Teacher Amy Breland-Fisher uses a toy cow to help 1- to 4-year-old children learn Spanish. From left are Gina Tirikos with her 15-month-old son, Yiannis; Fisher, and her sons, Kenneth, 4 and Garrett, 1.
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH – The nursery class is like any you’d find in an American school with one big difference. The teacher speaks to children only in Spanish. And mommies are encouraged to learn along with them.
A dozen 1 to 4 year olds sprawl, crawl, scurry about the room or lie on the carpet in the kiddie clubroom of Calvary Episcopal Church. Mothers and even grandmothers stand, walk or sit with them; some hold infants as young as a few months.
“Qual esta nombre?” Amy Breland-Fisher directs a 2 year old curled in his mom’s lap. Gestures accompany words as she points to the child and repeats the question. She turns to others, repeats the phrase, and then points to herself. “Yo soy Amy,” she said as she gently turns the child’s face toward her. “Diga, diga” (speak, speak) she implores, placing her finger on a child’s mouth.
Fisher ignores the flurry of activity and seeming disorder and repeats the words again and again. Each word or phrase is accompanied by gestures indicating what is being asked or expressed. Hand on her arm or finger pointing to the eye, nose and then to that of the child.
“Muy bien! Muy bien!” she claps and smiles to acknowledge understanding. “(Kids) make a connection with actions.”
An active 4-year-old boy wanders about, stops in front of the camera and poses.
“Yo soy (my name is) Kenny,” he said.
With encouragement, but little concern for group participation, all learn. In his or her own way and own time, each child responds, some in English, some in Spanish. Clearly, all understand.
There is a plan to the lesson. Introduction is marching around the room and singing songs in Spanish. Activity is followed with sit down time. At the table each child requests his favorite color – in Spanish of course – and with the help of Mommy, magazine models are cut and pasted as body parts and pieces of clothing are identified; all in Spanish.
Response isn’t always immediate. Parents report that at home, they hear singing or directing a command to playthings or to parents in Spanish.
“When my own children, Kenneth, 4 and Garrett, 1, respond appropriately to a Spanish command, I know they are learning,” said Fisher.
She believes exposing children to another language during the most active learning period of development is critical to brain development.
“They’re like little sponges,” she said.
Fisher has a MBA in business, worked in international business in Latin America and lived in Costa Rica for many years. When she returned to the states, she couldn’t find a program for her two infant boys.
“It drove me crazy,” she said. “So I started my own here at Calvary and found others who shared my concern.”
There is some controversy concerning teaching other languages too early. Some believe it confuses children. Lumia said her pediatrician said there should be no problem with children who show normal brain development.
Gina Tirikos is of Italian parentage; her husband is Greek and speaks to 15-month-old Yiannis in Greek.
“Kids should learn a lot of different things,” she said, “it improves the ability to become part of a global world when they grow up.”
Others agreed. In a “shrinking” world where outsourcing jobs demands language communication, knowing a second language gives a child a decided edge in a competitive job market.
The hour-long session finishes with refreshments, galletos and jugo (cookies and juice).
The “Spanish Mommy and Me” class is supported by Calvary’s “Father Bob” Wagenseil. The class is part of his “reach out to the community” campaign to reflect community diversity.
“We have the same philosophy,” Fisher said.
Programs in Polish, Greek and other languages are in the future and reflect the outreach ministry for language development. Adult Spanish and ESL (English as a second language) are offered by appointment in the evening.
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