Some 20 Sycamore kids bettered their German vocabulary February 21 with a free lesson taught by Claremont High School students.

The lesson was part of Structured Program for the Acquisition of German in the U.S.-Resources and Know-How, or SPARK for German, a joint project by the American Association of Teachers of German and Goethe-Institut.

Sycamore student Grace Hibbard, left, learns German from Claremont High’s Dylan Ortiz at the February 21 SPARK for German event. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

The concept is simple: for one hour on select Fridays, fourth, fifth and sixth graders learn German through games and hands-on activities. Students at last week’s session learned the seasons, numbers and months, did a coloring activity, played bingo and a ball tossing game meant to help children to say their birthday month, and ran egg-and-spoon races with a seasonal twist.

CHS sophomores Eve Englebert, Isa Garcia, Tara Neemuchwala, Rion Kanatsu and junior Dylan Ortiz designed and led the lessons, which are part of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme Personal Project and CHS German Club.

“I thought it was a really great way to help kids learn languages really early because language is something that can definitely help you like mentally and it’s really good to be bilingual,” Tara said. “I think it’s really good for the students to get introduced to the language so that they’re accustomed to hearing different languages so when they go into the middle school, when they go into the high school, it’ll be easier for them to — even if they don’t pick German — to pick another language.”

(L-R) Sycamore’s Om Ghayal and Grace Hibbard, learn German from CHS sophomore Isa Garcia. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

“I know elementary schools don’t have specific language classes, so I wanted to be able to expose them more to different cultures,” Rion added.

Asked about the program’s benefits, the volunteers named enhancing one’s worldview and cultural exposure and building student’s brain pathways to learn another language.

“It’s getting harder and harder to get away with just knowing one singular language that … kind of locks you in your own little zone,” Dylan said. “And German, since Germany is like starting to lead the [European Union] and European affairs, is going to become much more important, especially if these kids want to go into stuff like engineering and … more scientific STEM fields.”

The student teachers said it’s not just the elementary kids who benefit. They said they gain volunteer experience, are able to give back to their community, and feel a sense of fulfillment knowing they’re passing on knowledge.

“It’s something that I definitely wish I had done when I was in elementary school because I think it would have been really cool,” Tara said. “I think it’ll be very helpful for them in the future.”

The next SPARK for German lesson at Sycamore will take place Friday, March 7. Condit Elementary will be the next stop for the student volunteers. For more information, visit goethe.de/us.