Class Updates from Heather and Liz

Precalculus

Ruth and Emelia have finished the independent study portions of their Precalculus course and are enthusiastic to begin work together on trigonometric identities and equations. Both girls have worked diligently to understand and apply mathematics and have demonstrated maturity and independence in managing their workloads.

Ruth has completed her work with matrices and an introduction to trigonometry. She used matrices to solve systems of equations applied to various real-world situations such as traffic flow and nutrition. Ruth’s study of trigonometry has so far included making connections between the right triangle and unit circle definitions of sine, cosine, and tangent, and investigating properties of the graphs of trigonometric functions. She has applied sine and cosine functions to model various phenomena such as hours of daylight, motion of springs, and ocean waves.

Emelia completed her work with polynomials and rational functions as well as a study of exponential and logarithmic functions. Her studies included using exponential and logarithmic functions to model population growth, radioactive decay, sound intensity, and the Richter scale. Emelia has worked hard to achieve a solid intuition about the inverse relationship between exponential and logarithmic graphs.

Beginning Spanish
The girls in beginning Spanish have made enormous gains in their conversational Spanish skills during the first five weeks of the semester. They are doing a great job challenging themselves to apply their speaking skills to interact with native Spanish speakers on a daily basis, and come to class with an endless stream of eager questions. In Antigua, they worked with the girls of the advanced Spanish class to explore the city on a scavenger hunt. Several of the girls used their Spanish to chat with our guides while sitting around the campfire on our overnight rafting trip in Chiapas. In San Cristobal, the girls used their food and market vocabulary to grocery shop for the group. As they engage in more complex conversations, the girls practice vocabulary and phrases from class and are constantly adding to their conversational and grammatical skills.
Heather

Advanced Spanish
In Advanced Spanish the girls are really honing in on their strengths and challenging themselves to get out and practice!  They've been buying group food in the local markets, helping translate guest speakers, reading El Principito (The Little Prince), and getting to know the people around us.  Their midterm is coming up, which will consist of a translation component, an oral component, as well as a component where they need to converse with people in San Cristobal regarding the Zapatista Movement and write an essay.  Emilia's open heart and curiosity keep her asking questions and building strong rapport with the local children and young adults of the communities we visit.  She has even challenged herself to only speak Spanish with me, which has been great practice!  Annalise has the best accent and pronunciation in the class.  She excels at market days, bartering and buying food/supplies, and I feel confident sending her out and bringing back what we need at a good price.  Anna really enjoys speaking Spanish and has been pushing herself everyday to use her Spanish in everyday situations.  She leads the pack in reading comprehension and continues to volunteer her Spanish skills in our everyday activities with a big smile on her face.  Kathryn's strong speaking and translating skills have made her a leader for the girls and a strong back-up translator for myself and Heather. They are all willing to share their love of the Spanish language with the other students and teachers and are a joy to teach.


Physical Education
Whether we're in the rain forest of Lancondon or in the urban cities of San Cristobal, the girls have been getting their heart rates up and sweating!  Although they have different levels of fitness, each girl continues to push herself day in and day out.   We've been hiking through jungles, paddling down rivers, climbing the stairs of Mayan ruins, running through the streets of San Cristobal, doing strengthening circuits in plazas, and running sunrise yoga sessions...whew!  We've even caught the attention of the local howler monkeys who have been known to cheer us on from time to time.  Besides our daily workouts, the girls are getting excited about the backpacking trip from Xela to Lake Atitlan, where they'll be meeting up with some parents and spending time adventuring in the "place where rainbow gets its color" (Maya meaning of 'Atitlan').  

Liz