The Spanish Adventure Club at Carpenter Elementary recently held their first graduation fiesta.
The club started when Carpenter had two Spanish teachers donate some free Spanish classes at their auction last year.
Organizer Pam Shuck said there was enough interest to continue the enrichment program, and the Spanish Adventure Club became year-round.
The club also recently received a $500 grant from the Lake Orion Education Foundation.
In part, the club is an effort to continue the Spanish curriculum that had to be cut from the district’s elementary schools in 2004.
Thirty students meet once a week in one of two Spanish classes.
The kindergarten through first grade class is taught by Laura Ibarra, and Lili McKean teaches grades two through five.
Each class does activities appropriate to their age level, with the older group making pinatas, tasting authentic snacks and receiving Mexican currency.
The younger group mainly did crafts, while learning the seasons, colors and body parts, among other things.
Ibarra is looking forward to teaching the program again next year, and noted that the interest of those students involved, both inside and outside of the classroom, made the club a success.
Shuck said having Ibarra and McKean, both native Spanish speakers, provided an element of immersion that second language teachers couldn’t offer.
‘It’s important to have a native language speaker,? she said, noting pronunciation as one of the many things students learn best from a native speaker.
‘It is very important that children are exposed to a foreign language early in life, as the brain is in its ‘formatting? process, up until around 12 years of age,? she said.
‘After this time, the capacity to distinguish and make sounds not encountered in languages the child already speaks diminishes or disappears.?
Shuck is hoping other schools in the district will be inspired to start their own language club.
For more information, contact Shuck at 693-3638, or by email at n8yvt@hughes.net.