LV schools give nation lessons in Spanish

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, May 26, 1998 | 9:49 a.m.

Clark County school officials say the four-year-old curriculum they designed to teach Spanish to every elementary school pupil in the district is working -- so well, in fact, that education publishers are marketing it nationwide.

"At this age, children are so receptive to learning," Elena Steele, the district's foreign-language specialist who designed the program, said. "You should see the children -- they just get up and shout, 'Buenos dias!'"

Steele designed videotaped Spanish language lessons for the district's roughly 70,000 first- through fifth-graders. The lessons -- 60 videos per grade level, with each video 15 minutes in length -- are designed to be used by teachers who do not know Spanish.

Teachers are provided some training and receive step-by-step lesson plans with the videotapes.

The program, launched in first-grade classrooms in 1994, is now used in first through fourth grades. Fifth grade will be added district-wide beginning next year.

The district created the program primarily at the urging of school board member Lois Tarkanian.

"We're going to have to compete globally -- our children are going to be out there more than we have ever been," Tarkanian said. "Children in other countries are taught three or four languages. What this has done is put our district above other districts in the country."

Teaching foreign languages in elementary schools is fairly rare nationwide. Before Espanol Para Ti, foreign languages were offered, but not required, in Clark County middle and high schools.

Some studies and local educators argue that elementary school-age pupils are best suited developmentally to learn a foreign language, even as they are learning to read and write English.

School officials who have been monitoring the program say it works, teaching students basic Spanish vocabulary and phrases. They say assessments indicate that students are retaining about 79 percent of what is taught.

Officials hope that students by the end of fifth grade will be able to read, write and speak simple sentences in Spanish.

During an Espanol Para Ti lesson last week at William Lummis Elementary School in Summerlin, 9-year-old Erika Howell's hand shot up, along with most of the other hands in the room. The problem posed by La Maestra (the teacher) on the videotape: translate "Mi casa es tu casa."

"My house is your house," the third-grader said proudly.

"We're learning all kinds of Spanish," Erika said later. "The numbers, words in Spanish, foods, days of the week, animals, parts of the house, clothes. They teach us the appliances you use in your home."

Erika's teacher, Cari Leary, who sits at the front of the class and guides her 22 pupils through the video lessons, said most of her students were fascinated by Spanish.

"It's a very successful program, when done consistently," Leary said.

Leary hit on what may be the biggest problem with the program: some teachers are ignoring it.

Program designer Steele estimated that only about 50 percent of teachers in the county's 119 elementary schools are actively leading the lessons, despite a district mandate that requires it. Some teachers simply turn on the videotapes and sit in the back of the class; others are not using it at all.

Teachers who are not using the program may be intimidated by it; others are saying they don't have an extra hour a week to use it, Steele said.

"The key is the teacher in the classroom," Steele said. "They become the facilitator of the instruction. They end up learning along with the children."

At least one national publisher says the program has filled a long-empty niche. Lincolnwood, Ill.-based NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group has been marketing Espanol Para Ti to school districts nationwide for between $750 and $1,195 a classroom set.

Clark County schools get a 15 percent cut of sales.

"It's really the first of its kind, the only one of its kind right now," Jim Harmon said. He is NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group's product manager for world languages.

"We're convinced it's the best, too," Harmon said.

Harmon would not disclose sales projections, but district officials said the company already has sold $750,000 in Espanol Para Ti kits to other districts.

The Illinois company projects about $7 1/2 million in sales over the next five years, Tom Axtell, general manager of school district-owned KLVX Channel 10, said. KLVX produced the first videotapes in Clark County.

"The reception has been tremendous," Harmon said. "Districts from Boise, Idaho, to Key West, Fla., are sold in implementing it in their systems."

Back in Leary's classroom, Michaela Harpin said she was looking forward to continuing Spanish in the coming years.

"You really feel happy and strong when you get it right," Michaela said. "Next year we learn verbs. That's what I heard."