Every year, Walpole High School allocates a night to all of the hard-working students and teachers in the Foreign Language Department—the Foreign Language Awards Night (FLAN). The event took place on Tuesday, May 24 in Walpole High School’s auditorium. At FLAN, teachers awarded hard-working students who have excelled beyond their teacher’s expectations in a foreign language class. Students who received awards had scored in high percentiles or national levels on the National Latin, Spanish, French and German Exams. Depending on how highly they scored, the recipients received medals and certificates, as well as book awards. Students were also honored through departmental awards for excellence in one or more foreign languages. Also, throughout the night, students from each department performed acts that displayed foreign cultures.
At the beginning of the event, the foreign language Department Head, Mrs. Lisa Osborne introduced the foreign language teachers from the high school as well as the foreign language teachers from the middle schools who were going to present awards to eighth graders who have done an exceptional job at studying a foreign language. The first awards were for the Foreign Language Poster Contest, which took place in the fall. Sophomore Nell Gordon was the first place winner, and her poster was displayed in the Foreign Language lab as well as on the cover of the FLAN program.
Throughout the night, students displayed their knowledge of foreign language and culture with performances from each language department. This year, Mr. Sturges’ Spanish V AP class performed a dance routine to a Daddy Yankee song. Ms. Kay’s AP Latin students made a suspenseful movie trailer featuring Roman historical figures such as Caesar. The German students showcased a PowerPoint displaying photos from their vacation in Germany. The French students sang ‘One Day More’, an uplifting song taken from the musical “Les Miserables.” Mr. Strick’s Mandarin I class played a video of the students singing a song based on Country Road by John Denver. The song was written by Mr. Strick himself, and it included all of the vocabulary from all of nine of the chapters that the class has covered so far. Mr. Strick’s Mandarin II and III classes sang “Yellow Submarine” by The Beatles in a direct translation from English to Mandarin. Mr.Bakale’s and Ms. Kay’s Latin students were then called up on stage to be inducted into the Latin Honors Society in which Mr. Bakale recited a pledge in Latin, and the students repeated the last word he gave them.
Next, teachers gave out the National Exam awards, which were given to students who scored on a national scale. Latin, Spanish, French, and German students all had the possibility of taking the National Exam for their language. George Watson gave the last award which is called the Middlebury Book Award. The night ended with cake and beverages in the science wing to congratulate the students for their hard work.
Mrs. Osborne said, “I enjoyed all of the performances, but I liked the live performances because of the energy that the kids give off, and the audience’s energy after watching them.” Along with Mrs. Osborne, many other teachers were pleased with the outcome of FLAN.
Mr. Bakale, staying true to his Latin roots, said that his favorite performance was Ms. Kay’s AP Latin students’ video. He said, “It was nicely edited, short, sweet, and to the point.” Mr. Strick said that although he liked the Spanish dance, he thought that the Mandarin videos and songs were original.
Year after year, FLAN keeps getting more support throughout the school because of the organized faculty and volunteers that help make this awards night happen each year. A majority of the student population at Walpole High study a foreign language, and thanks to their hard work, they have put on another successful Foreign Language Awards Night that left students and teachers excited for next year’s event.
