Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Friday, December 05, 2008

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Daniel Lopez, 4, names his colors in English for seventh-grader Meaghan Starr.

Seventh-graders studying Spanish at Edythe J. Hayes Middle School don’t need a passport to interact with native speakers. It’s a quick walk down the hall to the Early Start cluster, where the older students can practice their Spanish with 3- and 4-year-olds learning English.

“They say the earlier you learn a language, the easier it is,” said Jett Whitten, who took his turn this week in Tiffaney Russell’s preschool room.

When Jett and classmate Meaghan Starr walked in Wednesday, the dozen or so little ones welcomed them with a boisterous call of “Our friends are here!” The pair joined the children’s circle, all sitting cross-legged on the multicolored rug as Russell reviewed the calendar months and weather terms.

“They’re in that mentor role and overall are enjoying it and getting a lot out of it,” Russell said of the seventh-graders. “They’re not fluent, but what they know, they’ll try to explain.”

After the group activity, Russell directed three preschool boys who speak only Spanish at home to join Jett and Meaghan at a small table, where they counted and stacked plastic blocks. “Basically, whatever they’re doing, we have fun with them,” Jett said.

“They can understand ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and their colors,” noted Meaghan, who said her classmates can see that the kids know more English now than they did at the start of school.

Laura Kerns, who teaches Spanish at Hayes, initiated the informal mentoring program this fall. She sends one boy and one girl from her morning and afternoon first-year Spanish classes to Russell’s room for daily 20-minute sessions. Each pair spends a week with the youngsters, missing only homework review in Kerns’ class.

“They sit with the kids and help them understand what Ms. Russell is teaching. We join in with what she’s doing. If she’s teaching numbers and learning to count to 10, my Spanish students can help them count in English and then in Spanish,” Kerns said.

Russell jumped at the opportunity for assistance.

“We have so many children that speak Spanish in our classroom. When (Kerns) mentioned it, I thought, ‘Oh, this would be perfect,’” she said. “This has really helped the kids to open up.”

Kerns says the interaction also helps the Early Start children to feel more like a part of the Edythe J. Hayes community. This is the first year for the Early Start program at the middle school.

“It gives them a little comfort zone,” Kerns said. “When we see them out on the playground, we’ll wave.”

Meaghan, who wants to be a teacher when she grows up, said the preschoolers gain a lot but so do the older students. “We get used to them talking faster (than our Spanish teacher),” she said.

Kerns agreed the exchange is good for her 60-plus seventh-graders.

“They’re learning vocabulary from the Spanish-speaking students that they haven’t come across yet in their textbook,” she said, adding, “It’s opened up a world to them where they see a need to learn a foreign language.”

Russell feels the same about the benefits for her young charges.

“I really think the best thing for them is to see other people learning their language,” she said. “Overall it helps everybody.”