"Sevastopol Spanish classes Have bi-lingual instructor" from the October 10, 1967 Door County Advocate
By FRANCES BADTKE
GRACIELA DUARTE MORA is helping with the Spanish instruction at Sevastopol high school and this is her last week in Door county. She is shown above with the first graders and also the Everett Roberts family, with whom she has made her home while at the school. In front are Tina and Julie Roberts. Back, Dana, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, Graciela and Melissa Jane. Graciela was sponsored by the PTA group at Sevastopol.
—Harmann
Sevastopol Spanish classes Have bi-lingual instructor
By FRANCES BADTKE
Enjoying her stay in Door county (but not our cold weather) is Graciela Duarte Mora from Colombia, South America. She is 22, dark eyed and most attractive.
This is the last week of her six-weeks stay at the Everett Roberts home on R. 2, which has been sponsored by the Sevastopol PTA. She has been attending classes at the school as well as assisting with the Spanish classes, from the first grade on up to high school seniors.
Graciela has been helping with the proper pronunciation and accent on the Spanish words. She has found that English does not have some of the sounds used in Spanish and these are what give Americans difficulty in the correct inflection and pronunciation of the Spanish language.
In addition to her help with Spanish she has been studying bookkeeping, home economics, record keeping and shorthand. She has made a dress for herself of which she is very proud and is working on another.
Graciela's home town is Bucaramanga in Columbia and she had completed the equivalent of high school and two years of junior college before coming here. Before arriving in Sevastopol she had worked in Washington for three months doing typing and office work.
Arrangements were made for her trip through the Amity Institute of California and its Center Colombo Americano. The director of the center took care of her travel arrangements and housing while here.
She finds our weather cold, for her native town has an average of 80 and 85 degrees the year round, with frost and snow virtually unknown except in the mountains. They have no seasons there such as we know them and fresh flowers and vegetables are to be found in abundance all year round.
Graciela come from a large family and is the sixth of ten children. Her father has a factory which manufactures oil filters and her two oldest brothers are also employed there.
Coming from a large family she has enjoyed her stay with the Roberts family and their four children.
Her favorite foods are tortillas and tamales and the Spanish class at Sevastopol last week made tortillas the way they are made in South America. Graciela, however, is quick to point out that she does not do a great deal of cooking since they have maids in their home to take care of these tasks.
She has enjoyed eating strawberries while here since Colombia is too warm to grow this delicious berry. They do grow a lot of coffee in Colombia and drink it in small cups and black. "It's the best coffee in the world," says Graciela, who also had a chance to sample some of her "home brew" at the recent World Food Fair in Madison.
She went on the school bus to Madison with the Roberts and other students and FFA members and enjoyed seeing the foods from many countries.
She has had a chance to get acquainted with our school system while here and has ridden the school bus home at night with the Roberts children, who enjoy very much having her visit them.
In South America she is able to watch some of the TV programs in Spanish which she can enjoy here in English. The picture is the same but the sound track is changed to Spanish for South American viewing of such television shows as Bewitched, Peyton Place, the Fugitive, and the Beverly Hillbillies.
Her hobby is photography and she has taken many color pictures while in this country. Every week she sends home more pictures.
Before coming to Door county she had taken advantage of the bus pass which enables to travel as much and anywhere she likes in this country for 99 days for $99. This offer is open only to foreign students by the Greyhound company. She has already visited Newport, Chicago, Washington, Boston and Denver and would like to go to Mexico and Canada before returning home to South America in December.
She started speaking English in March of this year after having had previous classroom work and study. Graciela remarked that "The most difficult part of English is the pronunciation. Everyone says words differently. Isn't the English crazy? It doesn't follow rules of grammar and the same letters are pronounced in so many different ways."
In spite of her short acquaintance with English; Graciela is doing very well and has a delightful accent.
She has dated some while here but found that American boys "like to park." Graciela explained that in Colombia this is not generally done and "only maids park." Her boy friend is a chemical engineer in Colombia and works for a petroleum company.
The Roberts family has greatly enjoyed having her in their home during her stay in the county and she has been able to experience living with an "average" family and getting a much truer picture of our home life than would otherwise be possible. Mr. Roberts is the vo-ag instructor at Sevastopol high school.
The PTA at Sevastopol sponsored her and she has helped three hours a day with Spanish classes at the school, helping greatly to increase the students' awareness of how Spanish is really spoken.
Next week she will be on her way again and she will be missed by the many friends she has made while here.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
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