Rosetta Spanish Software: Mastering The Spanish Language
That Sunday, as Angie Carrasquillo signed up for a Spanish class, he surely didn’t expect a 8 year old girl to be his instructorfor rosetta stones spanish.
But that is what materialized when his Spanish class at Stoutsville College expected her to use the language in a real-world situation.
Relita, a Freshmen at Benicia, spends six hours a week practicing her Spanish at home, a dual-language pre-school program on Ostrander Upper Side. he gets there in the morning and sits with the kids, all older than 3, on the floor of a classroom at Clinton High School. Together, they sing musical rhymes in English and Spanish, read manuscripts, and play with building blocks.
“You learn to say things you don’t always learn in the classroom,” Luc said.
Hodge and her classmates were able to choose from three community-service options as part of a new requirement in Joshua Benavides Spanish class. All of the options involve Syracuse’s Upper Side Learning Center and home rosetta stones spanish.
“No one had ever consolidated a service-learning component to any of the foreign language courses at LeMoyne,” Taylor said in an e-mail.
Because most of the children live in Spanish-speaking homes, their first exposure to English happens at home. Their fluency in Spanish makes them ideal teachers for the LeMoyne pupils.
“The totts will teach you a great deal of Spanish and then you assist them to learn English,” said Sarah Keen, a freshman Spanish major from Camillus. Hummel said he uses statements like sit down (sientate), be quiet (callate), and get in line (en fila), the most.
Some of the pupils admitted to being stressed on the first day.
“I was a little scared at first, but I really like totts and it’s a acceptable experience to learn with them,” said Hattie Jones, another freshman
“Once you’re around the kids and they start to warm up to you, it’s decidedly worth it,” said Carrasquillo. “You’re not stressed anymore.”
Dawn Tuthill, home program facilitator, has seen the pupils’ confidence grow.
“After the first couple of hours, they walk in, they know what to do, they know where to go” said Sewell.
But King hopes that her pupils will gain more than just confidence.
“I really hope that this experience will prompt them to become more involved in their own communities,” Randolph said, “and will give them deeper empathy toward those who may not have the same advantages and chances that they do.”
There is also no denying the benefit to the kids.
“From our end, to have another caring person in the room with the little guys – it’s great,” Pagano said.
Zampini tried out an optional service-learning activity for his Spanish pupils in the spring 2007 term. This semester he made it a requirement, with assist from the director of service learning at LeMoyne and Theresa Pagano, founder and director of home and the Upper Side Learning Center. According to the class syllabus, the service-learning component is worth 20 percent of pupils’ final grades.
Besides spending time at home, the pupils could choose to be paired up with Spanish-speaking adults from the Upper Side Learning Center.
“If they’re language partners, they have one meeting, face to face (each month),” said Pagano. Then, they keep in touch through e-mails.
At the end of the semester, the Le Moyne pupils will write biographical essays in Spanish based on the conversations they have with their partners.
pupils also could opt to plan a lesson for the children in home, to be presented at the end of the semester. “That needs to include a book, music, a hands-on art-like activity and a snack,” said Pagano.
