REIDSVILLE—Fourth grade Spanish immersion trainer Ana Herrera Castillo loves sharing about her native nation along with her college students at Bethany Elementary College in Reidsville. A local of Bogota, Colombia, Castillo wished to do extra than simply speak about South America with them; she wished to point out them.
“I need to have a classroom surroundings that invitations college students to study my nation,” Castillo stated.
Castillo created a cultural nook, which incorporates her nation’s flag; two dolls exhibiting the normal gown of her hometown; Colombian cash; conventional gown sneakers; the Colombian nationwide soccer staff jersey, as she’s an enormous soccer fan; footage of locations in her nation; replicas of archaeological artifacts; a mochila (conventional bag); a chiva (much like a bus used to move items); a sombrero vueltiao (conventional hat); and the normal video games – Rana and Cucunuba.
Persons are additionally studying…
“My college students like to work together with the show, particularly enjoying video games and enjoying with the garments when now we have indoor recess,” Castillo stated. “We now have additionally used the gadgets as artifacts for analysis, and so they have introduced gadgets with related meanings from their houses and households.”
Lots of the youngsters additionally love soccer, and the jersey has led them to speak about their favourite groups and gamers, the World Cup and the designs of assorted shirts.
Castillo teaches at Bethany by the SPLASH program, SPLASH is a time period for the Rockingham County College System’s Spanish Language Emersion Twin Enrollment program, which is presently in three faculties – Bethany Elementary, South Finish Elementary and Stoneville Elementary. Bethany has one SPLASH class in every grade degree. College students are accepted annually to fill one kindergarten class and stay in this system by fifth grade. All Rockingham County college students are eligible to use to this system
All the lecturers in Bethany’s SPLASH program are from Central and South American international locations and are employed to show for SPLASH by an organization in Chapel Hill referred to as Take part Studying. This firm finds lecturers who need to come to the U.S. to show on a particular work visa for 3 to 5 years.
Earlier than coming to the U.S. 4 years in the past, Castillo taught first grade at a global faculty with an English immersion program in Colombia, which means college students realized all topics in English.
A trainer for 12 years, Castillo is from a household of educators, as her mother, aunts, and one in every of her sisters are professors, and he or she and her different sister are faculty lecturers.
“I made a decision to embark on this journey to expertise a unique tradition and have interaction in instructional practices in a unique a part of the world,” Castillo stated of her determination to come back to the U.S. to show.
She teaches a Spanish immersion class at Bethany with 20 college students, speaking with them in her native tongue as they study studying, writing, math, social research and science in Spanish. College students even have an English language arts lesson every day.
Castillo taught kindergarten her first 12 months right here, second grade for the following two years and fourth grade this 12 months.
“What I take pleasure in essentially the most about being in fourth grade is that I’ve the prospect to show the scholars I had in second grade once more and see their progress and the way a lot they’ve grown,” she stated. “Fourth grade has additionally allowed me to study many issues I didn’t find out about North Carolina, which is a part of the curriculum.”
In her 4 years in North Carolina, Castillo has solely had the prospect to return to Colombia as soon as, partially due to the pandemic.
“What I miss most about my nation, in addition to my household and mates, is the number of fruits,” she stated.
She stated she might simply discover fruit hanging from the timber on the road in Colombia.
“What I like most about my neighborhood within the U.S. is that persons are very welcoming, and I don’t really feel like an outsider,” Castillo stated. “Everyone seems to be genuinely involved in figuring out extra about my nation and sharing what occurs right here.”
Castillo stated she doesn’t have any set plans for the longer term.
“If every thing goes nicely with my fiancé (who’s an American), we’d keep right here within the States or return house so he can expertise dwelling in my nation,” she stated. “We’ll see what the longer term holds.”
