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Preschoolers help pull down language, cultural barriers
BY TRAVIS LOLLER, The Island Packet
Published Monday, August 29th, 2005


"Does anybody know how to say 'please' in Spanish?" a teacher walking into Nyisha Mitchell's classroom at the Children's Center on Hilton Head Island asks.
"Por favor," says Mitchell.

"Oh, yes" the teacher, Jane Boyd, says. She explains that a Hispanic child in her classroom has thrown a tantrum. "I don't know if he's being stubborn or doesn't understand."
As she turns to go, she repeats, "Por favor. I knew that."

"Don't worry," says Mitchell, looking at the children crawling all over her. "They'll teach you."

With about 35 percent of the children at the center speaking Spanish as their first language, English-speaking teachers easily could become overwhelmed. But the organization has decided to treat the influx of Hispanic children as an opportunity, rather than a burden.

With help from a grant and the Latin American Council, the center, which offers day care, pre-school and after-school care on a sliding-fee scale based on family income, now has 14 bilingual teachers for the 300 children it serves at its Hilton Head Island and Bluffton locations. The center also has been able to buy toys, books and computer programs that are either bilingual or aimed at Spanish speakers.

Although Mitchell knows the words "por favor," she is not one of the center's bilingual teachers. But she has picked up a number of Spanish words, both from her 3-year-old students and from fellow teacher Luz Carballo, a native of Colombia in South America. The two have worked together for six years.

Before Carballo came, Mitchell said she would communicate with the Spanish-speaking children as best she could, using hand gestures if necessary. Now, the two work together, teaching the children in both languages and teaching each other as well.

Although the center has been hiring bilingual teachers for several years, the grant it won last year from the Sisters of Charity has helped beef up its efforts. A trip to the classrooms today finds a bilingual teacher in nearly every room and many of the colorful signs on the walls printed in both Spanish and English.

The idea, said center director Jan Smith, is to help children who come into the program speaking only Spanish to learn English. At the same time, English-speaking students have an opportunity to begin learning Spanish.

It may seem counterintuitive that allowing Spanish in the classrooms would help children learn English. The grant application, written last year, explains the idea: Embracing both English and Spanish in the classroom and even allowing Hispanic children to act as teachers of Spanish to their English-speaking friends builds the self-confidence of the Hispanic children, which helps improve their learning of English.

Teachers and parents at the center say it works. Esteban Benauvides, picking up his 5-year-old son Wednesday, said that Kevin speaks both languages well. He even helps adult relatives at the grocery store or the pharmacy.

"When there's a word we don't know or we've forgotten, he helps," Benauvides said.

On the flip side, the English-speaking children are exposed to Spanish at a very early age and may be less afraid of learning a second language when they encounter language classes in middle school, or earlier. Bluffton Elementary School and Hilton Head International Baccalaureate Elementary School offer a once-a-week Spanish class for their students.

"Theoretically, a child could have Spanish in day care, elementary school, middle school and high school," said Bluffton Elementary principal Kathy Corley. "Then, 'Wow!' They could be a translator for the (United Nations)."

The Children's Center is a real melting pot, Smith said.

"The children learn about other people's ways and cultures," she said, "and they learn to appreciate them."