Nazareth is welcoming three new classes to next year’s curriculum: Mandarin, Literature and Film, and Contemporary Literature.
Mandarin will be one of the four languages offered at Nazareth. Mandarin, also referred to simply as Chinese, is spoken throughout China and and about one billion people speak it. Mrs. Sadowski, a current English teacher at Naz, is hoping to teach Mandarin next year.
“I think Nazareth’s desire to offer Chinese grows out of our desire to help students be as prepared as possible for an ever shrinking world and the ubiquitous need to complete globally,” she stated. “When one billion people in the world speak a language, it makes sense to offer students the opportunity to learn it.”
The class will be open to students of any grade level that are interested in learning the language. To make this first year exciting and enjoyable she has planned to explore the Chinese culture through festivals, folk tales, and taiqi [tai chi].
Two of Nazareth’s English teachers, Ms. Paliatka and Ms. Garcia, have created new electives for students that have an interest in English. One of these electives, taught this past school year by Ms. Garcia, is Contemporary Literature. This class allowed the students to read more contemporary literature such as, Catching Fire, and Miss Peregrines, as well as classics like Fahrenheit 451. Towards the end of the quarter students were able to choose their own books to read and discuss with a small group, kind of like a book club. They also had the opportunity to watch some movies such as, The Truman Show, Pleasantville, and The Island.
Sarah Matyskela, a senior, said that, “The class helps you be creative and helps you pick up different meanings of things in modern books you may not have noticed before. I personally really liked it and thought it helped me balance my schedule taking two English courses.”
Another new elective is the Literature and Film class. This elective will be taught next year by Ms. Palitaka and will be open to juniors and seniors that wish to evaluate filmmakers’ choices when they create film adaptations of novels. Ms. Paliatka stated, “There are so many great and not so great film versions of literature; I thought the subject was perfect for a course.”
Students in Literature and Film will begin by learning film terminology and techniques so they are able to discuss the films properly. The class will read two major novels, a graphic novel and will watch the film version of each. Along with these novels they will see small clips of movies such as, The Shawshank Redemption, Big Fish, Ten Things I Hate About You, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, several Harry Potter films, The Outsiders, Gone with the Wind, and A River Runs Through It, and many more. Before the semester ends, students will be required to pick a book of their choice and analyze it, along with its film.
Both students and teachers look forward to the new course offerings.
