The World Languages students at Salisbury Middle School made recent use of a shortened school day to take over seventh grade.

One German and one Spanish student ambassador visited each of the seventh grade classrooms for the morning to teach the alphabet, numbers, colors and a few phrases of greeting to perspective language students. The ambassadors shared video clips, interactive websites and answered questions about what they like about studying their respective languages at SMS.

Ambassador teams then brought each class to the fair where other eighth grade students presented 16 interactive and informational booths representing the culture, heritage, language learning activities and features of world language study beyond the high school classroom.

At the 16 booths, seventh grade students had an opportunity to see the languages in action in videos and presentations created by the eighth grade language students. The students learned about study abroad opportunities; traditions, foods and table manners; products and companies from the target language countries right here in the U.S. and interacted with the language firsthand in games using both Spanish and German.

The event was student led and parents were invited to attend.

Karen McGuinness, who teachers German and Eden Alden, who teaches Spanish, hope the language fair, now in its second year, will help students to open a dialog with their parents about their language choice for study in the fall.

The passport booklet the students receive asks the question "Where do you want to go?"

The language fair and the booklet give some answers about the link between language choice and getting a leg up in academic study and the job market by making an informed language choice.