Visitors from France

We just said goodbye to some dear friends from Pau in France. 13 students and two teachers from Lycée St. Joseph spent the past week at WRA, living with host families and colleagues. They were reunited with our ELISA students who spent 3 weeks with them in June. The group attended classes, participated in our French courses and were busy visiting with students. Mme Eschenauer and Mme Borrmann planned with the help of the host families a spectacular week in Northeast Ohio. Luckily, we had our generous parents and host mothers to rely on. The group got to visit Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, shopped at the outlets, had an ice cream social at the Gotthardt's and to top it off a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast at the Forhan's. They were charmed by the warm welcome and generous hospitality of their hosts. None of the French teenagers wanted to leave and thought the stay was too short. They particularly enjoyed the typical Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings. The WRA French teachers and our colleagues from France, Colette and Brigitte, thank all of the families for all their contributions to the Thanksgiving party, for opening their homes, for their willingness to drive and for their effort and good will to make the group welcome. In order to give an impression of their stay, I added a slide show with some images from their visit. Thanks again to everyone who participated, we made some new friends, created wonderful memories and can look back at a great success.

Fall Notes

It is very difficult to believe that the first marking period is already over. Grades and comments are being distributed, the football team is away for their final game of the season and all the other fall sports have already finished. We had a few nice activities outside of classes and sports and I am sharing those with a new photo album on the side.
About the courses: I have gotten to know all of my students very well and everyone is making my work very enjoyable. We have established a solid academic relationship and are working on improving in all areas of language studies. I have come to like our new classroom management system "Moodle" and I have to say I am impressed with the tools and possibilities it offers.
A few more words about the pictures: The first few are from the club fair, where clubs presented themselves and invited students to sign-up. Interest was high in the French club, particularly in the chocolate fondue. The next few images are from the Harvest festivity at Barlow Farms. My children love this event and this year there was a group of WRA students who volunteered and did everything from setting up to directing traffic, face painting, crafts and cleaning up. A great way for the students to get involved in the community. Finally, our family hosted the 14th annual advisee-pumpkin-carving-extravaganza. We invite our advisees to carve pumpkins, eat pizzas and candy and just hang out at our house. This year we were also saying goodbye to five senior advisees who have participated anywhere from one to four years. Thank you, we had a wonderful time with you! Overall, we carved 22 pumpkins, which were used on Halloween Night to decorate our lawn for trick-or-treaters.
As we approach the holidays there will be more activities and news, so come back in about two weeks to get some updates.