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Gifts bring foreign language education to area schoolchildren

Lee Ann Pignet and Valerie Mumm (pictured below, l-r), both UW-Eau Claire Spanish education majors, received stipends through the UW-Eau Claire Foundation's Janke Early Childhood Spanish Education Fund for their work in the pilot Spanish in the Schools program. Following the success of the pilot program, Spanish in the Schools was expanded for the 2003-04 school year with additional support through the Foundation from individuals and parent-teacher organizations. The support for Spanish in the Schools is one of several gifts that have benefited UW-Eau Claire's foreign languages department.

Q&A with Valerie Mumm and Lee Ann Pignet:

Background information: Valerie Mumm and Lee Ann Pignet are both in their fifth year at UW-Eau Claire as Spanish education majors. Valerie is from Tomah, Wis., and Lee Ann is from Mukwonago, Wis. Both have been resident assistants in university residence halls and are members of Sigma Delta Pi, the Spanish honor society. From January through May 2003, they created a curriculum for and provided Spanish education to second-graders at Meadowview Elementary School through the Spanish in the Schools program. They received a stipend from the UW-Eau Claire Foundation’s Janke Early Childhood Spanish Education Fund for their work in the program at Meadowview. Valerie and Lee Ann also worked together to create and implement the Hands-on Spanish summer camp in Eau Claire, for which they received additional Foundation funding.

Our postgraduation goals: We plan to go to Peru after finishing our teaching internships in January. In Peru we will teach English through an organization called Amity Institute. After Peru, we plan to come back to the states to look for full-time teaching positions. Lee Ann also plans to pursue her master’s degree, either in education or Spanish.

How donors’ generosity has made a difference in our lives: The Janke Early Childhood Spanish Education Fund not only allowed for many young second-graders at Meadowview to experience the Spanish language, but it gave us the experience and encouragement to begin our own project, Hands-On Spanish. This opportunity gave us the inspiration to write a grant through UW-Eau Claire’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs — which we received — and now 50 students in the Eau Claire area have experienced a Spanish language immersion program!

What we’d like to tell our benefactors: Your donations MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Because of your generosity, Eau Claire elementary students are beginning to learn about another language and culture, student teachers are gaining more experience with foreign language education, and the world is becoming a more culturally aware and accepting place.