Two Rivers Community School Announces New K-8 Spanish program

Boone, NC — January 26, 2011 —Quick: anybody know the word for "backpack" in Spanish? If you were a 3rd grader at Two Rivers Community School (TRCS) this year, you just might: "la mochila" was in Monday's Spanish lesson. In a budgetary time when many foreign language programs are facing deep cuts, TRCS announces that as of this year, all of its students (K-8) are now recieving instruction in Spanish.

"We'd been hoping to find a way, but there wasn't one until now," said TRCS Kindergarten instructor Vicki Krueger.

Krueger was born in Puerto Rico and has long given her Kindergartners all of her native Spanish that she could fit into her daily curriculum. Her morning meetings are conducted in both Spanish and English, where students learn days of the week, months, colors, numbers and various songs in Spanish as well as English.

TRCS has a commitment to offering a second language to our students. Last year, Elise McLaughlin, parent of a third grader, facilitated an after school Spanish program to TRCS students. Though it was a successful program, there was still a desire to bring Spanish language instruction to more students during the school day.

Last year, two new bilingual staff members joined the Two Rivers family. Middle grades science teacher Jessica Gilway and fifth grade teacher Michael Gelbart taught in a dual language school in South America for three years before they came to TRCS. Director June Gilch saw an opportunity.

Gilch brought the three teachers together and they put together a Spanish language instruction program for all students. This year, Krueger teaches the K-2nd grades twice a week, Gelbart teaches Spanish to the 3rd-5th graders 3 times per week and Gilway teaches Spanish to the 6th-8th graders every day in a myriad of ways.

Says Gilway "We made our own loteria (Spanish bingo) boards and we play regularly to help with vocabulary development, pronunciation and comprehension. This spring we will be learning how to order food from a menu in Spanish and then taking the students to a restaurant so they can practice there."

Gilway can see the middle school students' enthusiasm for becoming bilingual."I had one student tell me that he overheard a family speaking Spanish and he could understand what they were saying. He was so excited."

According to bilingual education researchers Virginia Collier Ph D. and Wayne Thomas Ph D., learning two languages has many cognitive benefits for children, such as enhanced creativity, analytical thinking and listening skills. Their work has also shown that learning two languages at a young age makes it easier to learn a 3rd and 4th language down the road. It also opens the door to understanding other cultures and increases employment opportunites in tomorrow's globally connected workplace.

Says Director June Gilch "The program is in its infancy, but it is our hope that within a couple of years, our students can enter the high school proficient in Spanish and able to take advanced language instruction or begin to study a third language."

Two Rivers Community School is a tuition free North Carolina Public Charter School open to all residents of North Carolina. TRCS is also recognized as a School of Distinction by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The school is preparing for its Open Enrollment period that includes open houses for families interested in considering enrolling their children for the upcoming school year.

For information: http://www.trcsboone.org or Contact: bethv@trcsboone.org - Phone: 828-262-5411