Do you speak Spanish?

¿Habla Español?

If the answer is no, and you don't speak Spanish but want to learn, there is a new online resource to help.

The same goes if you're trying to learn English.

The Yuma Sun and its Spanish-language newspaper Bajo El Sol recently partnered up with the Somerton School District to create a special new venture in online language education.

“We thought as a border community it would be of interest and use to people on both sides of the border,” said Bajo El Sol Editor John Vaughn.

“It won't turn anyone in to a U.N. translator overnight,” Vaughn said. “We're just hoping it will be a resource ... a supplement to what they might be learning in school or classes.”

Vaughn said that when he took over the helm of Bajo El Sol, he was searching for ways to enhance the newspaper's presence.

“I wanted to make it more useful to everyone as a teaching tool for those wanting to learn Spanish.”

Rather than put additional print copies of the newspaper on the street and in classrooms, he said, “we decided it would be a good project for Bajo's website.”

Taking the project a step further, Spanish-speakers can also go to the Yuma Sun website to learn English.

The effort still is very much a work in progress, but check out www.YumaSun.com/learnspanish or www.BajoElSol.com/aprendaingles for what's available so far.

Two recent news stories - one about the city council in San Luis, Ariz., voting to raise utility rates and the other about decorated Yuma soldier Gabriel Garcia's visit to the White House - are posted on the websites in both English and Spanish, along with a list of vocabulary words and verb conjugations to assist people in translating them to the other language.

There also is a blog by Vaughn titled Mescal Moments, as well as a slideshow of photographs with descriptive words in both languages.

Most innovative of all, though, is a series of videos produced by the Somerton School District that serve as a tutorial for basic Spanish words and phrases and their English version.

Kim Seh, director of professional development for the Somerton School District, said the language- learning project “seemed like an excellent opportunity to collaborate. If we're able to help each other, it's a wonderful opportunity for the community ... it brings us a little closer.”

On one hand, the project provides another tool for children in the classroom and their parents in adult literacy programs in their efforts to learn English, Seh said. But it also can help those who want to learn Spanish.

Last fall, she put together a bilingual team from the school district that organized the video project, wrote scripts and practiced, then recorded the sessions using flip cameras the school district had purchased for its teacher professional development program.

So far, four of the eight videos that were completed have been posted online, dealing with such subjects as greetings and asking for directions.

“The production team took the concept and made it even better than I had envisioned,” Seh said.

This year, Seh is expanding the project, putting together three teams to produce the videos, with plans to make about 50 during the school year.

“Now that the core group has experience, we'll get more educators involved,” she said.

Some of the videos will target English-learner students to enforce what they're learning in the classroom. Others will target the adult community with instruction on such situations as how to ask to cash a paycheck at the bank.

“What's relevant to them at the moment,” she said. “We welcome requests from the public for certain topics. We hope to be of value to the community.”

LANGUAGE LEARNING ONLINE

* www.YumaSun.com/learnspanish

* www.BajoElSol.com/aprendaingles

HAVE FEEDBACK?

People with ideas or suggestions for the online language project may contact Janet Chasse at 539-6845 or jchasse@yumasun.com