Newsletter Spring 2008

SPRING REGISTRATION: Register for Next Year with a $100 Discount! We appreciate your child's enrollment during the 2007-08 academic year. To thank you for your involvement in Spanish classes and to encourage your participation again next year, ESP will offer a $100 tuition discount on spring registration for the 2008-09 year. Dates for spring registration are April 1 to May 15, 2008. For your planning purposes, please check the class schedule because some schools' class days have changed for the upcoming 2008-09 academic year. Your child will move to the next level of Spanish. For example, an Auditory 1 student will be in Auditory 2 next year (children K-2). However, 3-5th graders can go directly into the Reading and Writing level and then on to the Spanish Literature level. We recommend Auditory 2 as the second year for children grades K-2 because they are still learning to read and write in English. The Auditory 2 program continues to focus on developing children's auditory skills. Children who will be 2nd graders and have completed Auditory 1 and 2, ESP offers Auditory 2- Second Year, which expands spoken Spanish vocabulary even further. You can register in these four ways: 1. Online 2. Mail the registration form with payment to 1919 14th St, Suite 421 Boulder, CO 80302 3. Fax the form to 303-998-1592 4. Call to register 303-440-7196 St. Vrain Valley School District parents should contact their community school's office for registration materials, which should be available through them by mid-April. Niwot may be reached at 303-652-2452; Hygiene at 720-652-8021; and Fall River at 720-494-9878. As always, we look forward to expanding your child(ren)'s Spanish language abilities in the coming year! Click here to register online now! Hasta pronto!

In this issue: SPRING REGISTRATION: Register for Next Year with a $100 Discount! Fun Summer Practice Activities Cultural Spanish Summer Camp The Importance of Parental Feedback Meet Hanne Brondum, our New Director’s Assistant Thank You to our Contributors

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Fun Summer Practice Activities

It is very important that students stay in touch with their newly acquired Spanish skills over the summer; they need to speak Spanish and actively listen to the language regularly. Here are a few suggestions to help practice:

• Print out our summer practice activities and have your children complete them. After they have completed the activities, save their completed work. Have your kids bring their work to their teacher in the fall! They will get a reward if they do!
• Play Scrabble in Spanish. This is a very good way to practice spelling. Start with easy words, and as vocabulary improves, try longer words. This is best for children over the age of six. Use a dictionary to review spelling.
• Weekly tutoring or private classes are wonderful and are extremely attentive to the individual. ESP is offering Spanish Summer camp again this year. Please see the summer camp article in this newsletter.
• If you are eating at a Mexican or Latin American restaurant, ask your child to order in Spanish. The servers usually speak Spanish (or ask for a waitress who speaks Spanish).
• Rent or buy child-appropriate Spanish movies. Disney & Pixar Productions are digitally dubbed into Spanish, "Shrek," "Bee Movie," and "Happy Feet" are a few examples. The neat thing is that most DVD’s do have the language option to opt into Spanish.
• Arrange a play date with some Spanish-speaking children
• Read Spanish books with your child. You can get some great books at the Boulder Bookstore in the Spanish section, Borders, Barnes and Noble, at the library or online at www.amazon.com. A few of our favorites are:
  Beginners - Any type of picture dictionaries
  La Oruga muy Hambrienta (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
  Oso Pardo, oso pardo, que ves ahi? (Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?)
  Say Hola to Spanish (by Susan Middleton Elya)
  Advanced:
  La Familia de Clifford (Clifford’s Family)
  Froggy Se Viste (Froggy Gets Dressed)
  Clic , Clac, Muu (Click, Clack, Moo)

You can get copies in both languages to follow along and help your child!

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Cultural Spanish Summer Camp

By Petra Masnicova

After much success, ESP will be offering Spanish summer camps again this year! The camps will be held at six different locations; look for the closest one to you: Downtown Boulder, Bixby Elementary, Niwot Elementary, Hygiene Elementary, Landmark Academy, and Steele Elementary.

More locations can be opened upon request provided that the minimum enrollment is met (8 children) and the facility is open and available.

Explore the Spanish-speaking world via immersion method and interactive instruction, arts & crafts activities, cooking native dishes, and various supplemental games and activities. You can sign up for an individual week or for all three. Each week will be devoted to a region of the Spanish speaking world:

June 2-5: Mexico and Central America

June 9-12: South America

June 16-19: Spain

The Spanish camp will be held during the first three weeks of summer, after the regular school year ends: Monday through Thursday from 9:00 –12:00 PM

**(Upon request the camp hours can be extended, price increased accordingly).

How to register

For Boulder and Denver/Golden locations:

• Register online
• Call the Elementary Spanish Program at 303-440-7196

For the Niwot location, call Niwot Community office at 303-652-2589.

Cost: $125 per week (includes tuition and materials fee).

Minimum enrollment: 8 students (if a class is cancelled due to under-enrollment, you will be refunded in full)

Registration: Begins immediately!

