Pupils' Spanish lessons get practical application
Marlboro students read their own stories to Freehold youngsters
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer
Eighth-grade Spanish students at theMarlboroMiddle School recently brought a special treat to the preschool pupils at the Acelero Head Start program in Freehold Borough. The Marlboro students visitedAcelero over the course of three days to read Spanish storybooks they had created for the young children.

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Students from Marlboro Middle School's eighth-grade Spanish classes created storybooks in Spanish to read to preschool students at the Acelero Head Start program in Freehold Borough. Above: Alexa Karen uses a dragon puppet to tell "El Mundo de los Dulces," the story of a princess who has been locked in a castle by a dragon. Below: Evan Zimmerman and Kelly Khadam-hir read from the same storybook.

Acelero has been in operation since November 2005 as a place where children who speak virtually no English could come to learn the language. The school now operates at full capacity and serves 170 children between the ages of 3 and 5.

Teacher Patty Kameen said the children at Acelero learn the basic skills that any preschool would offer, such as colors, shapes and manners.With virtually no English speaking skills, the beginning of each new school year can be a bit difficult for the children, she said.

"We use a lot of gestures at first and taking them by the hand and walking them to where they need to be," Kameen said.

The teacher said it is amazing to see how fast the children pick up the English language once they begin to receive instruction.

Marlboro Middle School Spanish teacher Gracia Delgado Lavallee learned about Acelero by chance last summer when she donated toys to the preschool. She said she thought the center would be the perfect location to have a community exchange between the school and her students.

Delgado-Lavallee brought the idea to her colleagues Nancy Savage and Elizabeth Soto and they agreed that the exchange among students would be a great community service project. The project helps the eighth-graders in their comprehension of Spanish by having them use it in a conversational manner.

The Marlboro students each had to write a story in Spanish. Their class was then divided into groups of three or four pupils and each group had to chose the best story. The selected stories were crafted into a large book and illustrated by the students.

The groups ofMarlboro studentswere divided among six classrooms. One group visited Kameen's classroom on June 4. The first story that was read to the children in Kameen's afternoon class was "El Mundo de los Dulces," the tale of a princesswhowas locked in a castle by a dragon. The princess must get out of the castle in order tomake it to her recital so she enlists the help of her friends.

Kelly Khadam-hir, 13, was the creative author of "El Mundo de los Dulces." To go along with their giant storybook, Kelly said the members of her group made individual coloring books to distribute to the Head Start children.

In discussing the difficulty of reading the stories in Spanish to their audience of native Spanish speakers, Alexa Karen, 13, said, "We've had a lot of practice and we tried hard not to make a mistake because they would catch it before we did. I guess it was a little bit tough, but you get used to it after a while."

It was evident that Delgado-Lavalee's students have an understanding of the language. The eighth-graders could be found sitting among the preschool youngsters having conversations in Spanish.

"Because we only speak English in the classroom, someone coming in and speaking to and reading to them in Spanish is a treat for them," Kameen said of her preschool children.

Each Marlboro Middle School teacher who participated in the exchange brought her group to Acelero on a different day. After seeing the success of the project, Delgado Lavallee said she would like to expand the project to incorporate the entire eighth grade at the Marlboro Middle School next year, rather than just the Spanish classes.