Key School
 |
| Courtesy Photo |
| Key School students interview Argentinean guest speaker.
|
Immersed in Spanish for a day
By ANTONIA VERDI, Key School
Last month, nearly 40 students crammed into the kitchen of Key School Spanish teacher Monica Jordan's house armed only with their knowledge of the Spanish language and the traditional dishes that they had cooked (or purchased) the night before.
Students were greeted at the door by an enthusiastic Ms. Jordan and the aroma of mate, a green Argentine tea. As soon as students entered Ms. Jordan's house they had to abide by one rule: Spanish was the only language to be spoken throughout the day.
According to student Jessa Finch, 'many people were apprehensive about this, and didn't realize until later 'how much Spanish [they] could understand until it was [their] only option.'
Immersion Day is a long-standing tradition at the Key School, originating eight years ago when Ms. Jordan first began teaching at Key. It is one of the most anticipated events of the year for Spanish students, and everyone gets really excited about it.
'Invariably the kids just love it, but they are a little bit apprehensive at the beginning,' Ms. Jordan said. 'They doubt that they'll be able to speak Spanish through the whole day; however, when they come back from the experience they have acquired a lot of self-confidence in the way they speak Spanish.'
Only students from the Spanish IV and the Advanced Spanish Literature classes are invited, and they begin preparing themselves weeks in advance. In Spanish classes at Key, students read articles on all kinds of subjects, ranging from the arts, music, politics, science and books to ones on the environment. They discuss and synthesize these articles, comparing the ideas of one to those of another in Spanish. The students are fluent in Spanish, although many of them don't realize just how fluent they are until faced with Spanish Immersion Day.
Six guest speakers had been invited, many from Spanish speaking countries and all with different Spanish accents and a wide variety of professions. These speakers were Jose Luis Novo, conductor of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, from Valencia, Spain, Maria Casasco, Grants Administrator and Hispanic Liason to the County Executive, from Argentina, Tatiana Johanning, a professional flute player and future Key School Spanish teacher, from Costa Rica, Tema Encarnación, who works for the International Student Office of Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Milagros Cancel, a Spanish teacher at AACPs, from Puerto Rico, Dave Schonfeld, a Key School Spanish teacher from the United States, and Bethe Levy, Key School Spanish teacher who is also from the United States.
The guests spoke about the differences between our cultures, and told a little about who they were. 'This was a great opportunity for students to hear authentic accents and utilize their Spanish in real life situations,' Mr. Schonfeld says.
At lunch, everyone had contributed and brought a dish made from the traditional recipes taken from a book by Jose Andres (owner of Jaleo, a tapas restaurant in the D.C. area, and who owns a number of restaurants in the D.C. area). These foods included Argentine lasagna, Basque chicken, Tarta de Santiago, and tapas such as Setas en escabeche (marinated mushrooms).
During lunch students chatted freely in Spanish, sometimes using wild gesticulations to get their conversation points across.
'All of the students took the experience so seriously that they were all speaking Spanish, and everyone was having a lot of fun,' Ms. Jordan said. After everyone had eaten their fill, there was a small ceremony in which the Advanced Spanish Literature students were presented with certificates, then everyone settled down to watch Spanish movies (either a crime film or a romance), which marked the culmination of the day.
'Afterwards I was really pumped,' Jesse Pittman, a Key School Spanish student said. 'Talking to the people from the different countries was really fun. It really highlights the different cultures of the people just by having a 40 minute conversation with them.'
Other students reacted differently. Jeremy Gordon, another Key School Spanish student, enjoyed Immersion Day, and said he found it easy to talk in Spanish because speaking it didn't make him feel uncomfortable. He added that afterwards he crashed since it had been a lot of work to think and converse in Spanish all day. Jeremy's reaction was shared by many of the students, but they unanimously agree that Immersion Day is one of the best days of the year.
Students connect on trip to islands
By ELIZABETH KIRBY, Key School
The weather was perfect as the Key School ninth grade class rode in boats to three Chesapeake Bay islands. Salty breezes swept over the water and the sun was high in the sky. A pile of sleeping and duffel bags lay on the deck, while their owners laughed in the spray from the waves.
Island Odyssey, an annual camping trip which involves the Key School ninth grade class, is planned by the outdoor education department along with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
'The connection between Key School and CBF started when Key School applied to become a ‘bay school.'' Dan Schoos, a Latin teacher and long time member of the Outdoor Education Dept.
The students went to three islands: Port Isobel, Smith Island and Fox Island.
'It's an opportunity for the ninth graders who are new to the upper school to connect with each other, to learn together, and to have an opportunity to work as a community in an outdoor setting and also, it's a great chance for students to learn about the ecology, culture, and politics of the bay,' Brian Michaels, the outdoor education director at the Key School, said. The trip coincides academically with reading 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding, a story about a group of school boys stranded on a desert island and was also a great opportunity to get to know new students at the beginning of the year and to enjoy being on the Chesapeake Bay.
