Naval Avenue program thriving

in its second year.

At least two languages can be heard echoing throughout the halls of Naval Avenue Early Learning Center in West Bremerton as its Spanish-immersion program is now in its second year.

Kindergarten teachers Carmen Nickels and Hortensia West along with first-grade teacher Ana Avalos teach a total of 70 students. Next year, there should be even more as principal John Welsh said a second-grade class will be added.

“At the first of the year it was half English and half Spanish because we had some new students,” Avalos said. “By October, it was 80 percent Spanish and 20 percent English and by December it was 100 percent Spanish.”

Many of the students in Avalos’ class were taught by West last year as kindergartners and West said when her former students see her in the hallway or playground, only one language is spoken.

“They know I do not respond to English, so they speak Spanish to me and carry on a conversation,” West said.

Welsh said he often has students in the Spanish-immersion program respond to him in Spanish in the hallways, adding that several parents have expressed great appreciation for what their children are learning through the program, including some parents who are taking Spanish classes themselves.

“I’m a native speaker, so kids are learning it without an accent, which carries onto the next level,” West said, noting that several Spanish speakers have been impressed with the way students speak the language.

Each day her students demonstrate how much they’re learning through little things, West said, as she shared how her students collaborated to understand a story about a lion and a birthday, which was read entirely in Spanish.

“One student said, ‘I hear birthday,’ and then they all came together and figured out what I was saying,” West said.

For Nickels, the challenge is to find ways to get students to relate to things they’re learning by using pictures and other illustrative techniques.

“We work to make it part of the every day for kids,” Nickels said.

That every day often carries over to the playground and cafeteria where students speak Spanish to each other, and it’s even carried over to a birthday party, West added.

“One of my students had a birthday party and they sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in Spanish,” she said. “One of the things she said amazed her was, ‘I am going to be a Spanish teacher,’” West said.

Parents who want their children to participate in the Spanish-immersion program need to let the school district know as soon as possible, so enough classes can be made available next year, Welsh said, noting that one kindergarten class is already filled.

Interested parents can also visit Spanish-immersion classrooms on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays by e-mailing Bremerton School District Spanish program coordinator Sue Shipp at sueaship@comcast.net.