STARKVILLE — By the time Jack Fountain is in his mid-30s, a period generally considered the most productive years of a person’s life, his country will be a much-different place than it is today.
Researchers say that at the current pace, Hispanics will become the majority in the U.S. by 2040, which means more than half of the population will speak Spanish. Those who don’t speak Spanish will find themselves in a minority and likely facing a competitive disadvantage.
So, against the backdrop of that looming reality, Jack Fountain is learning Spanish at the Tuanis Spanish Academy in Starkville this summer.
Of course, Jack doesn’t realize that learning Spanish may some day be an essential component to success.
He is only six years old, after all.
“He just thinks it’s fun,” said his mom, Amy. “We came last week for the first time and stayed for just part of the class. He didn’t want to leave.”
For school founder and teacher Argen Loáisiga, fun is an essential part of the school, which is open to children ages 4-12.
“We have structured our program on research that tells us that children learn best when they are active and not passive,” Loáisiga said. “That means we use the senses of touch, sound, sight. The idea is that children are doing fun things. It’s very much hands-on learning. We sing. We dance. We have puppet shows and crafts and games. The children really seem to love it.”
The Academy features two classrooms. In one classroom, students use music to learn vocabulary, incorporating movements and dances. In the other room, students learn by using crafts, games and puzzles.
Everything in the rooms has labels that provide the Spanish name for the item. The songs used each day are chosen specifically for the day’s vocabulary work. The classes are limited to six or seven children, which Loáisiga’s research indicates is the ideal number of children.
The school opened last September, the result of a meeting between Loáisiga and Ricardo Inzunza, a businessman and consultant who relocated from California a few years ago.
“We met through a mutual friend,” Loáisiga said. “He was looking for ways to help raise awareness of the Hispanic culture and history, and I wanted to teach Spanish. So we started talking about opening a school.”
The school operates out of Inzunza’s business at 206 E. Lampkin St. in Starkville.
Loáisiga moved to Starkville from Nicaragua with her family about eight years ago. While earning her Master’s Degree in Foreign Language at Mississippi State University, she taught Spanish at MSU. Later, she taught Spanish at Starkville High School.
But when the opportunity came to open her own school, she jumped at the chance.
“I have always been a teacher,” said Loáisiga, who taught high school math and international business and marketing on the college level in Managua, Nicaragua. “The opportunity to start a school for children really appealed to me.”
On Monday, Jack Fountain attended his first class. He sat cross-legged on the floor as the children formed a circle. Loáisiga turned on the music and the children began to sing, using the hand gestures they had learned in previous classes:
“Hola! Hola!
Como esta? Como esta?
Muy bien! Muy bien!
Gracias! Gracias!
E tu? E tu?
Jack watches the other children carefully, mimicking their hand gestures.
When the song ends, Loáisiga brags about what a great job the children did, then turns the song on again.
This time, Jack has the hand gestures down. The song is repeated twice more and Jack is not only doing the hand gestures but singing the Spanish words confidently.
On this day, the children sing four songs, including the final song, which the children danced to. Each song is repeated three to four times.
Then it was off to the crafts room, where the children used shapes to make construction paper houses. The children are instructed in Spanish on the names of the shapes and colors.
Jack is getting a bit of a head start on classes.
“Really, we had planned to enroll him in the summer program, but once he visited the first time, he wanted to come right away and Mrs. Loáisiga said that would be fine.”
The summer program, which begins Tuesday, includes four two-week programs with classes running from 10 a.m. until noon or 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. There are also a pair of four-week Saturday classes during the summer, which run from 1-3 p.m.
Amy Fountain said she isn’t sure she will enroll Jack in the regular classes, which are conducted as an after-school program that follows the school calendar. Those classes run from 3:30 p.m. until 5 and children can sign up to attend one, two or three days per week.
“There are so many extracurricular activities that we would like Jack to take part in,” Amy said. “So we’re not sure. As far as learning Spanish, what we really like about this school is that it exposes him to new cultures and ideas but if he really likes it and wants to keep going, we’ll see.
“It would be wonderful for Jack to learn a second language, but these classes are great for him even if he doesn’t master Spanish,” she added.
Amy grew up in South Louisiana and began taking French lessons in kindergarten and was taught French throughout elementary school and high school.
“I just think it’s really important,” she said. “I know with budget cuts schools are facing, a lot of things are being cut and foreign language is a part of that. So these kind of schools really are important. I do believe language is a part of a well-rounded education.”
While Jack is just getting started, Tuanis is part of the routine for Lily and Joseph Schauwecker, who have attended the school three days a week since the school opened last fall.
“I teach Spanish at (Mississippi University for Women),” said their mom, Erinn Holloway Schauwecker. “Learning a second language is really important to my husband and I. My philosophy about learning a language is start early, stay long. So we wanted to start early with our children.”
Lily, 7, and Joseph, 5, speak Spanish fluently in class and have become positive influences on newcomers like Jack. Loáisiga said Lily and Joseph are on track with the goal of the two-year program.
“Our goals for the program is that by the end of the first, they can understand a speak the language” Loáisiga said. “Then, in the second year, they write and read.”
Even mom, who teaches college Spanish, is impressed.
“They are actually a little farther along that I expected,” she said. “And they really do love it, which is a tribute to Argen. She’s a wonderful teacher, very patient and nurturing but also disciplined. She keeps the kids focused, which isn’t always easy to do with children that age.”
Loáisiga said that while learning a second language has obvious benefits in a world that is becoming more and more multi-lingual, the process involved in learning a language helps students in other areas, too.
“It really is a big part in developing critical thinking,” she said. “Studies show that learning a language helps students in match, reading and many other areas.”
For more information on Tuanis Spanish Academy, including information on its summer programs, call 662-722-0730 or visit the school’s website at http://tsa.riaint.com
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