Kila School students are getting an ear for espanol.

Fifth-grade teacher Lydia Major teaches Spanish to students as part of an after school program she created. The program involves two six-week sessions, the first for kindergarten through fifth-graders and the second for fifth- through eighth-graders.

Major points to her ears, pronouncing the word for ears in Spanish, “las orejas.”

Students repeat in a boisterous chorus, “las orejas,” pointing to their ears.

Major moves to the eyes, “los ojos,” nose, “la nariz,” mouth, “la boca,” and other parts of the body before playing “Simon Says,” or in Spanish, “Simon Dice.”

The program grew out of a Spanish Club Major organized last year for interested fifth-graders in her class.

With two fluent Spanish-speaking teachers at Kila School it was a good opportunity for students who wanted to learn more of the language.

Major’s colleague, first- and second-grade teacher Amanda Aleman, began teaching Spanish to her students about six years ago. Both Major and Aleman have lived in Spanish-speaking countries. Major lived in Puerto Rico from the time she was 5 until she was 12, and her native language was Spanish.

Aleman, who has a degree in Spanish, married a Costa Rican and lived in that country for several years. She integrates Spanish in her classroom throughout the day, such as learning the days of the week, months or translating English words to Spanish from books they read.

“It’s a seamless integration. Things they are already learning [in English] they get in both languages,” Aleman said, noting that teaching Spanish often helps reinforce students’ understanding of the English language.

Major said she started the after-school program to offer all students a chance to learn another language. Both teachers agreed that bilingualism increases opportunities in education, travel and work.

“For me, it opened up many doors job-wise. My first job was working at Dillon Elementary School as a migrant translator,” Major said.

And there are Spanish roots in Montana, beginning with the state’s namesake, which is a variation of the Spanish pronunciation for “mountain.”

Many students in the after-school program said they participate because they hope to travel. Fourth-grader Kaya Fiedor is one of them.

“When I grow up I want to travel around the world and so I wanted to speak Spanish before I travel around the world ‘cause a lot of places speak Spanish,” Fiedor said.

Second-grader Trinity Allen also wants to travel, particularly to Puerto Rico, and fourth-grader Bridget Crowley wants to live in Puerto Rico. Crowley recently traveled to the country. To young students like Crowley, Spanish has another perk, “It’s like a secret language you can have with your friends,” she said.

Parent Kelly Paddock said the after-school program was her third-grade daughter’s first exposure to Spanish.

“It’s important to learn a second language,” Paddock said. “It opens up doors, makes more opportunities available.”

At home, Paddock also teaches her daughter some German she learned while serving in the military, while her daughter helps teach her Spanish.

“We’re trying. So I’m learning, too, because I know limited Spanish,” Paddock said.

Back in Major’s packed classroom, after they have reviewed and learned different body parts from the head to the legs, they sing a rendition of “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” for the first time.

Major has the benefit of seeing students throughout the school day and helps them practice.

“I see them at recess and lunch and we interact in Spanish. They don’t call me Mrs. Major anymore, they call me Senora Major,” she said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected].