German Essen-Tag! YUM :)

Herr Sawyer's German classes enjoyed a day of German food and culture today. The menu included belegte Broetchen (open faced sandwiches/ rolls), Kartoffel-Chips (potato chips), Schoko-Kuchen (chocolate cake), Leberwurst (liver-wurst), Salami, Schinken (ham), Kaese (cheese), Butter, Marmelade, and Nutella. Each student also received a bar of German chocolate. Refreshments included Mezzo-Mix Spezi (a German soft-drink), Mineralwasser (sparkling mineral-water), and Apfel-Schorle (Apple juice/sparkling water mix). Many of the goods were imported from Germany through the website GermanDeli.com

This fun day of food and culture is made possible annually by the generous allocations provided by the Mothers and Fathers Clubs. All German students and Herr Sawyer say "Vielen Dank!" for this special day!

Why France is the best place to live in the world.

International Living magazine, for the fifth year in a row, has voted France the best place to live in the world. The results are based on ratings of a number of factors, in which France scores high on almost all categories, including health care (100 points), infrastructure (92 points), and safety and risk (100 points). The magazine quotes a young Australian expatriate living in Paris. When she delivered her first child, she received almost five full months of paid maternity leave, and could take another seven months off unpaid, but with her job guaranteed upon her return. AND she got to spend five days in the hospital after the delivery of her healthy son - something unheard of in the U.S. The magazine asserts, "Its (France's) tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world's best health care." The United States slipped from third to seventh this year, mostly because of the economic crisis which has hit harder here and in Great Britain, now ranked 25th, than in most of Europe. Read the whole article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/11/france.quality.life/index.html?hpt=C2

The Age Old Question

Why study the Classics? According to many, including the philosopher Schopenhauer, the real question should be "Why not?!"

"From what I have said, it is obvious that to imitate the style of the ancients in their own language, which is so very much superior to ours in point of grammatical perfection, is the best way of preparing for a skillful and finished expression of thought in the mother-tongue. Nay, if a man wants to be a great writer, he must not omit to do this; just as, in the case of sculpture or painting, the student must educate himself by copying the great masterpieces of the past, before proceeding to original work. It is only by learning to write Latin that a man comes to treat diction as an art. The material in this art is language, which must therefore be handled with the greatest care and delicacy."

I'm swooning! (You can read more here.)

'Creme' of the Crop

Inspired by Madame O'Connell's love for French culture, Douglas McWilliams shared a decadent treat with his French II honors class yesterday-- creme brulee. What a sweet way to return from MBA's snow-cation!

National German Exam Scores 2010!

National German Exam 2010 Results: Montgomery Bell Academy: Levels 2, 3, 4
Instructor- Mr. Jonathan Sawyer

On 15th January, 2010, all 23 students of German II, Honors German III, and AP German IV took the National German Exam. Level 1 does not have an exam. This year, nearly 25,000 students in the nation took the exam. MBA’s students did very well, as shown by the data below.


Ø 23 of 23 -- all students earned Certificates of Merit from the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) for their scores at or above the national 70th percentile


Ø 20 of 23 students scored at or above the national 80th percentile


Ø 17 of 23 students scored at or above the national 85th percentile


Ø 16 of 23 students scored at or above the national 90th percentile


Ø 13 of 23 students scored at or above the national 95th percentile


Special Congratulations go to the following students whose scores qualified them to apply for a study-trip award from the AATG:

Level II:

Marshall Sorenson -scored in the national 99th percentile, and placed 8th of 271 students at level 2 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip to Germany in summer 2010.

Joe Scherrer – scored in the national 99th percentile, and placed 8th of 271 students at level 2 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip to Germany in summer 2010.

Andrew Holmgren – scored in the national 96th percentile and placed 19th of 271 students at level 2 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip to Germany in summer 2010.

Stephen Bedard – scored in the national 96th percentile and placed 19th of 271 students at level 2 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Daniel Rundberg – scored in the national 95th percentile and placed 23rd of 271 students at level 2 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.


Level III:

Max Werthan – scored in the national 97th percentile and placed 13th of 161 students at level 3 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Jonathan Golab – scored in the national 96th percentile and placed 15th of 161 students at level 3 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Matt Vanek – scored in the national 96th percentile and placed 15th of 161 students at level 3 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Will McCaskill – scored in the national 94th percentile and placed 20th of 161 students at level 3 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Alexander Hornbuckle – scored in the national 94th percentile and placed 20th of 161 students at level 3 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Level IV:

Pat Killian – scored in the national 99th percentile and placed 3rd of 82 students at level 4 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Sam Denney – scored in the national 99th percentile and placed 5th of 82 students at level 4 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Patrick Clarke – scored in the national 97th percentile and placed 10th of 82 students at level 4 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Michal Zienkiewicz – scored in the national 94th percentile and placed 11th of 82 students at level 4 in the TN chapter. This exceptional performance qualifies him to apply for the AATG-PAD study trip award to Germany in summer 2010.

Special Congratulations also go to the following students:
Their scores would qualify them for application to the study trip awards program, but other requirements of application preclude these students from applying.

Paul Brazil – scored in the national 98th percentile and placed 13th of 271 students at level 2 in the TN chapter.

Wesley Wilson – scored in the national 96th percentile and placed 9th of 82 students at level 4 in the TN chapter.

AP Spanish Avatars

After a few test runs, the students in the AP Spanish class have posted their first Avatars for a grade. Their task was to promote a concert in Nashville. Their avatar had to represent someone who would fit the style of music of the concert and students were assessed on fluency, accuracy and variety of vocabulary and grammar, as well as organization and cohesiveness.
http://mbaapspanish.blogspot.com/