Mimi's Place is a favorite play space for many moms and little ones in Old Lyme. Step into the little cottage at the Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau these days, and you just might hear toddlers chattering in Spanish.
Most parents in town associate LYSB with play groups, which bring together families, starting with infants, according to Mary Seidner, LYSB director.
“These play groups are very popular, with moms, grandparents, dads, caregivers,” Seidner said. “They are where a lot of people meet their first friends in town and make life-long friendships.”
Seidner credits Sarah Celic, an Old Lyme mother who has participated in the play groups since her twin boys were born, for coming to LYSB with her request.
“I wanted to get my boys exposed to Spanish now so that they can potentially gain some basic fundamentals or, at the very least, become comfortable with the idea that English is not the only language out there,” said Celic, who regretted not learning Spanish as a student. She studied French, but seldom used it.
Lyme and Old Lyme public schools currently introduce children to Spanish in second grade. Donna Hurley, a former kindergarten teacher in Old Lyme, teaches a half hour of Spanish each week to students at Lyme Consolidated School and Mile Creek School.
LYSB’s answer has been to offer Spanish language immersion play groups for children age 2 and older and their parent or caregiver. The groups are led by Ivette Font, a former elementary school teacher in Puerto Rico. She moved to the United States 14 years ago.
“We wanted to have a group where the adults stayed and learned along with the children,” Seidner said. “We didn’t want the parents or caregivers to drop them off and leave. The adult is learning as well and taking home handouts to reinforce the words.”
Font has designed the classes to fit with the age, developmental level, and skills of toddlers, taking into consideration sensory and motor skills, as well as the attention spans of 2- and 3-year-olds. Her approach is to follow a simplified version of kindergarten-level Spanish with the little ones, helping them learn colors, numbers, and the names of objects.
“They don’t spend too much time sitting down at this stage, so we do a lot of different things,” she said. “We have a theme for each week: colors, numbers, shapes, animals, parts of the body, food. These are the things I want to teach them at this age, as well as alphabet and vowel sounds.”
The children recite nursery rhythms and songs in Spanish and learn how to describe the day’s weather. They toss colorful balls, calling out the colors with Font.
For each class, she decorates items around Mimi’s Place with colorful Spanish language placards: “las tijeras” for scissors, “el piso” for floor, “la puerta” for door, and “los libros” for books.
The Wednesday morning group quickly filled up, so LYSB set up a Thursday morning session. Each runs for one hour, for 10 weeks, including a light snack, for $120 for one child and an adult. A second child, age 2 and up, is $60. Parents are asked to provide a beverage for their child.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Jennifer O’Brien of Old Lyme, who has signed up for the classes with her 2-year-old daughter, Abby.
“It’s really nice; we’re both getting to learn some Spanish,” said Diane Denison of Old Lyme, mother of 3-year-old Bridget.
After attending two sessions with 3-year-old Alexandra Kelsey, Sylvia Diaz, an au pair from Colombia, who recently arrived in the United States, said she could already see the class helping her and the little girl communicate together in Spanish. Alexandra is the daughter of Marcy Withington and David Kelsey of Old Lyme.
Marie Toro-Vices, from Ecuador, who cares for 3-year-old Eli Brown, the son of Diane and David Brown of Lyme, agreed, adding that Font’s weekly handouts help her focus on building Spanish vocabulary words with him.
Celic said she wants to capitalize on a second language for her children while they are younger and it is easier for them to pick it up. When she was in school, languages weren’t offered until seventh grade and were only electives in high school.
“Granted, I have two high-energy 3-year-olds who don’t have the greatest attention span yet, but I do believe they are benefiting in some way and we are certainly having fun in the process,” she said.
In designing the program, LYSB talked with Hurley, who contributed materials for the courses, and other Lyme-Old Lyme language teachers and the Multicultural Magnet School in New London. It took a few months of networking to find the right person to lead the group, Seidner said.
“Ivette was exactly who we were hoping to find. Someone with education experience, who loves working with children,” she said. “I think it has worked out better than we could have hoped.”
Font and her family came to Connecticut last year when Pfizer transferred her husband, Roberto E. Guzman, a veterinarian who works in research pathology and toxicology, from Michigan. They have settled in Westbrook, where their two sons, 13-year-old Roberto Jr. and 11-year-old Emmanuel Guzman, attend Westbrook Middle School.
“I love working with the children,” Font said. “We have a lot of fun together.”
Both LYSB and Font are up for adding more Spanish play group sessions if there is enough community interest. Seidner and Arleen Sharp, LYSB parent educator, encourage parents to bring forward their requests and needs for children from infants to teens.
“We’re always open to trying new things here,” Seidner said. “The needs of the community are always changing, especially when it comes to older kids, and LYSB wants to adapt when we see a need in the community.”
For more information, go to www.lysb.org.