Foreign Language

Seventy years ago, Guy Stern wasn't allowed to set foot inside the officers club at Camp Ritchie near Cascade. But on Tuesday, he was welcomed there as a returning hero. “I was a buck private,” the 90-year-old Stern said as he stood on the front steps of a restaurant that during World War II served as the officers club. “This is the first time I've been allowed inside.” Stern was among a few dozen of “The Ritchie Boys” who returned from their homes across the country to attend a reunion at the now deserted Army base.

Last weekend while reaching into the refrigerator for some of our leftover shrimp and asparagus pasta, I noticed something had changed. The label on the plastic container proclaimed "6/11: Langostino y Esparrago. " It was as if the digital TV conversion folks were still in our house and thought we needed a Spanish translation. For a while last Friday, Spanish programming was all we could get. The kids had the TV on while I was making dinner. It was frustrating because I couldn't understand much.

“Felicitaciones,” “gratulatione” or “congratulations” might be in order for Waynesboro Area Senior High School's foreign language department, which recently won a statewide award for its programs. The Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association recognizes private and public schools with four levels of “Globe” awards each year. The association looks at criteria that include enrollment in programs, retention of students in those programs and cultural offerings outside the classroom.

Foreign language may return to middle schools By DAVE McMILLION Staff Writer A committee of local teachers is proposing that foreign language studies begin in middle schools, saying the courses help students develop their thinking skills and increase their acceptance of other cultures. The Washington County Board of Education accepted a report on the proposal Tuesday night, and one board member predicted foreign languages will be returned to middle schools and elementary schools within two years.

When we talked about summer plans, my son said there were two things he really wanted to do during break - art projects at home and the French class at Washington County Free Library. So I stocked up on construction paper and signed him up for the class, which is one of several being offered this summer. This is the fourth year that free foreign language classes have been taught at the library, according to Mary Summerville, co-chair of Friends of the Library, a group that raises funds for and sponsors programs at the library.

Not long ago, a friend's son was trying to explain why he didn't want to take a foreign language in high school. He just didn't see the point. He wanted to be a structural engineer when he graduated from college and couldn't see the benefit of studying something that he was sure he wasn't going to use. What he didn't understand was that the study of foreign languages is beneficial to all students. They can learn a number of skills that can benefit them both inside and outside of the classroom.

Learning Spanish can be useful, but I recently heard that a local high school principal wanted to require incoming students to take Spanish instead of letting students choose which foreign language they want to study. The very idea of this requirement has prompted me to address several myths about the importance of learning Spanish that show that our society is unfairly inclined to emphasize the importance of American students' learning Spanish. Myth 1: "In a few years, everybody in the United States is going to speak Spanish.

Local middle schools can begin offering foreign language next year, but only a few schools have expressed an interest in doing so, according to Washington County Board of Education Foreign Language Coordinator Larry Steinly. cont. from front page The School Board last week approved a plan to offer languages in county middle schools, which stopped offering those classes more than a decade ago. The courses are voluntary and rely on teacher vacancies at each school. To bring the classes back without adding staff positions, the School Board plans to fill empty arts positions with language teachers.

SHARPSBURG --Taiwan resident Mark Nagel, the son of Rohrersville residents Walt and Betty Lou Nagel, will present a lecture on Taiwan on Aug. 5 at the Sharpsburg Library. The 7 p.m. lecture will be about Taiwan's history, geography and culture, Branch Manager Betty Holtz said. Nagel has lived in Taiwan for the past 14 years. He teaches English as a foreign language at a university in Taiwan.

The first time Barbara Steiner plugged her tape recorder in at the old Boonsboro Middle School, she blew out the electrical circuit for half the second floor, including her class. For the past two decades, her French II students were rewarded at the end of the week with a 10-minute episode of “Tele Francais,” a French-language television show featuring a talking pineapple. “The kids enjoyed watching those episodes,” Steiner said. Steiner has 41 years worth of memories from teaching French in Washington County Public Schools, including the French food students made and brought to class.

