Oxon Hill Foreign Language

Teacher Name	Subject	Email Address
Sheehan	Spanish 3 Italian 1-4	Anton.Sheehan@pgcps.org
Bitondo	Spanish 2-4	Juliann.Bitondo@pgcps.org
M. Brown	French 2 Latin 1/2/3 AP French 5/6	Mireille.Brown@pgcps.org
Newhouse	French 1, 3, 4	Paul.Newhouse@pgcps.org
Ogata	Japanese 1-4	Michiko.Ogata@pgcps.org
Thom-Collins	Spanish 2, 3
Wilkinson	Spanish 1, 4 AP Spanish 5, 6	Edwar.Wilkinson@pgcps.org

Students that have maintained a B average in the first 2 to 3 years of studying a foreign language are invited to apply to be a member of the Foreign Language Honor Society.

****Tutoring in Spanish is available after school in the media center on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Oxon Hill High School has a sister high school in Kanagawa prefecture. 15 Japanese students will visit us at Oxon Hill High School in March.

Torino Welcomes PG County Students

In December of 2005, as they prepared to host the Winter Olympics for 2006, Torino city officials decided they wanted to put their beloved city back on the map. They came to the conclusion that the best way to do this would be to reach out to the future of tomorrow: the students of today. They sent word to supervisor of PG County schools foreign language departments, Maria Flores, that they would sponsor a select few Italian versed students for one week as they learned about the forgotten city; she went to work selecting which schools would partake of this once in a life time opportunity and came to two Science and Technology Schools: Oxon Hill and Eleanor Roosevelt High Schools.

Oxon Hill's foreign language department chair, Mrs. Antonella Sheehan, chose two of her best Italian III students to take on this trip: Senior Charna Wilson and Junior Clara Erickson. These two would join Mrs. Sheehan, Mr. and Mrs. Flores, and three students from Roosevelt on the coveted trip to Torino, Italy.

The party of eight was met at the airport by Massimo Lapolla, their Italian guide, for the five days where they were exposed to many wonders in the city that had taken the world by storm. They visited several museums, including the second oldest Egyptian museum in the world; several chapels, including the one housing the Shroud of Turin; a typical open market where they experience first hand thrift shopping and fresh fruit; and never forgetting all the Olympic attractions surrounding and within the city.

Clara Erickson says, "I loved being in Torino for the Olympics. It was a once in a life time opportunity. I loved the food, I loved the culture, the history, the antiquity of the city, I just loved everything." She said she most enjoyed riding the horses on Bardonecchia. This is a referral to the opportunity the travelers had to go for a short scenic horseback ride on the snow-capped mountains.

Charna Wilson says, "I loved the opportunity to experience the culture, especially when hearing Andrea Bocelli serenade the city with his voice." During their stay, they were fortunate to attend the medal ceremony for the men's biathlon where renowned Opera tenor Andrea Bocelli gave the most wonderful outdoor concert.

In addition to these specific events, the delegation also attended the women's speed skating competition, where they joined other Americans in rooting our three competing women on.

While all the museums, churches, ancient buildings and monuments provide wonderful experiences, I'm sure every student will tell you that the most memorable experience was the food. Partaking of paninos, pastries, freshly squeezed orange juice, rich hot chocolate, espressos, real Italian pizza, every pasta you could name, and gelato everyday was rich and rewarding. The most popular culinary treat to be found was Torinian chocolate. Torino is known as the chocolate city and 20% of the cities economy comes from chocolate: how can you leave the city without at least tasting this fine treat? They did not. Each girl came back to the United States with more than enough chocolate for themselves, friends and family.

All in all, Oxon Hill was proud to send two students and one teacher to represent the school in the country that everyone is currently watching. These students were proud to show the world that Oxon Hill does produce the best and brightest future to come.

Japanese students from Hibarigaoka High School will be arriving at Oxon Hill on March 10th. These students are here to be fully immersed in American Culture.