World Language Week is a tradition where the language department sets up activities for students to participate in to celebrate the diversity of language, and was held this year from Mar. 3 to Mar. 7. Spanish teacher and World Language department chair Robert Helwig was in charge of creating this fun and interactive week for all students.

    “For World Language Week, there’s both in class and out of class stuff that students can do. For the in class stuff, there’s a bunch of extra credit,” Helwig said, “So in class they have stuff from, like, reproducing a piece of art to, like, go and research an artist, to watching a movie and writing a film review of like a Spanish or French movie.”

   Students who do not take a language class could attend Culture Night for extra credit from the Social Studies department. This was a way for all students to participate in celebrating the week. 

   “Outside of being in World Language classes, we had trivia. So every day on the announcements, a trivia question got read,” Helwig said.

   There were two trivia opportunities, one was with the library that was held on  Mar. 7. Helwig started a secret teacher trivia to encourage even those not taking a world language class to participate. On the morning announcement, they would present a trivia question that was either cultural or language based. Students would be able to tell teachers the answer for a prize. 

   “Six to seven teachers each day were the secret teachers. And if you were the first student to tell that teacher the correct answer for the day, you got […] a huge thing of candy for that day,” Helwig said. 

   Teachers from all departments volunteered to participate in the school-wide event.

   “I have to know the answer and I have to be ready for students to come in and shout the answer at me. First person gets the candy,” history teacher Clay Hudson said. 

   The library also contributed to World Language week by having a Kahoot trivia game that was world language themed. 

    “Some of the questions are phrases that you might know if you’ve taken a world language class,” librarian Joe Harrell said.

    The library trivia also included cultural questions. 

   “For cultural ones there’s a lot of research involved; Deep Run is so diverse beyond the world language classes,” Harrell said. 

   Some of the other school departments got involved with Culture Night that brought the community together by celebrating everyone’s diversity. This week is a way to celebrate all the differences that the school brings. This week was a reminder of our unique differences and how this school honors inclusivity.