Have you ever been interested in learning or freshening up your Spanish-speaking skills? After popular demand, the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library will offer Beginner Spanish classes beginning in January.
The classes will be instructed by Brian Hibbs, a professor of education at Dalton State College and the instructor for the existing ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) courses offered by the library. The class will focus on the building blocks for communication and provide fun, yet challenging, activities and exercises.
Rachael Perez, class coordinator, was inspired to create the program after noticing an opportunity to benefit the community multiculturally and cognitively. According to the University of North Georgia, learning a second language has been shown to improve memory, enhance listening skills and help foster intercultural relationships. Perez strives to promote connections and education of valuable life skills through programming. The Beginner Spanish and Beginner ESOL programs offer patrons the skills to bridge the gap within Dalton’s diverse communities through communication.
Perez hopes to grow the program by offering special events and collaborations.
She said, “I hope to see the Spanish classes grow and develop a new outlook on multicultural exchange like an international fair or mixers where Spanish and English students can come together to practice with one another. I hope the class expands in ways where we can offer more languages to the Dalton community.”
The program will be free and held twice a month. For more information on specific dates and times or to explore our catalog of books, video games and audio selections, check out ngrl.org or our social media, @DaltonGALibrary and @DaltonWhitfieldLibrary. Our operating hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday; you can reach us at (706) 876-1360.
Jessica Carrasco is the public relations coordinator for the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library.