Iola High School senior Eli Adams discovered that sharing a language can bring people together.
Adams has been studying Spanish for three years and now serves an internship as an interpreter for three elementary school students who moved to Iola from Mexico.
“It’s given me a better understanding of how difficult it is for someone to come to a new country, especially little kids who have no idea of what’s going on,” Adams said. “They have to learn a whole new language and a new culture. It’s so tough for them.”
Each afternoon, from 1 to 3 p.m., Adams heads to Iola Elementary School to work with a first grade student, a fourth- grader and a fifth-grader.
He converses with them in Spanish, interprets homework and teaches them useful English words and phrases.
On Wednesday afternoon, Adams met with fourth- grader Daniel Torres and fifth-grader Christian Fuentes. Both were very shy but friendly, and looked to Adams for help when asked questions.
Daniel’s teacher at IES speaks a little Spanish, so school is a bit easier for him. He enjoys playing chess.
Christian said it’s easier for him to understand English than to speak it. When he’s not in school, he likes to ride his bicycle.
ADAMS took a Spanish class as a freshman at Iola High School simply because he thought it would be interesting to learn.
Turns out, he has a knack for languages.
During the 2020-21 school year, he got to know an exchange student from Germany. He enjoyed learning about that language and culture.
“I think language is really fascinating. You can speak to so many different people and learn about their lives,” Adams said.
His grandfather, Bob Hawk, also speaks Spanish.
“I would talk with him in Spanish and he inspired me to keep going.”
His mom, Cathy Adams, is a Title I teacher at IES. She saw the challenges Fuentes was facing at school as a fourth-grader last year, and wondered if Adams could help.
He thought it would be a good opportunity to practice what he’d learned in the classroom and got permission to spend an hour of his school day at IES during the last two or three months of the previous school year.
