Foreign Terms

English II has been studying foreign terms in the English language.  A specific foreign term has invaded news reports lately--tsunami.  Using your research skills find recent news accounts about a tsunami.  Define the term, its origin, and describe the word's relevance to recent occurrences.

Longer School Day/Longer School Year

Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering, we all know, has longer school days and a longer school year than Memphis City Schools.  Yet, Memphis City Schools just recently proposed extending the school day for middle school and high school students by forty-five minutes and extending the school year by eleven days.  (Elementary students will attend school on Saturday's instead of having the extra forty-five minutes and will have the extra eleven days, as well.)  Memphis City School's belief is this extra time for instruction will increase learning and bring up test scores.  What do you believe?  Do longer days and longer school years increase learning?  Why?  What are the pros and cons?