and honorable mention.

This year 54 students participated at GHS, and a total of over 1300 across the US . Three Glastonbury students received gold medals: senior Tatiyana Rutenberg at the advanced heritage level, and juniors Arielle Martins and Teresa Miroslaw at the advanced level. 12 students received silver medals: seniors Drew Alcorta and Gabby Low; junior Pavel Belyayev at the advanced heritage level, juniors Emily Belval, Jennie Ghergurovich, Nick Hajek, Lauren McLellan, Andrew Pauker, Kristen Ramsay, and Christine Vogel at the advanced level; and freshmen Shannon Usher and Liz Wiley at the intermediate level. 23 students received bronze medals.

The three gold medal essays at the advanced level have been sent to the international competition in Moscow . Results from that round will be announced in April.

Congratulations to all who participated! We are proud of our students' hard work and success! (submitted by Russian teachers Jan Eklund and Lynne Campbell)

LITERATURE SHOWCASE

The Glastonbury Foreign Language Department hosted its first Foreign Language Literature Showcase in February. This event celebrates the 50th anniversary of the district's elementary Foreign Language program, as well as honoring February as Discover Languages Month. Foreign Language teachers in grades 1-12 and teachers of English Language Learners completed a literature-based project that is part of a culturally-centered K-12 Foreign Language curriculum. All activities were designed to enrich students' cultural knowledge, while also integrating vocabulary, grammar, and reading skills through the study of a literature selection in the target language. Examples include Don Quixote , Chinese songs, classic works of Latin, Russian poetry, cultural identity poems for English Language Learners, and French satirical poems. Members of the entire Glastonbury community attended this event, which consisted of displays and informal presentations from students and teachers. It was an excellent opportunity for the public and school faculty to witness how literature is an essential component in the foreign language classroom.