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Girl Scout teaches Spanish
By AMANDA STEWART
astewart@potomacnews.com
Thursday, August 17, 2006



Senior Girl Scout Maren Paslick, right, teaches as Jack Rickey, 7, foreground, raises his hands during a Spanish class in Montclair on Wednesday. PETER CIHELKA/News & Messenger
Maren Paslick knows firsthand the benefits of learning a second language at a young age.
When she was a student at Henderson Elementary School, her math and science classes were taught in Spanish, as part of the school's Foreign Language Immersion Program.
She kept studying the language in middle and high school and now at 17, she is fluent.

"I love languages and I'm passionate about the benefits of bilingual education," the Montclair resident said.

Paslick is so passionate, in fact, that she has written a research paper on the topic and is spending this week spreading her knowledge of the Spanish language to others.

As part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project, Paslick is teaching a week-long Spanish language workshop to about a dozen elementary school-aged children.

The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can receive.

Senior Girl Scouts, who are the oldest group, do all of the work for their project independently, said Marta Constable, who advised Paslick on her project.

"Our Seniors do all the project work, and I just advise and sign paperwork," she said.

Paslick said she knew she wanted to combine her interests in language and working with children in the Gold Award project.

"My passion for languages really inspired me to do this. I love kids and I love languages," she said.

In the classes, Paslick uses games and songs to teach basic Spanish phrases and vocabulary.

Tuesday was only the second day of the workshop, but Paslick's students, some of whom are also in the FLIP program at Henderson, were already picking up the language.

"They love it. They love learning new words and trying to trill their R's," Paslick said. "On the first day we did introductions and went over some of the Spanish phrases. They liked learning to say 'how cool.' The parents liked 'what a mess.' "

Paslick said her research shows that elementary school-aged children are most successful at learning a second language.

"They absorb it like sponges," she said. "I expect them to gain limited proficiency this week and hopefully an interest in languages. If they don't choose Spanish to study in high school, hopefully they will still study some language."

In addition to Spanish, Paslick, a rising senior at Forest Park High School, has studied Russian for four years and hopes to eventually add another language, such as Chinese or Arabic to the list. She hopes to pursue a career in international relations one day.