“Adentro afuera arriba abajo siempre estoy feliz.”
These Spanish lyrics to a classic Adventist children’s song float down the hallways at school and even into the homes of Rogers Adventist School (RAS) students in College Place, Wash., and the surrounding area.
This is the fourth year RAS has invited Spanish teachers to share their language and culture with students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Teachers have come from Ecuador, Spain and Costa Rica.
RAS has a robust academic program already with physical education, technology, and multiple music options like handbells, steel drums and orchestra. However, the school couldn’t ignore the need to teach a second language.
Students start out learning the basics like the days of the week, colors and simple conversational phrases in daily classes. As they progress through the program they learn prepositions and verb conjugations.
Students aren’t just learning Spanish in their daily lessons. Signs around the school are in both English and Spanish. The daily announcements made over the intercom each morning feature a Spanish message. In family groups each Friday, the students sing a song in Spanish like “Jesus Loves Me” or “The B-I-B-L-E.”
The current teacher, Monica Lazaro, is from Ecuador and has been a huge asset to RAS. “It is a blessing to put the gifts that God gives me into service for Him. It is gratifying to see the daily progress that the students have and the pride on their faces when they can greet in Spanish, answer oral questions, record the announcements or simply sing a whole song in Spanish,” she says.
Each year the school hopes to incorporate more opportunities for Spanish practice.
