Calling all parents, have you ever wanted to learn Spanish?
Next term the College is offering an eight-week language course to parents for just $50.
Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the world, after English, and is used in over 40 countries.
Head of Languages at the College, Suzanne Richards, believes the benefits of learning a new language for both adolescents and adults are endless.
“Learning a language is a great asset to have, when you travel or to gain greater career opportunities by having that extra skill over other – and it looks great on any resume,” she said.
Ms Richards who lived in Spain as a teen and studied the local dialect, wants to share her passion with as many parents from the College as she can.
“I want to get parents excited about learning another language and to experience the benefits for themselves,” she said.
“As well as being useful for travel, studies have shown that learning a foreign language is good for brain health, sharpening the memory and delaying onset diseases like Alzheimer’s.
“For school students, it helps them to develop a deeper understanding of English, because it gets them critically thinking about grammar and literacy and making those linguistic connections. So it’s not just the acquisition of knowledge, but actually applying it.”
College Alumnus, James McPherson, who studied Spanish in year 11 said he enjoyed learning the language because it gave him a break from doing the basics like English and Math.
“With those subjects, you always know what you’re going to be learning, with Maths you know you’ll be doing things with numbers,” he said.
“But with Spanish, it’s always something different. One day it could be grammar or counting, the next you could be learning the words to a song or Geography, its great.”
In eight weeks parents can expect to learn basic conversational Spanish like greetings, family titles, colours, counting to 100 and essential phrases that would be useful when dining out or travelling around a Spanish speaking country.
The course also aims to introduce parents to new learning platforms, some of which the students are using in the classroom.
Ms Richards believes that the initiative is also a good way for parents to connect and socialise.
“We’ve been offering the eight-week course to parents for three years now and we’ve had really good feedback over this time,” she said.
“Parents can come along and learn a new skill, get to know one another and potentially connect with their sons on a new level by learning together.
“I’ve had many students tell me that because their mum or dad came to the class they are now studying more because they have someone to converse with and quiz them at home.”
“I think it’s a nice connection for the students to have with their parents, it makes learning fun again.”
The course is open to all parents from the College and will begin in Term 2 on Wednesday, May 8 from 6.30pm to 8pm.
For more information email srichards@waverley.nsw.edu.au.