Jim Powers will hold his ballroom dance party Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Maugansville Ruritan Club building on Maugans Avenue. Admission costs $4 per person.  For more information, call 301-739-9424.   Senior site Smithsburg senior site calendar:  Wednesday  - Closed for Independence Day.  Friday - “Gluten Free and Healthy” and Uno, 10 a.m.  Monday, July 9 - Word search and chair exercise, 10 a.m. Vacation Bible school Ringgold Church of Christ will presents its “Sky” vacation Bible school July 8-13 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. each day. The school is geared to those ages 2 to second grade.  It is a free community event.

Seventy years ago, Guy Stern wasn't allowed to set foot inside the officers club at Camp Ritchie near Cascade. But on Tuesday, he was welcomed there as a returning hero. “I was a buck private,” the 90-year-old Stern said as he stood on the front steps of a restaurant that during World War II served as the officers club. “This is the first time I've been allowed inside.” Stern was among a few dozen of “The Ritchie Boys” who returned from their homes across the country to attend a reunion at the now deserted Army base.

Justin Lewis of Boonsboro was awarded a scholarship from Glenville State College for the 2012-13 academic school year. Lewis received the Pioneering Appalachia Scholarship. Appalachian Pioneer scholars are first-generation scholars with a 3.0 high school grade-point average who have successfully completed all required curricular units in English, social studies, mathematics, science, arts and foreign language in high school. The scholarship is open to students in the Appalachian region who are not West Virginia residents.

The Rural Heritage Museum will hold a garden tour Saturday, June 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Visitors can spend the day traveling around the area, exploring the gardens. Gardens on the tour include the Tomlin Gardens in Boonsboro and The Sharing Gardens of Kathy Kline on Sharpsburg Pike. The German Four-Square Garden at the Rural Heritage Museum is a part of the tour, as well as an English Cottage Garden on Main Street in Sharpsburg. The Klein Gardens on Townsend Road near Rohrersville in Pleasant Valley is an ornamental “private park” on which Union soldiers camped after the Battle of South Mountain.

“Felicitaciones,” “gratulatione” or “congratulations” might be in order for Waynesboro Area Senior High School's foreign language department, which recently won a statewide award for its programs. The Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association recognizes private and public schools with four levels of “Globe” awards each year. The association looks at criteria that include enrollment in programs, retention of students in those programs and cultural offerings outside the classroom.

The Friends of the Library organization will offer three free foreign language classes at Williamsport Memorial Library for students entering grades three through six. A French class will be held June 27 to July 1. German class will be from July 11 to 15. Japanese Culture, the final class, will be July 18 to 22. All classes are from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. daily. For more information, call the library at 301-223-7027. Fun day planned for antique car enthusiasts The Mason-Dixon Region Automobile Club of America will hold its annual car show Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center, 7313 Sharpsburg Pike.

Public schools in Washington County currently have about 45 vacancies to fill for the 2011-12 year — jobs that drew about 350 applicants Friday to a Teacher Recruitment Fair at Rockland Woods Elementary School. Many of the prospective teachers are just finishing their senior years at colleges and universities, but others had years — in some cases decades — of classroom experience. "I'm a retired educator," applicant Mironda Peace said. For Peace, the fair was an opportunity to return to teaching, something she did from 1973 until her 2006 retirement from Fountaindale Elementary School.

SHARPSBURG --Taiwan resident Mark Nagel, the son of Rohrersville residents Walt and Betty Lou Nagel, will present a lecture on Taiwan on Aug. 5 at the Sharpsburg Library. The 7 p.m. lecture will be about Taiwan's history, geography and culture, Branch Manager Betty Holtz said. Nagel has lived in Taiwan for the past 14 years. He teaches English as a foreign language at a university in Taiwan.

FREDERICK, Md. - Fourteen students from Saint John's Catholic Prep recently traveled on an EF Educational Tour to Spain, and had the opportunity to use their foreign language skills and hone new ones. Their itinerary included Madrid, Cordoba, Sevilla, Segovia, Granada, Toledo and Costa del Sol. An additional day was spent in Morocco in Northern Africa. Highlights included tours of the Mosque in Cordoba, which dates back almost 1,300 years to the Moorish occupation of Spain; La Alhambra, a Moorish palace; El Escorial, the palace of Ferdinand and Isabella; a camel ride in Morocco; the Roman aqueduct in Segovia; tapas in Madrid; seeing the Rock of Gibraltar - the Pillars of Hercules - rising from the Mediterranean Sea; and the ferry ride through the Strait of Gibraltar.