Senior Ivan Gomez and sophomores Jacob Smith and Diego Alvarado sing Spanish hymns with other members of the Spanish Club at a meeting Jan. 24. The club also held Spanish devo– tionals on Wednesday nights. -Jon Byron reaching out by teaching Spanish Club offers English lessons to locals For many members of Sea rcy's Larino communicy, the quescion, "Do you speak English?" was rarely answered "yes." In response to this need, basic to any person living in the United States some members of the Spanish club saw an opportunicy to help. Foreign language clubs offered a chance for students to enhance language skills and fellowship with other students of that language. In the spring semester, however, members of the Spanish Club sought to go beyond building fellowship amongst themselves. In January the Spanish Club, in conjunction with La Casita Blanca, began offering English as a Second Language classes to the community. Ju1io Coizman was rhe minister at L1 Casita Blanca and sponsor for the dub. He said he saw the need tooffer ESL classes when several church members wenrout into the Hispanic community to tell them about the work of the church. "We were very surprised when we noticed 2 12 organizations chat every time we talked with someone from the community they asked us jfwe offered English classes," Coizman said. Senior LanceWiser, a member ofthe Spanish C lub. said the classes beg<l'n as a ministry ofLa Casita Blanca; members of the Spanish Club volunteered their time as individuals to teach classes. Wiser said the people mOSt in need of these classes were acrual immigrants in the community. O ne of the difficulties for teachers was that the students' English skills ranged from strong to barely present. "Somedon't speak English at aU, and some need CO build up their vocabulary," W iser said. During the spring semester, the program included around seven students and 10 reachers. The Spanish Club advertised the classes in the Daily C itizen. Wiser said he expected more students (0 come as word gOt out about the service. In order to achieve the most personal. effective learning experience possible. students and teachers were paired up one-on-one. Other than a strong backgroWld in Spanish, Coizman said there were no requirements for teachers. "[There are] not any requirements fo r the students that wam [Q help us, just the desire to do it," Coizman said. The Spanish Club offered the ESL classes twice a week, on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings. For participating instructors. teaching English so that Hispanics might be able to function in an English-speaking society was nOt the only goal. "The main goal of all of this is to try to reach this Hispanic community in town and establish a relationship with them," Coizman said. "[We're] hoping that in the future God can touch their hearts and [rhey can] become part of our family." -Jennifer Merrill
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