“Rapido, rapido,” a tall boy says as he steps forward, urging the line of five other adolescents behind him to move quicker as they dance under the tree canopy at Booker T. Washington State Park.
Miles, 14, or “Maximo” as he’s known here, quickly crosses his feet back and forth over each other, mimicking another student’s lead.
The students are preparing for a skit, or a sketch, as it’s known in Spanish, as their week at Language South’s El Pueblo Spanish Camp winds down.
Though dancing, skits, crafts and games are all traditional summer camp activities, El Pueblo is a camp with a twist. Run by Language South and its founders, husband-and-wife team Teo and Emily Valdes, the camp is conducted entirely in Spanish, one of Chattanooga’s two language immersion camps taking place this summer.
“There’s no better way to learn a language,” said Emily Valdes, as her husband added, “Learning happens best when it takes place with ‘risas y sonrisas,'” or laughs and smiles.