Members of the CC Enseña Club spend several hours a week teaching local elementary school students Spanish through hands-on activities, resulting in bonds and mentorships that go beyond teaching a language.
“Our purpose is to get kids excited about learning Spanish, teaching them some fundamentals in an interesting way that gets them engaged,” says Gabe Keller ’24, a Neuroscience major, Molecular Biology minor on the pre-med track, and one of the club’s three co-chairs. “Hopefully this opens them up to learning more Spanish in the future.”
The elementary school students are enrolled in the Spanish Club at their schools, and CC Enseña tutors travel to volunteer with those clubs at Steele Elementary School on Mondays and Wilson Elementary School on Tuesdays, teaching the students in their own classrooms.
“I was raised in a bilingual home, so I’ve always been passionate about developing my own understanding of Spanish and wanted to share that passion with others,” says co-chair and Neuroscience major Jeremy Lewis ’24. “I think working with kids is a lot more fun than people give it credit for and seeing our students grow has been one of the highlights of my college experience.”
The elementary school students who participate each week are usually the same, which allows CC students to form connections and bonds with the students beyond simply teaching them a language.
“If we are teaching them rote memorization of certain terms one week, we always like to have an application activity, so the students are able to feel engaged with the material,” says Keller. “Each lesson normally has anywhere between ten to twenty students show up, but the numbers can vary between weeks and schools. It’s really great seeing students return and continue to engage, and it makes you feel like you have a real impact on them.”
Co-chair Avery Bakewell ’24 discovered Enseña Club during a club fair in her first year at CC and she’s been heavily involved in the club ever since.
Working with them is really rewarding, and teaching is one of the easiest ways to contribute to the growth of our community. The U.S. is a culturally diverse place and being able to embrace foreign cultures is an important part of being a well-rounded, empathetic person. Clubs like ours help to make our community more culturally literate, and I take pride in cultivating that.”
Jeremy Lewis ’24
“There is a big part of me that wants to teach in a public school, and I love kids,” says Bakewell, a Sociology major. “Besides the fulfillment that comes with filling a crucial gap in the Spanish language and cultural curriculum of the school district, some of my favorite movements are the laughs. It’s so important to get into the community and share joy and learning in one classroom.”
The curriculum is a mix of lessons Enseña Club members have been using for years and newly designed material, all with the goal of both teaching students and ensuring they remain engaged and interested with the material. Club members recently started teaching students conjugation of Spanish verbs.
“We knew this would be a challenge to both teach these conjugations and get them to stick, so we planned a lesson that spanned a month focused solely on getting the students to not just memorize, but really understand the conjugations through games and activities,” says Keller. “Seeing the progress of that lesson and getting the students to grasp it was really rewarding. Not only did they know the conjugations we taught them, but they could also apply them to other verbs as well.”
The club is open to CC students who have an interest in teaching and a knowledge of basic Spanish. In addition to teaching the language, club members expose the elementary school students to the culture, including types of food, clothing, and sports, so tutors are not required to be fully fluent in Spanish.
“Forming relationships and seeing the growth of each student and their Spanish skills is a really unique feeling, and I’m incredibly grateful to have the opportunity through CC to engage with the community is this way,” Keller says. “I know there are a lot of CC students interested in education, language, or both, and this club is a fantastic opportunity to get real classroom exposure and see what it takes to teach elementary schoolers, with all the challenges that can come along with that.”
“Our kids love the program and they’re always eager to learn from us,” says Lewis. “Working with them is really rewarding, and teaching is one of the easiest ways to contribute to the growth of our community. The U.S. is a culturally diverse place and being able to embrace foreign cultures is an important part of being a well-rounded, empathetic person. Clubs like ours help to make our community more culturally literate, and I take pride in cultivating that.”
After joining Enseña last year, club member Emma Devlin ’25, an English major and Spanish minor, is considering a career in teaching.
“At one of the schools, I observed a student sitting by themself – seeming upset and anxious – so I sat with them, talked with them, and spent the next couple of visits getting to know them,” says Devlin. “I watched as they went from shy and reserved to more confident and friendly. At the other elementary school, I did the same thing with a student whose shyness had more to do with lack of academic confidence than social anxiety. This student eventually felt comfortable speaking up and asking for help. Both experiences made me realize how impactful a helping hand, a shove in the right direction, and a supportive guide can be. More importantly, these students taught me the value of patience, positivity, and curiosity.”
Devlin says that Enseña is an important club because it inspires language-learning, which is especially important in a society where Spanish is widely spoken.
“It broadens students’ global perspectives by teaching them about cultures different than their own or teaching some of these students more about their own familial cultures,” says Devlin. “To me, being a member of the Enseña Club means being both a teacher and a student, learning and mentoring concurrently; being someone who consciously practices patience, empathy, and adaptability; being a helpful and supportive co-leader; and being a selfless person who helps others without wanting something in return.”
Bakewell, Keller, and Lewis like to conduct hands-on training for new tutors, so new and potential members of the club are required to attend a few sessions with the elementary school students to observe until they feel confident in their ability to teach.
Club leaders work with Ryan Capp, Enseña partner teacher and principal of Steele Elementary School, and Nancy Huerta, last year’s Enseña partner teacher at Wilson Elementary School and an English-Language Learner teacher with Colorado Springs District 11, to ensure the elementary school students have the best experience possible. While club leaders design and teach the curriculum, Capp and Huerta are in the room during their respective club sessions and help facilitate activities.
“Ryan and Nancy are really passionate about exposing the kids to Spanish and allowing us to teach how we think is best,” Keller says.
“Students love coming to Enseña Club,” says Huerta, who is also a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education (CDLE) teacher. “They look forward to it and have fun. I have noticed that the students that come to Enseña Club are learning Spanish and now feel more comfortable hanging out at recess with the Spanish speaking students! Enseña Club is definitely making a difference at Wilson.”
“It’s important to provide students without access to Spanish lessons with an opportunity to engage in language learning,” says club member Chris Gruschow ’26, a Neuroscience major. “Language learning is most effective and important when we are young and Enseña offers a place for students to be off their devices and exercising their minds. Enseña also acts as a place for the students to socialize and feel connected before heading home for the day.”
One of Gruschow’s favorite moments of the club have been the conversations he’s had with some of the students.
“It broadens students’ global perspectives by teaching them about cultures different than their own or teaching some of these students more about their own familial cultures. To me, being a member of the Enseña Club means being both a teacher and a student, learning and mentoring concurrently.”
Emma Devlin ’25
“It’s fun to hear about the students’ hobbies, games they’ve invented, and any other topics they’re excited to talk about,” says Gruschow, who joined the Enseña Club last semester because he wanted to get more involved with the Colorado Springs community and to continue using the Spanish he had learned while studying abroad in Spain. “Enseña is an after-school program so the students are not always enthusiastic about learning more in their schooldays, but they become focused and competitive when games like Kahoot or Jeopardy are incorporated into the lessons.”
In addition to teaching elementary school students Spanish, Enseña members mentor and encourage the students in their other learning and activities, even watching school plays and celebrating other achievements.
One of Lewis’ favorite memories of the club is the yearly celebration, where Enseña members bring the elementary school students snacks to celebrate the learning they’ve done together. “It’s nice to reward them for working so hard and reflect as a class on how we’ve grown throughout the year,” he says. “These celebrations typically coincide with them finishing a final project of some kind, usually a poster or skit. They are always so excited to share their work with us and it’s awesome to see them take pride in their accomplishments.”
Interested in learning more about the Enseña Club? Contact co-chair Gabe Keller.