VALLEY STUDENTS CONQUER NATIONAL LATIN EXAM.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer PALMDALE - Latin has been called a dead language, but don't tell that to Highland and Palmdale high school div style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 2em; width: 20em; text-align: right; font-size: 0.86em; font-family: lucida grande, sans-serif; line-height: normal;"> '''Palmdale High School students who won gold medals gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize in the National Latin Exam. Highland produced five gold medalists this year, the most ever since the school began teaching Latin 12 years ago, and Palmdale had three gold medal winners, up from the one gold awarded last year, the school's first. ``It's pretty exciting, obviously, winning a top prize like that. It wasn't much hard work,'' said Johoney Lobos, 16, a 10th-grader from Palmdale High who won the gold on her first try. ``You have to pay attention in class. As long as you pay attention and follow the rules, like any other subject, it's easy when you get the hang of it.'' ``I really wanted to take Latin because I really like word history, and I like to know the roots of words, and I know it will help on verbal SAT test scores,'' said Benjamin Bird, an 11th-grader and gold medalist from Highland. ``I don't use it so much as I recognize how it impacts, especially language. Like my little brothers take Spanish Spanish, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, issuing from Spanish Lake, S Ont., Canada, NW of Sudbury, and flowing generally S through Biskotasi and Agnew lakes to Lake Huron opposite Manitoulin island. There are several hydroelectric stations on the river. . I can sometimes, when reading the Spanish homework, I know what the word means because I know the Latin root,'' Bird said. The annual National Latin Exam was given in March to about 135,000 students in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , Australia and the Netherlands by the American Classical League The American Classical League, founded in 1919, is an organization devoted to promoting the ancient Roman, Greek, and classical language and culture. Though most of its members are teachers of Latin, Greek, and Classics at all levels of education, the league is open to any person , which promotes the study of Latin and Greek among Americans. About 70 students from Highland and 66 from Palmdale took the multiple-choice exam, which tests students on mythology mythology [Greek,=the telling of stories], the entire body of myths in a given tradition, and the study of myths. Students of anthropology, folklore, and religion study myths in different ways, distinguishing them from various other forms of popular, often orally , basic grammar and reading comprehension Reading comprehension can be defined as the level of understanding of a passage or text. For normal reading rates (around 200-220 words per minute) an acceptable level of comprehension is above 75%. . The gold medalists from Highland were Bird, RaKia Harris, Ted Jarbo, Kelly Manahan and Cory Mitschelen. Palmdale's gold medalists were Lobos, Lillia Green and Jocelyn Kasdorf. Palmdale High has been offering Latin for six years, and students have been taking the National Latin Exam for three years. ``It's just a very good foundation for anything that a student wants to try,'' Palmdale Latin teacher Robert Ruckman said. ``It improves test scores on SATs by 140 points. It's a good foundation for the English vocabulary. It helps students who want to go into the medical or legal areas. It teaches a lot about the foundation of our Western society.'' Latin is offered at Highland, Palmdale and Antelope Valley high schools Antelope Valley High School is located in Lancaster, California and is part of the Antelope Valley Union High School District. It was founded in 1912[1]. It is located in the Mojave Desert. . There is a shortage of Latin teachers in the country, said Ann ANN, Scotch law. Half a year's stipend over and above what is owing for the incumbency due to a minister's relict, or child, or next of kin, after his decease. Wishaw. Also, an abbreviation of annus, year; also of annates. In the old law French writers, ann or rather an, signifies a year. Robins, Highland's Latin teacher. ``It is a dead language in that no one speaks it, but it's still the official language of the Vatican. People have discovered recently that we've seen a dip in SAT verbal scores and kids who can't spell and don't understand language structure,'' Robins said. ``Latin is good for that. It builds vocabulary. Half of the words we use are from Latin and about 90 percent of words three syllables or more are from Latin.'' Karen Maeshiro, (661) 267-5744 karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) From left, Palmdale students Jocelyn Kasdorf, Lillia Green and Johoney Lobos are Latin exam gold medalists. John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
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