'Being on Port Isobel really taught me a lot about human civilization and its fundamentals,' Jeff Dowell, a ninth grader, said. On Port Isobel, students slept in a dorm building and ate in a larger main building where they also congregated at times during the day. They went canoeing around the island the first afternoon and swam in the warm bay water. They went crabbing off of the docks with nets, and also got to go out in the boat to set out crab pots. The groups from the other islands came for the Lord of the Flies simulation: finding food, shelter and water without any equipment from the buildings. The final day the students went marsh mucking and got completely filthy. One evening, they went over to Tangier Island nearby and visited the ice cream place there.
Smith Island is five feet above sea level. Unlike Port Isobel, it is populated. Sometimes it floods and they have to evacuate it. The students on Smith Island met another freshman who lived there. 'His name was Cody,' Brianna Goodman, another ninth grader, said. 'We asked him what it was like and he told us that it was kind of boring living on the island because it was really hard to get cell phone service and he had to ride a boat really far to see his friends. He said he wanted to leave the island when he got older, because it was cool when he was younger but now he wants to move on.'
The students staying on Fox Island said that it was more marsh than island. They were sleeping in a building on stilts which was exciting. Key students conserved water by not taking showers, kept lights off when they weren't being used, and watched the amount of leftovers going into the slop container at the end of meals.
'I think Fox Island was one of the best islands because the other islands had more urban stuff, and there was nothing to do on our island except meet new people and have a good time,' Quinn Conlan, a ninth grader, said.
Key School gets hands-on to honor Earth Day
By CAILEIGH FELDMAN, Key School
Most people would agree that it's appropriate to honor our precious planet each year on Earth Day with discussions and celebrations but, at The Key School, it's especially important to contribute with one's arms and legs.
On April 23rd, Key's sixth and tenth grade classes welcomed the increasingly rare opportunity to reconnect with the environment. They set out to Quiet Waters Park in Hillsmere to celebrate Earth Day with open minds and rolled-up sleeves.
Dan Schoos, a Key School Latin teacher and chaperone on this trip, said, 'Our day together was a wonderful combination of action and reflection. We worked hard in the morning on various projects, such as pulling invasive weeds and creating a habitat for salamanders.'
At Quiet Waters Park, the tenth graders split up into three different groups to assist park rangers in real-world conservation tasks. The tenth grade moved logs to a pond to create salamander habitats, helped eliminate vines and other harmful plants from the trunks of trees, and went on a wildlife tour of the park.
'In the afternoon, we teamed with the sixth grade students and were able to think about the ideas of Earth Day through reading a passage from Henry David Thoreau's Walden,' Mr. Schoos said. In one of the seminars, the tenth graders were able to share and contrast their knowledge of the current environmental situation with that of the sixth graders.
Galen Irving Sachs, a tenth grade student said, 'It was really fun to hang out with the sixth graders to talk about Earth Day and collaborative ideas on how we could help the environment.'
Ben Michalski, a sixth grade Key School student, said, 'It was intimidating [to work with the tenth graders] but I learned a lot by making a connection with another grade.'
Dylan Smith, a Key School sixth grade student, said, 'I think Earth Day helped remind us to take action and to teach us how we can help.'
Junior class helps build Habitat for Humanity house for service project
By CARLY IVREY, Key School
The sun blazed through Brooklyn, Md. as everything from hammers and nails to power tools were in use. But this was not a typical construction site, and these were not your typical construction workers. The Key School had sent its junior class to for a day of service work with Habitat for Humanity. The class accomplished a lot that day: from building a shed to putting siding on the house.
'A group effort from every angle you look at it,' Eric Penhart said, a site supervisor. 'A lot of little things are pulled together to make the whole thing successful.'
Mr. Pernhart is referring to the many volunteers that work with Habitat for Humanity. Volunteering with the program goes far beyond the construction site. Local contractors donate their services and products to Habitat builds often. Key School's junior class helped out in another way by holding a coffeehouse fundraiser for Habitat in March of this year.
'Working for Habitat is great because instead of giving the money and never hearing from the program again, you get to have a hands-on experience and see the progress of your work,' Julia Hill, a student in Key School's junior class said.
Key's work with Habitat goes back four years. The junior class was interested in community service and found Habitat to be a charity they wanted to work with. Throughout the year, the junior class has worked on other builds in the same neighborhood.
Dr. Charles Flanagan, department head of Key's Humanities Department, currently leads relations between Habitat for Humanity and the Key School.
'Habitat gives us a chance to work directly with people,' Dr. Flanagan said. This build was especially significant for Dr. Flanagan as he had been to the site before.
'Back in December, I went to the same house and opened the door and it was complete ruin,' he said. 'To go back and have it be a home, that felt really significant.'
Habitat for Humanity's mission is to provide homes for low-income families. The program has taken their mission worldwide, from Africa to the Caribbean, to Europe to the neighborhood in Brooklyn, Md. They have maintained a loyal group of volunteers.
'I've been here almost five years and I'm always impressed with the appreciation of families and how it affects the kids,' Fred Reno, another site supervisor, said. 'Their grades go up, they become more confident. Maybe it's because they feel more safe in their homes.'
| 
