Parkland hosted its first ever virtual World Language Week on the week of February 22nd- 26th. The week featured many virtual events that students were able to take part in, including a virtual travel photo album, international trivia contest, virtual recipe making, and a Flipgrid for students to share their favorite word or phrase from another language. 

Despite the fact that this year’s World Language Week was forced to veer away from tradition, it was able to accumulate mass participation from students, faculty, and staff. 

Parkland High School Language Teacher, Mrs. Hess, spoke about the specifics of the new World Language Week celebrations this year. 

Q:  World Language Week had to look a little different this year because of various Covid restrictions. What were some of the biggest changes?

Mrs. Hess: “I do remember that there was a lot more class time spent, we would spend about ten to fifteen minutes of class time  creating the door panels, and that was a lot of fun. It was nice for everyone in the whole school to see the  door panels and everyone got to vote on them, so it got more involvement with a lot of people in the building. Also what was different was the cake contest. While the cooking wasn’t the same at all, I had fun doing it together. We made  Croque Monsieur,  which is a very cheesy sandwich and it was just pretty neat having everyone doing the same things together in their own kitchens. It was not a bad thing I would do that again too.” 

Q: Is there an event that you would like to continue even after the pandemic?

Mrs. Hess: “Yes definitely, I was pretty excited about the travel photo album that was fun to see and to see different places and get so many different people involved, we never dreamed we would get that much involvement. The flip grids were also great because we got to hear from students’ perspectives, what they found exciting or interesting or different in a different culture or language. The trivia was fun too, but I think my favorite of the week was probably the cooking because of the interpersonal aspect of it. I miss some of the things from the way it used to be, but I think what we learned from this is that we can still make it fun and engaging, and I like that.” 

 Q: As a language teacher, what was the most rewarding part about being able to pull off a virtual World Language Week?

Mrs. Hess: “Seeing so much involvement from the students and even the faculty. We didn’t know how  this would go over, and to see so many people get involved, I think 74 people at the trivia,  and then at the three different cooking event there was lots of turn out, and even with the travel photos, there were about 120 slides, and the flip grids just went on and on. I just never dreamed there would be that many students taking an interest, and it made me very happy.”

Q: What is the most important thing that students have to learn by participating in World Language Week?

Mrs. Hess: “