By MATT SMITH
Students at Realms for Inquiry Middle School that don't speak Spanish are now participating in an immersion program that aims to provide efficient learning and service to the Spanish community.
Barbara McCauley, a teacher from Realms of Inquiry has been a Spanish teacher for many years and said she was frustrated with teaching the language and not seeing many results.
Therefore, she decided to link her school with Aging Services of Utah. This service helped McCauley contact the native Spanish individuals that interact with her students.
'I'm never going back to the old way of teaching,' said McCauley, who feels the immersion program is the only way to really see results in foreign language teaching.
David Bruner is a sixth-grade student in McCauley's class and said he has enjoyed the many activities and learning experiences in the program.
'I think it is a great project because it is a learning experience for both sides, and it's just plain fun to learn about their lives and hear their stories,' Bruner said.
The students have 'adopted' an 8-year-old girl from Bolivia through the 'Save the Children' program. They each contribute $1 a month to support her and write her letters.
According to McCauley, the students have also adopted older Latin American people they call 'abuelos,' or grandparents, who live in Salt Lake City. Some of the 'abuelos' are not able to speak English very well. The students are able to write to them in Spanish, and in turn, they can respond in English.
McCauley said the students visited their 'abuelos' in December and give them each a gingerbread house they'd made in class.
'As we watched the smiles on their faces as we gave them the houses, it was then that I realized how precious this exchange really was,' McCauley said.
The students in the immersion program took the national exam for high school Spanish and scored very high. One of the students only missed one question and several others missed only a few. McCauley said she is very impressed with how well her students are doing.
The class is currently reading books in Spanish. Each child can decide which book they want to read, according to their individual skill level.
McCauley said the program was tough to get implemented, but she received good support from her school and the Aging Services of Utah.
The local Latin American restaurants and markets benefit from the program since the students visit the sites on field trips once a month to practice their Spanish and try new foods.