Hola! Salve! Hallo! Bonjour! World Language Week at Riverbend celebrated language learning and cultural diversity by sponsoring activities ranging from Bear Block events to after school movies. Rescheduled from the first week of March to the second, World Language Week gave students the option of making crepes with Madame Marshall, making piñatas with Senora Diaz, or making Mexican paper flowers with Doctora McNab. French classes Skyped French people in class, and other Bear Block festivities included experiencing popular German music and learning about Norse Mythology. In the Norse Mythology class, Frau Mades said, “The students explored influences Norse mythology has had on film, music, graphic novels and popular books, and computer/video games.”

All through the week, trivia on the announcements tested students’ knowledge of culture, geography, and language. Button day, March 13, featured students from all language classes representing their respective cultures by donning buttons that sported slogans like “Je Parle francais! Et vous?” and “Hablo espanol! Y tu?” March 14 was International Costume Day; on this day, students celebrated Spanish, German, French, and Latin customs by wearing everything from togas to sombreros. The German class also featured “Wall Scrabble,” which is Scrabble played on a large scale on the walls outside the German classroom.

Though World Language Week was postponed, Culture a la Carte set a great precedent for the World Language Week activities to come. Saturday, March 1, music, language, and art programs all set up displays and performances at Courtland High School. Crepe cooking in the French corner, chariot rides in the Latin, tortilla painting in the Spanish, trivia questions in the German, and German, Spanish, and Irish dances enhanced the day. Participants had the opportunity to learn a German folk dance and some Latin American dances toward the end of the day.