Nancy Edmonds Hanson

The kindergarten and first grade classrooms at Ellen Hopkins Elementary School have had helping hands for the past two years. Thanks to the school’s Parent Teacher Advisory Council, credentialed elementary education teachers whose first language is Spanish have been interns in the school’s Spanish Immersion Program, perfecting their own English skills by spending a year helping the youngest local students learn Spanish.

It’s the latest innovation in the Moorhead School District’s acclaimed program to enable local students to function as fluently in the Spanish language as in their native English. Established some 20 years ago with a only a few classrooms, the acclaimed program has grown until, this year, it includes two or three full classrooms of children moving ahead grade by grade. Kindergarten through fourth grade are housed at Hopkins, where it has been all along; fifth- and sixth-graders attend Horizon Middle School West. About 300 boys and girls are participating.

During their school year here, the interns – all graduates of foreign universities with degrees in elementary education – are hosted by local families, just as younger exchange students are during their stays abroad. Recruiting interns has proven not to be a problem, says Jessica Rieniets, the instructional coach who has worked with Spanish Immersion for the past 15 years. But finding families willing to share their homes with the 20- to 25-year-old exchange teachers throughout the school year – that’s the challenge.

“We are hoping to have three interns for 2020-2021,” Rieniets says. “We had three lined up this year but could only accept two of them because we didn’t have enough host families.”

Like the young man and woman from Spain who are currently helping the program, next year’s recruits will divide their time among the youngest students, splitting their schedules between kindergarten and first grade. “That’s where we definitely can welcome more adult support. It’s almost like having a second teacher in those classrooms.”

The interns pay their own fees and transportation to come to Moorhead for their year at Ellen Hopkins. They are unpaid, but receive monthly stipends of $200 from the Hopkins PTAC. “It’s obviously not enough to maintain their own apartments, and of course they don’t have cars,” Rieniets points out.

Host families provide a private bedroom and at least shared bathroom facilities, as well as meals. Transportation needs to be accessible. “That could be school or city buses or getting rides from family members,” she says. One family has provided a car for their guest’s use, but that is not a requirement.

“People who have hosted our interns love it,” Rieniets says. “They quickly become almost part of the family.” While hosts have taken on their guests for the whole school year, she says one semester could also work out if a second home could be found.

The idea to add native Spanish speakers to supplement professional teachers emerged from the PTAC, according to Rieniets. The school works with a California-based Amity Institute, the 66-year-old program – founded by a couple from Eau Claire, Wisconsin –.provides exchange programs that work toward the goal of building international friendship and cultural understanding through teaching exchange.

Families and couples who are interested in hosting next year’s interns can find out more about the international program at www.amity.org. To learn more about the Moorhead program and hosting opportunities, email jrieniets@moorheadschools.org.