Language Lessons

In 1988, we had four language options: Spanish, French, German and Latin. The various language clubs did pretty standard things, like go to the Red Onion Restaurant for their annual Spanish Club dinner. The most adventurous thing was a trip to Tijuana, which could not possibly have been fancy. Full of donkeys and booze, maybe, but definitely not glamorous.

Me? I took Latin, which was barely hanging by a thread and apparently died out. Did we take a trip to Rome? Not exactly. More like to Whittier for the National Junior Classical League annual dorkfest.

No wonder Latin died out, when I check the modern-day language activities.

In 2009, students can choose from Spanish, French or Chinese languages. I'm have a feeling that Spanish is by far the most popular language, given that the students took a trip . . . to SPAIN! As the yearbook says, "This past summer, a group of Spanish students traveled to Spain in order to gain exposure to the true culture of this extraordinary country." Yeah, that is understandable. I mean, it's not like anyone speaks Spanish in Los Angeles. They gotta go to the motherland for real immersion, right?


The captions on these photos read: "Sea Kings stop to smile for the camera on their way to their Spanish class," and "Students traveling to Spain took a break from their language lessons to catch a wave in the Mediterranean." Awesome, it's not like there is surfing in Los Angeles, either!

Seems like the Chinese language class has some catching up to do. The 2009 yearbook tells us that they get their culture by having the South Bay Chinese School come in and "teach us about calligraphy, the Chinese yoyo, and traditional knots."