For the past three years, college students majoring in Spanish at the University of South Carolina have been teaching English as a second language at Iglesia Hispa?a de la Comunidad (Hispanic Community Church) in Columbia.
Etelbina Jaurez, a native of Guatemala, receives a certificate of attendance from English-as-a-second-language instructor Matthew Street. Juan Carlos Martinez (background) is pastor of Iglesia Hispa?a de la Comunidad.While expertise in Spanish is not a requirement for teaching ESL, the church has been able to draw on the interest of Spanish students and an instructor to consistently offer the classes, said Robert Reese, a member of Shandon Baptist Church who volunteers at the Hispanic congregation.
Last year, Matthew Street, a Spanish-language faculty member at USC, and Maggie Smith, a Baptist Collegiate Ministry student, offered the class. A short-term eight-week course was extended to four months, and 18 Hispanic men and women participated.
The congregation at Iglesia Hispa?a de la Comunidad was formed as a new church start in 2006 and has been meeting at South Beltline Baptist Church, where Eric Bothur is pastor.