Buenos Dias! Habla Espanol?

Have you ever wanted to speak Spanish? Well, this month is your opportunity to begin learning! Spanish classes will begin Thursday, September 6th. Annette Royal will be teaching Spanish classes on Thursdays at 6:45 in the activity center.

Originally from South Texas, Annette Royal lives with her family in Lawrenceville. While she never dreamed of being a Spanish teacher, it’s obvious she loves people and when you meet her, it’s easy to see how teaching found her. With a bilingual up-brining, creative communication skills, and bubbly personality, Annette Royal is a natural-born teacher.

“I was born and raised in South Texas, "The Valley" is what people call the cluster of little towns that border Mexico and the U.S. Spanish is EVERYone’s first language there. Teaching Spanish was the last thing I thought I would ever do. My dream was to become an RN and help as many people as possible. But along came prince charming knocking on my door and I now have 3 kids and a wonderful husband.”

“Four years ago when my oldest son AJ started to attend preschool, I noticed that he would not understand or speak any of the Spanish that he had picked up from me. I started to wonder why this was happening. AJ was spending the majority of his time around English speaking people and loosing his Spanish. I then decided to leave work and stay home with my child. In search of supplementing our income, I started to teach my nieces and nephews Spanish, then came other children.”

Annette teaches at preschools, after-school programs, tutoring, and summer camps. But she loves to teach adults as well. In fact, she conducts conversational Spanish sessions at local coffee shops for adults where the topics range from entertainment to politics.

“Over the years I have learned that teaching another language can be very challenging, yet very simple. The key to learning Spanish is "baby steps" literally. Kids learn with songs, pictures, games, and crafts. It’s repetition, repetition, repetition. I teach adults the same way I teach children. In my class, you need to bring a big smile, good attitude and a sense of humor, because you will sing, and dance lots of silly songs that will help you learn Spanish.

So I say to you my friends; Hola = Hello, Adios = Goodbye. Spanish is fun so give it a try! Hope to see you in Spanish class!”

Annette has all kinds of fun activities designed to help beginning students grasp the basics of this romance language. Don't forget to sign up for classes in the Activity Center!