A True Immersion Experience for Windom Students in Puerto Rico

It’s one thing to learn how to ask the price of an apple in Spanish. It’s another thing to actually ask the question of a food vendor in Puerto Rico. 

In the early hours of Thursday, nearly 70 fourth and fifth graders from and Emerson Spanish Immersion Learning Center, along with chaperones from both schools, will board planes bound for Puerto Rico.

Windom’s students, about half of whom speak Spanish as a first language with the other half now fluent in Spanish after several years at the immersion school, will put their skills to the test with a week-long real life immersion experience in Puerto Rico. 

Lucilla Yira, principal at Windom, is originally from Puerto Rico. The trip, which will cover the whole island over seven days, was her idea. A former Spanish teacher at St. Paul’s Harding High School, Yira led a group of 30 high school students on a trip to Puerto Rico 10 years ago. She said she still hears from some of those students about how that trip changed their lives. Yira expects a similar outcome with her young students at Windom, noting that while the students participate in a daily immersion setting at school, many have never had the opportunity for an authentic cultural experience such as this one.

“There are students who have never gone on an airplane, students who’ve never seen an ocean,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for travel and learning.”

During their time in Puerto Rico, the fourth and fifth grade students will attend three hours of summer school each day, allowing them to interact with Puerto Rican students and experience a Puerto Rican school firsthand. They will also explore the island, learning about the customs, culture and food. 

Yira said a total of 88 individuals will make the trip, including six staff members from Windom, six from Emerson and eight parents. 

Colleen Simmons is one of the eight. The parent of triplet fourth grade girls at Windom, who are all making the trip, and the chair of Minnesota Advocates for Immersion Network (MAIN)–Parents, Simmons sees this adventure as an important step in her children’s learning. While all three are fluent in Spanish, they don’t have much opportunity to use the language outside of school. In Puerto Rico, they’ll be able to apply what they’ve learned in an authentic setting. 

“If you don’t go, you don’t see the value,” Simmons said.

One of the reasons fifth grade teacher Jason Schnobrich chose to go on the trip is to see just that. 

“I really wanted to see my kids in action,” Schnobrich said. “It will be really exciting to see how they interact when they come across a street vendor or when they go to the store.” 

This is the first time such a trip has been taken by a Minneapolis public elementary school, but if all goes as planned it won’t be the last. Windom and Emerson having been working closely with the school they will be visiting in San Juan to develop an ongoing exchange program. The plan is for Windom and Emerson students to visit Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rican students visit Windom and Emerson, on alternating years.

“This is the first of many,” Jason Schnobrich said. “That’s the hope.”