By Keith Griffin
The hills will be alive with the sound of Spanish come the first two weeks of August at the Farmington Valley YMCA’s Spanish Immersion Camp.
The program, the brainchild of Marcy Yanus, executive director, Farmington Valley Family YMCA, is geared towards both Spanish speaking children and those who want to learn Spanish while having fun at summer camp. The camp counselors are four college-age students from Spain.
Campers, who can range from entering kindergarten to eighth grade in the fall, will start their week off with a mixture of Spanish and English. By the end of five days, the entire camp experience will be conducted in Spanish.
“We decided we would test the waters to see if there was a desire to have more language opportunities,” said Yanus. “We’ve gotten a good response.” The program can serve up to 50 campers; currently it is only at 25% capacity but the camp will go on even with that low level of participation. “Because no one else is doing this, we know it’s going to take time to catch on,” she added.
“We’re going to teach them through games, songs and activities,” said Yanus, who is a fluent Spanish speaker. (She spent a college year abroad in Valencia, Spain, and is raising her children bilingually.) The counselors who are coming are a mixture of business and early education students.
The immersion camp will be offered at two locations: Camp Chase (Burlington) : Aug. 6 to 10 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Camp Farmington Valley (Granby) : Aug. 13 to 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The cost is $295 per week – the same price as a standard week. Discounts are available for two weeks. To register child(ren) call (860) 653-5524 or go to the Farmington Valley YMCA website and follow the links for Spanish Immersion camp.