Se habla español' is routine for these elementary school students
In a classroom at Halethorpe Elementary School, Eileen Freed was polling her fourth-grade students on what they like to do. When she said nadar, the Spanish word for "to swim," she moved her arms as if she was swimming. When she said cantar, the Spanish word for "to sing," she and her students held out the second "a."
The gestures and mimicking the Spanish teacher provided helped illustrate what the Spanish words mean.
During the lesson, Freed spoke mostly in Spanish, as she had since the first day she met with the students, at the beginning of the school year. The one time she spoke in English was when she was giving out prizes at the end of the lesson.
"They really do get it," she said. "It might take them a minute, but that's where the learning starts, it's when they're figuring it out."
Freed is one of 12 Spanish teachers in Baltimore County Public Schools' Passport Program, the school system's second language acquisition initiative. In place since the 2014 school year, the program was designed to teach Spanish at an earlier age.
Brian Schiffer, the school system's director of social science, fine arts and world languages, said there are opportunity gaps for those who don't know a second language, including access to fewer scholarships and lower potential earnings.
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