Several more new courses were added for the next school year at Great Neck South High School.
For September 2015, the Great Neck School District’s Board of Education voted to approve two new courses for South High next school year.
The approval, however, came with a cautionary comment, stating that the courses are scheduled to be added next year, but actual implementation will depend on several factors, including staffing, master schedule conflicts and overlapping activities.
The courses include Spanish for the Workplace and International Cinema.
Spanish for the Workplace is for South High School students in grades 10 and 12. It is a half-unit elective course that will explore and examine general workplace vocabulary, interview skills, resume writing and career exploration. The course will include student-driven vocabulary units based on the students’ individual career goals and interests. This course will also include workplace role playing situations and will present opportunities for job shadowing.
International Cinema is designed to expose students to 20th and 21st century foreign films from Spain, Latin America, France, Asia and Italy. Students will also be exposed to deaf culture.
The course will include reading and writing movie reviews, conducting polls, participating in blogs and creating a presentation. In addition, the students will observe film techniques and explore some common postmodern themes of contemporary film. The students will be expected to participate in class discussions and interactive activities. A final project in the form of a presentation will be assigned for the conclusion of the course.
These courses were recommended by the school, with the superintendent and his curriculum staff reviewing each course. It is understood that even with school board approval, South High School administrators and staff understand that approval does not guarantee implementation, nor a teacher or resources, if the funding is not ultimately in the budget. Additionally, constraints on the school’s master schedule could imbalance scheduling and the possible overlapping of activities could also come into play.
The proposed policy will come before the board for a second reading, and then a third reading, before it can be adopted.
