Educational Partnership Teaches Bilingual Skills through Play

Beechwood Elementary School children will partner with University students to perform short skits about healthy living as part of the third edition of Reading to Play, Playing to Read.

Students enrolled in upper-level Spanish classes with Dr. Lucia Osa-Melero, assistant professor in the Department of Modern Languages, and adjunct lecturer Carmen Alicia Martínez, taught the 5 to 8-year-old children, recent immigrants from Mexico, about exercise and nutrition through lesson plans and games conducted in Spanish.

The children—who were broken into smaller groups led by a University student—will present a series of short skits that will reflect their new knowledge on Tuesday, April 11, at 5 p.m. in Room 609 of Libermann Hall.

Reading to Play, Playing to Read is part of a collaboration between Duquesne and Casa San José, an afterschool program that links Latino neighbors with service providers in their communities to welcome them and promote integration.

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) named the Reading to Play program a Globally Engaged Program 2017 at the annual ACTFL conference in Boston in November.

The event is free and open to the public.