Southampton Students Reaping The Benefits Of Having An Exchange Teacher From Spain

Southampton students will have a little help perfecting their Spanish this year with the arrival of a foreign exchange teacher from Spain as part of the International Spanish Academy program.Ismael Tharrats, 35, joined the district in October and will be working with students at all three schools to improve their conversational skills. He will be on hand through the rest of the school year, staying with several local families for the remainder of his visit.

A post-graduate Spanish literature student at Barcelona University, Mr. Tharrats came to the district through a grant program with the Spanish Education Ministry, which recently recognized the Southampton School District’s elementary and intermediate students in the dual language program. He will rotate among the schools, spending two weeks at a time in the intermediate school, two weeks in the high school, and every Monday at the elementary school.

“It is a good experience for me,” he said this week. “It is amazing, because the students here are lovely. I am excited to be here.”

Mr. Tharrats is one of only 27 participants in the program who have been placed in the United States, and one of only two in New York. A Barcelona native, Mr. Tharrats said he found his passion for teaching Spanish to non-native speakers later on in life, explaining that he first spent time as a journalist and studying political science.

Mr. Tharrats said that after he was notified he had won the grant, he was given one weekend to research the different American cities he could potentially be placed in. After a quick Google search, he was immediately attracted to the beauty of Southampton, and it was only after he signed up for the district that his friends told him about the history and allure of the Hamptons.

So far, Mr. Tharrats said he is impressed with the level of Spanish being spoken in the Southampton schools. He explained that before his arrival, students were speaking Spanish throughout the day, but always had the option to revert to English. However, now there is the chance that he will not understand some questions that the students try to ask in English, which will force them to keep trying in Spanish.

“The production of the language is the hardest,” he said. “And I think it is one of the reasons that I can help here. I don’t always know if I understand them if they speak to me in English, so they have to try and speak with me in Spanish. So it works.”

As part of his year here, Mr. Tharrats will be working to make students as fluent in his home language as possible by connecting them to parts of Spain not otherwise possible. Later this month, he has organized a Skype interview with a Spanish author so students can take their Spanish literature courses to a new level. He hopes later this year to stage a play in Spanish incorporating students from all three schools.

So far, Mr. Tharrats seems to be making a difference. This week, the director of the dual language program, Mary Jane Greenfield, said Mr. Tharrats is a wonderful addition to the district, and that the children’s language skills are already improving thanks to his presence.

“He is a very good fit, and we love having him here,” she said. “It is great to have someone from Spain that is a part of our district, so we were really lucky to get someone like Ismael.”

While in Southampton, Mr. Tharrats will rotate among four local families who have agreed to host him for two to three months each. Currently, he is staying with Sherryl and Wayne Bruyn. He will also stay for a spell with Regan and Anton Kiembock, Tim and Susan Rumph, and Dr. Charles and Diane Guida. Mr. Tharrats said he is looking forward to spending time with each family so he can see as many aspects of American culture as possible.

He has already experienced his first Halloween, attending several spooky events throughout the month of October. Now, he said, he is looking forward to his first Thanksgiving and seeing how Americans celebrate the holiday with friends and family.

“I think it is going to be a good thing to get to know a lot of families and their customs and traditions,” he said. “For me, this is a big part of the experience, the American way of living. I adore my family.”