TAMPA, Fla. — A school in Seminole recently opened to help immerse students into the Spanish language.

The school’s founder, Anabel Feliu West, says Spanish can be difficult to learn at an older age so she’s teaching children as young as 4 years old.

West says she starts by teaching children the simple things, like the numbers and colors.

“If they learn younger, everything they hear they repeat and reproduce and believe it or not, it’s a storage in their brain,” said West.

Before opening the school, West was a teacher teaching Spanish. But she realized children weren’t retaining what they learned. It’s why she opened her own school where children could be surrounded by the language.

West says the material they use is all in Spanish, too.

“We work with a company called Santijana and they provide us with the instruments to teach them all in Spanish.”

But the school doesn’t just focus on the educational aspect either. They also immerse students in extracurricular activities like cooking and piano, all communicated through Spanish.

West says being from Argentina, she wants her school to connect the children to different countries, as well as teach them that everybody communicates similarly.

“This is important to tell our kids that we are in a different country, but our roots are from other,” said West.

All the lessons are taught by Spanish-speaking teachers. West says it’s a way to ensure students are learning by hearing.

“Learning a second language is not just part of a subject, it’s more than that.”

West hopes once the students learn a new language, they’ll then teach others.

Other extracurricular activities will be added in March.1