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<\/p>\nWhen the stage curtain opened for the evening\u2019s first musical performance, there was a collective, \u201cAwwww,\u201d from the audience.<\/p>\n
There stood rows of smiling first-graders dressed as Indians, complete with construction paper feather headbands they decorated themselves.<\/p>\n
Parents and other relatives raised phones, lifted tablets and focused cameras to capture 6-year-olds singing \u201cTen Little Indians.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a stanza of recorded music, the first-graders began, \u201cUno, dos, tres Indiecitos. Cuatro, cinco seis Indiecitos. Siete, ocho nueve Indiecitos. Diez Indiecitos son.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Indiecitos?<\/p>\n
Yes, Indiecitos. Diez, or 10, of them.<\/p>\n
If you are confused, the performers\u2019 families were not. The first-graders have been speaking Spanish for months now as part of their first year in the partial-immersion language program at Christopher Farms Elementary School (CFES). The school hosted Spanish Night, or La Noche Espa\u00f1ola, Friday, March 11, for students in grades 1-5 to showcase their language acquisition as well as their cultural knowledge with food and facts.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI feel really lucky,\u201d said fourth-grader Kloe Hagen backstage. \u201cWe get to learn a new language, and we get to celebrate the Hispanic culture. People don\u2019t get to do this often and they don\u2019t get to speak Spanish in other schools. It\u2019s pretty fun to be in the Spanish program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judging by the smiles on their faces while onstage, Hagen\u2019s partial-immersion program peers would agree.<\/p>\n
The program featured Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella, played by fifth-graders Brian Freytes and Rachel Rathgeber, who spoke in fluent Spanish without notes throughout the program.<\/p>\n
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Two student hosts introduced narrators and musical acts in both Spanish and English for the benefit of the audience.<\/p>\n
Second-graders strode across the stage behind \u201clos barquitos\u201d – better known as the La Pinta, La Ni\u00f1a and La Santa Mar\u00eda – before singing in Spanish from choral risers.<\/p>\n
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Fifth-grader Morgan Blonski shared a flamenco dance followed by third-, fourth- and fifth-grade musical performances in Spanish.<\/p>\n
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Most people fear public speaking in their own language, let alone in a foreign language. However, if the students were nervous to speak Spanish in front of hundreds of guests, they didn\u2019t show it.<\/p>\n
Fourth-grader Declan Leary recalled some nervousness when he began the program three years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was nervous when I first started in first grade,\u201d he said, \u201cand then you kind of pick it up. It kept getting easier and easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly the idea, according to Lorena Wornom, a first-grade teacher in Alanton Elementary School\u2019s partial language immersion program.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the nature of the program is speaking Spanish, it\u2019s like a fish out of water. It\u2019s to immerse them in a different language,\u201d explained Wornom.<\/p>\n
\u201cYoung children can learn a second language like a native speaker,\u201d she added, noting that students learn the language just like a child learns to speak at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey hear it. For a time they don\u2019t speak. Then they hear it, use it and that\u2019s how they build their vocabulary. I do the same thing. It\u2019s simple,\u201d Wornom said.<\/p>\n
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The school division expanded the partial-immersion program to a second school this year, and Wornom is teaching the first Alanton students in the program. A team-teaching model is used to deliver instruction in the target language Spanish and in English.<\/p>\n
Students at Alanton and CFES receive math and science instruction from one teacher in Spanish, and then switch classes to study English language arts and social studies with a second teacher in English. Teachers follow the same Virginia Beach City Public Schools curriculum; the only difference is that math and science are taught in Spanish.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe go through stages throughout the year,\u201d continued Wornom. \u201cIn the beginning they are a little nervous, so I speak to them in both English and Spanish. First I say one sentence in Spanish and then I repeat it in English so they can feel comfortable. I use songs, visuals and choral responses and that helps children feel comfortable because nobody\u2019s on the spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
After about two months, Wornom begins to see students\u2019 comfort level increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what happens is they start translating for me. It\u2019s just beautiful to see,\u201d she said with a broad smile. \u201cI say something in Spanish and then you have these little hands trying to translate to everybody what I just said.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cBy January, they feel that they can speak the language and they feel very confident about it. By the end of the year, it is second nature to them,\u201d said Wornom.<\/p>\n
Fifth-graders in Elizabeth Moran-DeWald\u2019s class demonstrated just how second nature it becomes. Recently they reviewed three states of matter \u2013 solid, liquid and gas \u2013 entirely in Spanish.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s total immersion in my room,\u201d said Moran-DeWald. \u201cIt catches them off guard if I use English. They are like, \u2018What?!\u2019 They are just used to listening to Spanish all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cOnce the child in first grade acquires or has the language acquisition skill, it is so much easier for them in the future to understand and acquire other languages,\u201d continued Moran-DeWald. \u201cAll of the students whom I\u2019ve had here who have continued to the Spanish immersion program at Landstown Middle School are just so successful. They get into sixth grade taking a high school [Spanish] class and begin to acquire high school credits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moran-DeWald grew up in a bilingual home herself, at a time, she said, when so few of her classmates were bilingual.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I get to give these kids the opportunity,\u201d Moran-DeWald added. \u201c[They] don\u2019t have a bilingual home, but [they] have a bilingual school and a bilingual teacher. They learn they can understand another language and communicate in another way most people can\u2019t. The opportunity is once-in-a-lifetime for some of these kids and it\u2019s exciting for me to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is exciting for the students as well, and their enthusiasm was on full display during La Noche Espa\u00f1ola \u2013 from the first song to the presentation of countries.<\/p>\n
![\"Dominican](\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Dominican-Republic.jpg\")
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\u201cI like the arts, projects and plays,\u201d said fourth-grader Gabrielle McCants dressed in costume with a flower in her hair. \u201cBut I like most that I get to learn another language. If I ever go somewhere where the Spanish language is used, I can understand it and speak to people.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCants added, \u201cIt\u2019s just always good to learn new things.\u201d<\/p>\n