Students at St. Malchy’s are saying “hola” to a new language. Twice a week students in kindergarten through sixth grade receive Spanish lessons from teacher Kristin Wilson.
A graduate of Truman State University in Missouri, Wilson earned an undergraduate degree in Spanish and her master’s in education.
“I’d planned to work with high school students, but I did an internship at a Catholic middle school and found it to be such a neat opportunity,” said Wilson.
At the lower grade levels, the students “love to learn and are excited in the classroom,” she said. “It’s neat to see the way they absorb the language.”
Wilson started teaching Spanish at St. Malachy’s at the start of the second semester.
“I wasn’t actively looking for a job,” said Wilson, a stay-at-home mom with three daughters.
She’d volunteered to serve on the school’s publicity committee when she learned school officials wanted to start a Spanish program.
“Because of my background, I said I’d like to be involved with that ... meaning the publicity,” said Wilson. Instead, St. Malachy’s principal Stan Griffin said “How would you like a job?”
“I had a lot of reasons why I couldn’t do it, but doors kept being opened for me. I realized it might not be my plan, but it was God’s plan,” said Wilson.
When she started the language program at St. Malachy’s, Wilson said she “had a lot of butterflies” but added, “The kids made it so easy on me, and the teachers have been very supportive.”
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, each class receives 20 minutes of Spanish instruction from Wilson.
“The teachers have also learned to give classroom commands in Spanish, so the language is re-enforced throughout the week,” she explained.
When she’s in the classroom, Wilson said she teaches Spanish “through immersion.”
“That approach let’s the child figure out what I’m doing and presents the language in context,” she said.
During a recent lesson on counting, Wilson taught kindergartners correct Spanish number words while incorporating phrases such as “repeat” “listen” “raise your hand” “I have” and “how many” in Spanish.
Because the foreign language program is new, all students at St. Malachy’s are on roughly the same page, said Wilson. However she expects students’ understanding of Spanish to increase after years of study.
“By the time the kindergarteners leave (St. Malachy’s), they will have had seven years of Spanish and should have a good handle on the language,” she said.
Geneseo, Ill. —
