Huntington Celebrates World Language Week

National World Language Week was a time for celebration at Huntington High School. This year’s theme was “The Power of Languages,” with a local focus on the arts.

Fun activities were spread throughout the week. This marked the second year of observance and students really embraced the festivities. It was a week that brought attention to the multiple languages and cultures that dot the globe as well as Huntington’s classrooms and hallways.

“With the help of our students, we were able to decorate the world language hallway to showcase the different contributions in the arts that Latinos and Italians have made around the world,” teacher Clara Galeas said.

The week was created in 1957 by Alpha Mu Gamma, the National Collegiate Foreign Language Honor Society. The organization promotes the study of languages with the belief it helps students improve their focus, memory and creativity along with establishing better listening skills, enhanced problem solving and mental alertness and an enhanced ability to multitask. “Boost your brain with languages,” the group exclaims.

Throughout the week at Huntington High School, Spanish, Italian, French and Latin language classes and honor societies engaged in various activities that allowed students to learn about different cultures. Many of the activities included a specific focus on art, fashion, music, dancing and food.

“It was really exciting to see the kids celebrate with so much spirit,” Ms. Galeas said. “They were excited to participate in all the activities that were planned. In some Spanish classes, they even had the opportunity to practice their dancing skills. The students used different genres of music in different languages. They were all  excited and had lots of fun creating their videos.”