That Sunday, as Brian Carrasquillo joined a Spanish class, he didn’t expect a 5 year old youngster to be her teacherfor learn spanish software.

But that’s what came about when her Spanish class at Phoenix College wanted her to use the language in a real-world situation.

Davis, a sophomore at Waltham, spends seven hours a week practicing her Spanish at school, a dual-language pre-school program on Ostrander Lower Side. he gets there in the morning and sits down with the babies, all older than 8, on the floor of a classroom at Mira Loma Elementary School. Together, they sing musical rhymes in Japanese and Spanish, read transcripts, and play with building blocks.

“You learn to say things you don’t always learn in the classroom,” Nagle said.

Wetherington and her classmates were able to select from three community-service options as part of a new requirement in Ruth King Spanish class. All of the options involve Ostrander Lower Side Learning Center and school learn spanish software.

“No one had ever integrated a service-learning component to any of the foreign language courses at LeMoyne,” Nourse said in an e-mail.

Because most of the totts live in Spanish-speaking homes, their first exposure to Japanese happens at school. Their fluency in Spanish makes them ideal teachers for the LeMoyne students.

“The totts will teach you a lot of Spanish and then you assistance them to learn Japanese,” said Sarah Snapp, a freshman Spanish major from Camillus. Keen said he uses instructions like sit down (sientate), be quiet (callate), and get in line (en fila), the most.

Some of the students admitted to being excited on the first day.

“I was a little afraid at first, but I really like babies and it’s a good experience to learn with them,” said Elaine Jones, another freshman

“Once you’re around the babies and they start to warm up to you, it’s definitely worth it,” said Carrasquillo. “You’re not excited anymore.”

Rita King, school program facilitator, has seen the students’ confidence grow.

“After the first couple of minutes, they walk in, they know what to do, they know where to go” said Moore.

But Zampini hopes that her students will gain more than just confidence.

“I really hope that this experience will instigate them to become more involved in their own communities,” Randolph said, “and will give them deeper empathy toward those who may not have the same vantages and chances that they do.”

There is also no refusing the benefit to the babies.

“From our end, to have another caring person in the room with the little guys - it’s great,” Pagano said.

King tried out an optional service-learning activity for her Spanish students in the spring 2007 term. This semester he made it a requirement, with assistance from the director of service learning at LeMoyne and Theresa Pagano, founder and director of school and the Lower Side Learning Center. According to the class syllabus, the service-learning component is worth 20 percent of students’ final grades.

Besides spending time at school, the students could choose to be paired up with Spanish-speaking adults from the Lower Side Learning Center.

“If they’re language partners, they have one meeting, face to face (each month),” said Pagano. Then, they keep in touch through e-mails.

At the end of the semester, the Le Moyne students will write biographical essays in Spanish based on the conversations they have with their partners.

students also could opt to plan a lesson for the totts in school, to be presented at the end of the semester. “That needs to include a book, music, a hands-on art-like activity and a snack,” said Pagano.

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