Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2014, Page 10

Description:	vive la FRANCE!iViVA ESPANA!IfFor much of the summer, senior MinhwaChoi was deprived of one familiar comfort:the use of her native tongue. A participantin the Indiana University Honors Program inForeign Language (IUHPFL), she tradedEnglish for Spanish in order to completelyimmerse herself in the language and cultureof her new home - Valencia, Spain.Four other Bloomington Southstudents joined Choi and embarked on aseven-week journey to learn about theculture of a host country while improvingtheir fluency in its native language. Theoboestudents took ^™~intensive classes duringtheir visit and wereallowed only one hourof English per week.Interacting withher host family proveddifficult for Choi, whoinitially struggled tocommunicate withnative speakers.During [the trip], Ireally motivated myselfto continue to speak Spanish, Choi said. Ididnt want to give up because I reallywanted to improve.Senior Olivia Pfingston, whotraveled to Leon, Spain, shared a similarmotivation. The thing I cared most aboutwas that I improved my Spanish, she said.Stationed in Brest, France, seniorJenny Lin noticed a significant change inher proficiency in French over the sevenweeks. I can speak a lot better,conversationally, Lin said. She creditedthis to her complete immersion in thelanguage. When we were in French[class], we focused one one thing. Here,two hours later, you notice, Wow, Imactually using this.Choi, too, shared in this success. Asshe progressed in the program, she foundthat attending classes and living in Valenciaprovided just the right amount of motivationto spark some progress. Throughoutmiddle and high school, Ive beenstagnant, Choi said. It helped me getover the hill. Her efforts paid off at the endof the trip, when she finally was able tounderstand the majority of the conversationduring meals with her host family — anachievement that helped her feel morecomfortable in Valencia. 4,400 milesaway, she was at home.Five Bloomington South studentsimmersed themselves in theirforeign language of choice duringa 7-week summer program.When we were in Frenchclass, we focused on onething. Here, two hourslater, you notice, Wow, Imactually using this.- senior Jenny Lin/ /It would take a whole yearbook to illustrate a BloomingtonSouth students summer, but these statistics should suffice.MILES PEDALED FROMMEXICO TO CANADAON DECYCLES TRIP254CD OO 9JCU tn0)OOCOoCTo (Javerage temperatureof Bloomington in thesummer of 201381.85in degrees Fahrenheitaverage Netflix time perweek per student, in hours 1 CAVERAGE WAKE-UP TIMEOF A SOUTH STUDENT8-10 a.m.average wageearned at summer jobs7.26$ PER HOURpoll taken August 26, 201 3 from 90 students
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/9116
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

Further information on this record can be found at its source.