Ventura High School’s language madness

French and Spanish classes add their own twist on March Madness

BrodyNameDaw

The month of March is one that drives rooms 119 and 225 “mad.” March madness originally is classified as a bracket that pertains to basketball rankings and predictions. However, in this case, VHS language teachers Grace Ellberg and Oliver Cougard have added a unique twist that allows their students to interact and learn from songs.

Ellberg said, “The students love certain songs and so much so that they listen to them on their free time and it’s just a really fun way for them to learn about different artists around the world. Also, they of course love to hate certain ones, so that’s always fun but the feedback has been positive, so that’s why I keep doing it each year. … My students of course learn more Spanish by looking at the lyrics, they learn about more Spanish speaking countries not just one and they learn a little bit more about the type of music in the Spanish speaking world.”

Amanda Lubbos ‘25, a Spanish 2 student,said, “I think the repetition of hearing the songs over and over again helps gain better knowledge of Spanish because it helps point out new words and practice hearing words I was already familiar with.”

The language madness is supposed to expose students to French and Spanish culture while involving them in a process that encourages them to generate a deeper understanding of their selected language.

Amelia Mcleod ‘24, a French student, said, “The Manie Musical stuff is really cool, I enjoy the songs and it’s interesting to think that these songs are popular in France.”

The month is used as a possibility to dive deep into the cultures and traditions of the French and Spanish-speaking world.

French teacher Olivier Cougard said, “There is so much culture in these songs all these French speaking countries and so we watch a video in class so people can see images [and] documentaries from these different countries. I make sure we spend some time studying the biography of the singers so we know where the singers [were] born, the languages they speak. There is a lot of culture which I like because I think when you learn a foreign language you also learn the culture.”

Lubbos said, “There are many great songs but I have to say my favorite is ‘Hablando Por Hablar’ by Alex Cuba and Cimafunk. … I think it would be cool if my Spanish class next year participated because it’s always interesting and exciting seeing the results from the match up because it’s either a really big difference or pretty close.”

Ventura High School girls beach volleyball goes up against Oxnard High School

Belen Hibbler

The VHS girls beach volleyball team played at 3 p.m. on March 28 against Oxnard High School at VHS’ home beach, San Pedro. There were three rounds total. Rounds one and two consisted of three separate games each and the third round consisted of just one game. There were five varsity games and two JV games in total.

The Cougars won the whole match with a full sweep. Varsity won 5-0 and JV won 2-0. The beach volleyball team has finally been able to get into their season with these recent matches. The beginning of their season was a little rocky due to not having courts because they got washed away in the rain.

The girls beach volleyball season officially started in February and ends in April.

The continuous rain in Ventura has also caused the team to have to reschedule games to the end of the season because the sport can only be played outside.

Marley Haener ‘23, a beach volleyball player, said, “On days where it’s very windy it’s kind of just a serving game. I think we did pretty good. I haven’t played with my partner, [Sophia Sletten ‘24], the whole season so I think un- der the circumstances we did pretty well.”

According to Vanguard Volleyball, if the wind is strong and consistent in a certain direction, it can make it hard to control the ball on the court. The players have to properly navigate their playing around the weather.

“It’s really windy so [my mindset] was just focused on trying to control what we can control and letting [OHS] make their mistakes. Trying to deal with the wind is difficult but we played really well,” said Lily McMahon ‘23, a beach volleyball player.

Since there are three sets in one game, each winning duo needs to win at least two out of the three. If they lose one set, they still have the chance to bounce back with the next two.

Haener said, “[Af- ter a badset] I like to put my feet in the sand and bury them as deep as possible to focus [more] on that and forget about what just happened. I kind of reset like that.”

Staff

Lourdes Almalab

Isabel Andrade

Jane Armstrong

Weston Blackburn

Samantha Castañeda

Leslie Castro

Adi De Clerck

Davin Dedman

Ella Duncan

Kendall Garcia

Halle Gentry

Jayden Gentry

Santiago Gonzales

Lia Hersh

Belen Hibbler

Ruby Lacques

Julian Martinez

Angelica Matehuala

Kinda Mehael

Christian Montecino

Christopher Morrison

Hugh Murphy Miles Newman

Anastasia Nisky

Savanna Nustad-Franzen

Brianna Ramirez

Ace Rico

Katie Rundle

Alexis Segovia

Soraya Stegall

Jocelyn Wood