Thumbing through a Spanish-English dictionary, looking for the right word and hoping she can pronounce it correctly was the only way Tammy McCurley could attempt to communicate with Spanish-speaking students in her class.

But now, the fifth-grade teacher is taking a bigger step – to learn the basic Spanish words and phrases she needs.

&#8220I felt I needed to do something to make them feel comfortable,” she said.

McCurley is one of 25 Vicksburg Warren School District teachers in Vivian Velazquez’s twice-a-week Spanish class, which began Wednesday.

The class is one of two offered by the district to overcome the language barrier between the increasing population of Hispanic students and the mostly English-speaking teachers. The other class, taught by Spanish and English teacher and language tutor Olivia Foshee, has 22 teachers enrolled.

Superintendent Dr. James Price decided the classes were necessary to fill the language gap. He said the district has grown from having 44 Hispanic students last year to about 160 this year.

&#8220We kept seeing the Hispanic population increase last year in the district,” he said. &#8220To communicate with them, we have to learn Spanish. We have to learn enough of the language to bridge the gap.”

He asked Velazquez, who has taught Spanish at Vicksburg High School for 15 years, to come up with a curriculum. The class will be taught until December and again during the spring semester.

&#8220The teachers are not able to communicate,” she said. &#8220I hope this will help them be able to help children on a day-to-day basis.”

Price said the first step with educating any child is for the teacher to achieve a comfort level with the student. The children are learning English, but a bridge is needed.

&#8220Not only through respect, but they also have to have faith in the teacher,” he said. &#8220If there is a language barrier, that’s hard to achieve. We need to let the child know that we’re making an effort.”

In her introduction, Velazquez told the teachers they would learn Spanish the way children learn their own language.

&#8220Monkey see, monkey do,” she said. &#8220It takes a while for the students to learn English, so we have to take a while to learn Spanish.”

Sit, stand, turn around, jump – these were some of the Spanish commands Velazquez gave while simultaneously performing the action. Without realizing they were learning Spanish, the teachers responded with their actions.

With her hand firmly planted on a table in the library at Dana Road, where the teachers will meet every Wednesday and Thursday after school, Velazquez said, &#8220Toquen la mesa.”

The room full of teachers repeated her movements and touched the table.

Chair, door, computer, wall, floor, chalkboard, trash can – these were some of the Spanish words the teachers absorbed through their repetition.

After the one-hour class, Zabraida Flowers, a third-grade teacher at Warrenton Elementary, said she believes the class will be beneficial.

&#8220It’s very interesting and she made it fun,” she said of the technique Velazquez uses, called TPR or total physical response.

Although participating teachers are given continuing education units through Hinds Community College for taking the class, McCurley said most of the teachers didn’t know that before signing up. Each school in the district was allotted five spots, meaning five teachers, for the class. Price said he was surprised by the amount of interest he had from teachers. In fact, some had to be turned away.

&#8220It filled up the first 5 minutes after (the principal) told us,” she said. &#8220It’s great. We’ll have three or four people at our school who will know some kind of Spanish.”

Velazquez hopes the class will be something that is well received and continues and one that gets results.

&#8220I hope this will make the children feel comfortable – that’s what we’re aiming for,” she said. &#8220The point is not why they are here, but how are we going to solve the problem. We need to help these people so they can do better and help provide for our society.”

Price said he is eager to see the results of the class.

&#8220We have high expectations,” he said. &#8220Together we’ll make this work.”