Spanish lessons offered this summer

Thursday, May 2, 2013
Patty Keene of McCook, Nebraska, a native of Chile, plans Spanish lessons this summer at the Carnegie Library, next door to the Museum of the High Plains at 413 Norris Avenue, in downtown McCook. This is the third summer that Patty has offered Spanish lessons as a fun summer-time fund-raiser for the Carnegie and the High Plains Museum. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Chile native Patty Keene of McCook, Nebraska, plans two classes of beginning Spanish lessons this summer, one session for adults and a second session that an adult can share with a child.

Patty, who believes that people learn better when they're having fun, promises "no homework, no tests, no stress."

Patty says, "It's great to have Spanish as a second language. And it's easier to learn Spanish than it is English as a second language."

Patty will teach the basics of Spanish: Pronunciation, punctuation, conjugation of verbs, how to form a simple phrase, "in a fun way. I can't promise that you'll be bilingual in 12 classes, but you are going to know the basics."

Kids will learn through songs, games, rhymes and flash cards. The adults will learn more grammar. "It'll be more than memorization," Patty said.

She said, too, that these classes will develop a "wonderful headstart" to language learning on CD or tapes, or online.

Patty's adult-only classes will be Saturday mornings through June, July and August. Her adult-children classes -- perfect for a parent and a child, a grandparent and a grandchild -- will be Monday mornings during the same summer months. The charge for all 12 adult classes is $100. The charge for the adult/child classes are $100 for an adult and $50 per child. All of the classes will be in the historic Carnegie Library in the High Plains Museum complex at 413 Norris Avenue in downtown McCook.

Patty said a "make-up" class can be arranged if a student misses a class or two because of summer activities.

No experience in Spanish is required.

"The only requirement is a willingness to learn something new, and an open mind," Patty said.

Patty donates each student's registration fee to the Carnegie Library and High Plains Museum; her goal, as a fund-raiser for the two entities, is $1,000, or at least 10 students.

Registration is open now and will run through the end of May; class fees can be paid at registration or at the first class.

Call Patty at (308) 345-2862 (she has a bilingual answering machine); or Linda Hedges, (308) 340-1000.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: