Language

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Cambodian, Hindi, Russian and Mandarin are just a few of a growing number of foreign languages now being heard in the hallways of Berkeley County's public schools. Berkeley County Schools Superintendent Manny P. Arvon said last week that a total of 26 languages are spoken at Martinsburg High School. "It is a challenge," Arvon said of teaching students English as a second language with limited federal money and no state funding. "Everybody's doing the best they can with what they have available.

This fall, Hagerstown Community College's Center for Continuing Education is offering sign language courses geared toward helping students master the necessary skills needed for communicating with hearing-impaired individuals. The first course in the series, "Sign Language: Basic I," is offered on Tuesdays, from Sept. 16 through Dec. 2, from 7 to 9 p.m. This course is a beginning level course designed to help students build vocabulary as they learn the manual alphabet and standard signing techniques.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Bobbi Blubaugh's fifth-grade class has embarked on una nueva aventura this semester. Once every four days, the children spend 40 minutes in their first experiences with Spanish education at Fairview Elementary School. That time had been devoted to art class in the first semester. Now, Senora Migdalia Adams teaches the students basic greetings and questions. "She basically speaks Spanish the whole class session," Blubaugh said. The children have been successful in learning the language through context, she said.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. -- As the Hispanic population in Franklin County has grown, so has the number of businesses that either are owned by or cater to that demographic, and bridging the language gap is important to both sides. Three women who met as medical interpreters for Keystone Health Center recently opened Esquivia & Stennet Bilingual Services at 67 N. Main St. to fill that void for businesses and individuals, owner Ayleen Esquivia said. "Working in the medical field and the educational field, I saw the need for this service," manager Isabel Stennet said.

One reason Phylicia Ferguson, 20, of Martinsburg, signed up for Arabic at Hagerstown Community College was so she would know a language other than "West Virginia Spanish. " "Like when I was in high school, the Spanish teacher would get in front of the class and say, 'Owe lah,'" Ferguson said in a heavy Southern drawl. Ferguson is one of 17 students enrolled in HCC's elementary Arabic class, a 15-week course that began Monday, Jan. 14. The introduction of Arabic this school year marks the first time the school has offered a language other than French, Spanish, German or Italian, said Joan Johnson, chair of the English and Humanities division at HCC. "There is definitely a burgeoning interest in the language," Johnson said.

WASHINGTON COUNTY - The number of students in Washington County Public Schools who need help learning English has more than doubled in just five years. At the start of the most recent school year, more than 350 students were described as English language learners. By the end of the school year, that group grew to 400 students - about 2 percent of total enrollment systemwide. That number is up from the 159 students enrolled during the 2002-03 school year who were learning English, according to Gloria Maria Grimsley, supervisor of English language learning for the school system.

Want to get into a serious debate with Joseph Scheer about whether the study of Latin still belongs in Washington County classrooms? Careful ... you'll probably lose. Even though Scheer is retiring after 26 years teaching Latin and English at North Hagerstown High School, he still firmly believes in the value of studying this so-called dead language. "Latin is so interesting and it's everywhere," he said. Look at graduation which is itself a word derived from the Latin meaning an arrangement or classification into grades according to size, Scheer said.

Kathie Sandifer of Waynesboro, Pa., instructs sign language Tuesday at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Waynesboro.

The only significant architecture the little boy had really known was the tower near the hilltop castle in the town's historic "piazza" square. He used to admire its shape; the straight edges and the way it would curve just exactly to the heavens near the bells that rang multiple times every day. It was beautiful, he thought. Such a symbol of his little village that sat directly between the mountains and the sea in northern Italy. And what an interesting thing to draw, the straight lines that used to form the shape of the tower on paper in his home.

No longer is the language of text-messaging limited to cell phones and computer screens. Now, many teens are using text-message phrases out loud. "I hear that all the time in the hallway at school," said Laura Bell, 15, of Hagerstown. So, instead of saying "Oh my god" out loud, in a normal conversation, you might hear someone say "OMG. " Or instead of someone saying something was funny - or laughing -you might hear them say "LOL. " (For those who don't know, "LOL" means "laughing out loud.