Bonita Phelps, Spanish instructor at the WKU-Glasgow campus, talks with area high school students between sessions during the Regional World Language Showcase on March 1 at WKU’s Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center. (WKU photo by Clinton Lewis).
The WKU Department of Modern Languages is hosting a Regional World Language Showcase on Friday (March 1) at the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center. WKU is one of eight locations for Regional Showcase events, leading to the State Showcase on April 13 at the University of Kentucky.
At the Regional World Language Showcase at WKU, 148 students from six area schools will demonstrate language proficiency in interpersonal, interpretive and presentational events. Modern Languages faculty and high school teachers who accompanied their students help rate the proficiency levels of language produced. Languages represented at the Regional Showcase in Bowling Green are French, German and Spanish. Student participants will take home a certificate stating the level of world language proficiency they demonstrated, a T-shirt and an information packet.
Schools and teachers whose students will participate this year are:
- Barren County High School: Sharon Mattingly (Spanish), Julie Smith (French)
- Bowling Green High School: Ferrel Rose (German), Touria Myers (French & Spanish), Gambia Flemister, Summer Hooten (Spanish)
- Daviess County High School: Brittany Johnson (Spanish), Terri Coke (French)
- Glasgow High School: Brooke Schreiner, Susan Mills (Spanish)
- Greenwood High School: David Hayes, Doris Poole, Maria Hoots (Spanish)
- Ohio County High School: Jana Shultz, Chelsea Atherton (Spanish), Grace Patton (French)
According to its mission statement, the KWLA World Language Showcase & Gala Event is a network of statewide events designed to certify and showcase students’ communicative and intercultural competencies that are aligned with state, national and international standards. Performances demonstrate the application of 21st century skills in real-world situations as preparation for life in college, the workplace and the global community ().
Ferrel Rose teaches German and Spanish at Bowling Green High School. Her students participate in the Regional World Language Showcase every year. She likes the proficiency-oriented format of the Showcase because her students “enjoy the opportunity to interact with different speakers in the target language.”
Susann Davis, Instructor of Spanish at WKU, was a leader in the move to this format for both the regional and state level. The Kentucky World Language Association’s World Language Showcase events at both the regional and state levels are considered to be some of the more innovative world languages events in the nation.
The Regional Language Showcase takes place at WKU every spring. Counties included in the region are Allen, Barren, Butler, Daviess, Edmonson, Green, Hart, Henderson, Logan, McLean, Metcalfe, Monroe, Ohio, Simpson and Warren. For information about how your school can participate in next year’s Regional Language Showcase, contact Showcase Director Tim Straubel or Head of Modern Languages Dr. Laura McGee at (270) 745-2401.
The umbrella organization for both the Regional World Language Showcase and the State World Language Showcase and Gala Event is the Kentucky World Language Association. Read more at http://www.kwla.org/showcase/.
Contact: Laura McGee, (270) 745-2401.
(Source: WKU News, Mar 1, 2013)