After years of taking Spanish classes in middle school, high school and abroad at the University of Salamanca, I have had five different teachers, classroom environments and experiences and have realized that there are many ways to teach a foreign language. The Spanish Clubhouse, however, has an even more unique and, quite honestly, refreshing teaching style than anything I had seen before. Unlike the worksheets and vocabulary quizzes that you most likely remember when you flashback to hours trapped at a desk, listening to your high school or college Spanish professor ramble on in a language you didn’t quite grasp yet, the Spanish Clubhouse for Kids focuses on just that, how to make learning a language appealing to kids. So, try to erase your less-than-fond memories of tests and memorization and think about how kids would want to learn a foreign language: by having fun! The Spanish Clubhouse uses interactive songs, games and crafts to seamlessly integrate learning Spanish with fun. The students often don’t even recognize how much they are learning just by being exposed to Spanish. In fact, last week one parent said, “I didn’t even realize how much Spanish my daughter was learning until out of the blue she started singing Spanish songs at home.”
The combination of the small classes, which allow each student an abundance of one on one time with the teachers, and the interactive lessons make the Spanish Clubhouse the ideal way to learn a language. I wish I had learned Spanish through songs and games at the Spanish Clubhouse rather than through hours of textbooks and memorization. But don’t just take my word for how much fun the students have; on the last day of class of the 2018 school year, one of the students ran up to give his teacher a big hug and then turned to his mom and said, “I hope we sign up for Spanish classes here next year!” Marissa Y