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Joliet Catholic Academy's Finaldi, Pasieka, Rohder highlight Spanish Poetry Contest
Nov. 22, 2011 at 2:25 p.m.
JCA students Marin Pasieka (left) and Josh Rohder placed in the Chicago Area Chapter Poetry Competition.
The poem was “Soy Yo Quien Anda” by famous Spanish poet and Nobel Prize winner Juan Ramon Jimenez. The performance by a pair of Joliet Catholic Academy students was “impressive.”
Marin Pasieka and Josh Rohder competed in the Chicago Area Chapter Poetry Competition on Nov. 12 at Nile North High School in Skokie. The event was sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portugese.
Rohder, a junior from Shorewood, earned a second-place medal and Pasieka, a junior from Joliet, picked up a third-place medal. Both participated in Level 3 for non-native speakers, reciting the poem from memory.
Lauren Finaldi, a Naperville native and their Spanish teacher at JCA, helped prepare Pasieka and Rohder for the competition and also served as a judge for the entire event.
“I was very impressed with Marin and Josh,” Finaldi said. “This was something they didn’t have to do, and they went the extra mile to represent the school. They had to do a lot of work to prepare for it and they were absolutely outstanding.”
Pasieka and Rohder recited a poem that is about a man, after growing old, looking back upon his life. They were judged on their performance, which included memorization and emotive ability.
“That was the part which was so impressive,” Finaldi said. “Not only did they have to memorize it and get the punctuation correct, they had to have the right emotion and right feeling for it – and they did.”
For Finaldi, it has been a busy time.
She presented original material at a recent Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and was asked to join the board of directors of that professional organization. She will begin serving in 2012.
As part of her preparation for the presentation, she created a blog that other teachers and students of foreign languages can use. It is called profeTUNES and can be found on profeTUNES.blogspot.com.
“I update it regularly with new material,” Finaldi said. “I’m very excited about it.”
Finaldi’s presentation was titled, “Pop Music & Foreign Language Classes: A Natural Combination!” It stressed the importance of infusing pop icons and their music into classes to enliven the lessons and motivate students throughout the school year.
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