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The Importance of Parental Feedback

By Robin Lee

What were your expectations when you enrolled your child in the Elementary Spanish Program? Are these expectations being realized? Whether the answer is yes, no, or somewhere in between, it is important for parents to provide feedback to teachers and other professionals involved in our children’s education.

As a parent, I have at times questioned the value of my feedback. I am not a trained, professional educator. How much can my thoughts and comments really contribute? But parents hear lots of things from their children that teachers never do. Which activities are our children remembering and sharing with us at home? Are they excited and having fun? It is important for teachers to hear this and get encouragement from parents. Likewise, if our children seem bored or complain, we should not make assumptions as to the cause. The solution may or may not be readily apparent, but this is important information for the ongoing growth and improvement of the program. For any organization to thrive there must be good communication in all directions.

Showing interest and involvement in our children’s activities is also terrific role modeling. Children take things as seriously as their parents do. If they see parents involved and asking questions, they will likely be more motivated to participate.

The Elementary Spanish Program was started by a group of parents and teachers committed to early second language acquisition. Parents’ ongoing involvement and support will keep the program strong and the vision on course. If you have questions or suggestions anytime throughout the year, please feel free to talk to your child’s teacher or contact the Elementary Spanish Program office at 303-440-7196 or by email at kidsspeakspanish@juno.com.

A parent survey is enclosed in this newsletter, and your comments would be greatly appreciated! Please share your experience with ESP this year and help us make a difference to better meet your child's needs and aspirations!

Click here to fill out the parent survey online.

Thanks so much for your input!

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Meet Hanne Brondum, our New Director’s Assistant

Please welcome our new Director’s Assistant Hanne Brondum! She joined ESP last fall as a teacher and a Director’s Assistant and is currently also working as a teacher mentor. ESP is so delighted to have such a highly qualified and talented teacher join our core office. Hanne, born and raised in Denmark, is bringing so much skill and experience to ESP from her diverse background and 20+ years of language teaching experience.

"I can not imagine a more distinguished and honorable job than teaching. The circle is complete. I am able to give back what I received in my own upbringing, namely, exposure to foreign languages and foreign cultures from an early age," Hanne says.

Foreign Language learning from an early age

"Denmark was a peaceful, not very diverse, little country to grow up in. What we didn’t meet in real life we encountered in language classes by "traveling" the world to learn languages, traditions, and values in cultures very different from our own. We were fortunate to learn English, French and German in addition to Danish at my elementary school," Hanne continues.

Early Language Learning Changed her life

"I remember fun English classes where the usually strict Mr. Larsen mesmerized us through songs, poems and plays. I still remember some of the songs today. French classes were a different ballgame. Madame Nauer, a native of Bordeaux, France had high goals. She expected us not only to speak French, but also to copy French body language and gestures. German classes were among the least liked. Though most of us managed to learn the long grammatical rhymes, it wasn’t easy to apply the rules or speak the grammatically correct German expected by the teacher. Despite the difficulties, what I learned from German classes has helped me learn other challenging languages."

"These memories of my teachers remind me of how important a teacher is in an individual's choice of career or simply in establishing a life-long connection to a subject."

Vocabulary, poems, plays, rhymes, exposure to literature, and communication in different languages create a base for living in diverse societies, among people of different languages, and in a variety of cultures. Tolerance and acceptance go hand-in-hand with communication skills."

Career Choice

After graduating from the University of Southern Denmark, Hanne started teaching at the Danish Refugee Council Language Center. For 18 years, she taught people from all over the world including boat refugees from Vietnam, Eastern Europeans, Iranians after the Islamic Revolution, Kurds, Palestinians, Iraqis, Somalis, Bosnians, and immigrants from almost everywhere in the world.

Through the years, Hanne had the opportunity to develop teaching methods as well as update and enhance existing teaching materials. She has published Spanish teaching materials, worked as Examiner for the Danish Ministry of Education, and developed European test standards.

New Challenges

In 2001, Hanne moved to Longmont from Denmark with two of her three children and her husband. Upon arrival, Hanne immediately started teaching (Spanish, Arabic, and ESL). Language and cultural exchange continue to play an important role in Hanne’s life. "Being part of the ESP family is a dream come true. Working in the office, working with the teachers, and teaching the children allow me to combine my passion and professional ambition."

¡Bienvenida Hanne!

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We appreciate your support

In an effort to keep tuition as low as possible, we accept donations of goods and services from businesses and organizations. ESP thanks the following individuals and companies for their generous support:

Classroom Parent Volunteers - all of them!

ESP Computer Maintenance & Repair - Joe Barger

ESP Web site Design, Maintenance, and Upgrades - Dean Garyet

If you know of local groups that might be interested in donating services or directly funding ESP classes, please let us know.

Thank you so much to all who donated prizes for our Teacher Appreciation Party. We appreciate your generosity!

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