Valentina Gonzalez, at right, practices her English and reading as she reads “Green Eggs and Ham” to her classmates in Cynthia Bahler’s kindergarten classroom as her little brother, Andre Nicolas Gonzalez, and mother, Angelica Orocio Rivera, look on. — Andrew Nygaard | The Holyoke Enterprise
Creativity, fun help kindergarten class learn Spanish, English
Holyoke Elementary School kindergarten teacher Cynthia Bahler always strives to make her classroom fun and engaging, and she’s been thinking outside the box — and the classroom — to help set her students on the path to being bilingual.
Her English-speaking students are learning Spanish, and her Spanish-speaking students are learning English.
Her class works on learning the languages on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To help with the process, she invites four bilingual sixth graders into her classroom to meet with her ESL students once a week to confer with them in Spanish and see if they have any needs that aren’t being met.
“There’s no greater joy than learning from each other,” Bahler said.
Bahler worked with ESL teachers at the elementary school to create a list of common phrases and communication that kindergarten kids would have with one another.
“It was my hope that these kids would communicate with one another regularly using both languages,” Bahler said.
She also worked with Linda Jelden and Phillips County Family Education Services to have adults who want to practice their English or to read in Spanish and orally translate through stories or cultural activities with her students.
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