A foreign language partnership

WORLAND – Worland West Side Elementary School Principal Bruce Miller and Worland High School teacher Tammy Montoya created a program in which third and fourth year high school Spanish students help teach West Side Elementary School kindergarten and first grade students Spanish. The high school students go to West Side every Wednesday and work with kindergarten one week and first grade the next in rotation.

The program will help create relationships between the younger and older students. The high school has a lot of great students who can be positive role models for the younger students, Miller said. "It's a neat way to give back and also learn in the process," he added.

"It gives the students a chance to practice and explaining helps to embed what they have learned," Montoya said. Who knows, some might like teaching, this could lead to a career in teaching, she added.

The program is just beginning and Wednesday was the first day for the first graders who were a little shy at first but the high schoolers' understanding nature broke down the barriers and soon the younger students were happily participating and eager to show what they already knew and what they had learned. They learned how to say hello, how to ask, "How are you?" and to answer the question. They also learned the difference between señor, señora and señorita and eagerly lined up to practice with the older students.

"I've been working with kids for a while so it was, they seemed a little scared but once they started interacting with us they seemed really into it. There was one little girl that was really attached to Ivan Perez," student teacher Kaitlyn Bostrom said.

While the first graders were a little shy, some of the high school students were nervous as well. "I was kind of nervous because I don't know how to react to kids when they are confused or don't know what they are doing but they seemed pretty excited. One class was doing a dance (Macarana) to get into the mood to do Spanish," student teacher Ivan Perez said. "That was cool," he added.

West Side Elementary School first grade teachers, San Dee Wake and Taylor Willard, are thrilled with the program. "I love it. It's so exciting to see the kids interacting with each other," Wake stated. Learning sometimes comes easier when it's heard from someone they look up to, she added.

"It depends on the type of person that the kid is and if they are going to listen to an older kid or a teacher better," Bostrom agreed.

"It's nice for the kids. They have Spanish on the computer once a week but this is more interactive, it gets the kids talking more," Willard said.

Perez agrees that interaction will help the students learn. "Kids don't have that long of an attention span so you need to get them to interact with each other, that way they stay focused," he said.

Wake feels that the first graders' initial encounter with the high school Spanish students went well. The West Side first graders enjoyed brushing up on their Spanish skills with them and look forward to their next lesson, she said.

Bostrom is enjoying the experience as much as the West Side students. "It's really fun to see them interact with the other kids and really try hard to learn something new. It's cool that we can be part of that," she stated.