ESL Classes Boost Literacy For Native Speakers
Spanish Class for Spanish Speakers began last month during a new trimester at the West Ottawa Holland school. It’s the first time the course has offered it, but the idea is catching on at some local high schools with high Hispanic enrollments. Similar classes were introduced last year at Holland High, Wyoming Park High and Lee High in the Godfrey Lee district.
The trend started 30 years ago in the southwestern U.S. and is spreading as Spanish-speaking populations grow. About 8 percent of Kent County and 6 percent of Ottawa County residents speak Spanish at home. West Ottawa’s class is taught by Victor Perez, an English as a Second Language teacher and the sole native Spanish speaker in the district’s foreign language department.
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