Thread: Spanish classrooms filling up fast

http://www.wilsondaily.com/Wil_region/L ... 706848.php

Wilson, NC wilsondaily.com Saturday, September 24, 2005

Spanish classrooms filling up fast


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By Amber L. Whitley

Daily Times Staff Writer

When Caroline Thompson was in Spanish I her freshman year at Fike High School, she was certain it was the last foreign language class she would take.

At first she didn't find the class interesting, but as time passed, she started to enjoy it. Now three years later as a senior, Thompson is taking Spanish IV, a class where no English is spoken after the bell rings.

Thompson is just one of hundreds of students filling Spanish classrooms in Wilson County's three high schools.

In fact, so many students are trying to take the courses that Fike and Beddingfield are having to turn some students away and try to reschedule them for the next semester or year, and Hunt High School had to hire another Spanish teacher just to keep up with the demand.

Amy Rogers, assistant principal at Fike, said her school was in the same position it was in seven years ago when she started working there.

At that time, there were only two Spanish teachers, and classes were filling up. After hiring a third teacher, the classes balanced out, but now Fike is back at the point where there just isn't enough room for all the students who want to take Spanish.

Laurie Robl, a Spanish teacher at Beddingfield, said her school only has two Spanish teachers, and they are in desperate need of another one to fill the vast demand for Spanish classes.

At all three of the high schools, there are roughly 30 students in each Spanish I and II classes, anywhere from 17-20 in the Spanish III and IV classes and about 10 in the Spanish V class.

The lower levels have several different sections. There are six Spanish I classes at Hunt; the upper levels, such as Spanish III, IV and V only have one or two sections.

"It's so hard to find foreign language teachers now that even if we were given the go-ahead from central office to add a position, I'm not sure we could find a teacher," Rogers said.

Foreign language is one of the critical needs areas recognized by Wilson County Schools. Teachers hired in these hard-to-fill areas, which also include math, science and exceptional children, receive a $4,000 signing bonus.

The only elementary school that offers Spanish is Vick, but the subject is an elective choice in the middle schools. Some middle schools offer exploratory Spanish in sixth grade, but most only have classes for seventh-and-eighth graders. These two sections are meant to be taken back to back and would give students an introductory to Spanish.

However, Rick McMahon, executive director of middle schools, said that most students still opt to start a serious study of the subject in high school. Even if they've had Spanish in middle school, they still start with Spanish I in high school.


WHY NUMBERS

ARE GROWING

The reasons for the increased interest in Spanish are numerous. Jocelyn Drawhorn, a senior at Fike, said that with the growing number of Hispanics in the country, it is necessary to be fluent in Spanish.

She also knows that having a background in Spanish will help her get into college and communicate with more of her patients when she reaches her goal of being a physician.

Her classmate, Thomas Barnes, said that as a soccer player, his knowledge of the Spanish language has helped him communicate with Hispanics who also play the game. He has been able to take what he's learned in the classroom and apply it to a "real-life" situation.

Robl said the growing Hispanic population in Wilson has peaked the interest of many students who want to communicate with their peers.

She's also had several students at Beddingfield tell her that they are taking the classes at the request of their parents who need help learning the language in order to use it in the workplace.

Students in the high schools who plan to attend college must have at least two levels of a foreign language. Those involved in the International Baccaularate program must have five levels.

Tom Haitema, a Spanish teacher at Fike, said over his 10-year career he has seen an increase in the number of students who want to take Spanish.

"The teaching of second, or world, languages has moved very far from the conjugation of verbs and the reading of the great works of literature," Haitema said. "Now the focus is on real-life communication, which includes how to bargain in the marketplace, how to order a meal in a restaurant, expressing opinions on world events and gathering facts and presenting them in a coherent fashion to an audience.

"It's a far cry from knowing that 'soy' means 'I am' in Spanish but not being able to articulate a coherent thought with it."

Illena Rojas-Bennett, who teaches Spanish at Hunt, said she's actually had some students ask if a Spanish VI class could be offered. These students take Spanish V their junior year and are afraid they will lose the language over their senior year.

"It's amazing how the American students speak the language so well," she said. "For them to be speaking another language as high school students is a wonderful opportunity."

Charge all those teachers with aiding, abetting, sheltering, and supporting illegal immigrants.

I refuse to learn Spanish or speak it. Our national language should have been clearly defined as English long ago but it wasn't. All the immigrants who became American citizens knew that in order to succeed in America, they needed to learn English.

My Italian great-grandmother would have her daughter teach her English words. My grandmother then did the same thing with her daughter. By the time my mother had me, she could understand some Italian but rarely spoke it. Was anything of my national heritage lost? No. We still gathered together, celebrated with good Italian food and thanked God for our country.

When I read words such as Reconquista and La Raza, I am appalled. And when I hear about American citizens unable to apply for jobs because they aren't knowledgeable in Spanish, I am outraged.

I used to work in a hospital. I got out because I was so frustrated by the expectation to accomodate Spanish-only patients. The money it's taking to do this...

Once again, another tax-payer's "black hole."

AmericanGal, i hear yeah, my Irish ancestry had to do the same i completely agree with you all. I dont see Spanish as being a seroius language for that matter. In fact iam learning Farsy and Arabic which is more important. Also Spanish isnt even a primary language on the intl arena, it is only French or English, these are the two primary languages that are used in the Intl arena.

P