The Demopolis Rotary Club recently presented the Demopolis City Schools Foundation with $1,500 toward the 2013 Membership Campaign during a tour of Demopolis High School’s Foreign Language Department this May.

Rotary members heard about one of the Foundation’s Classroom Grants made this fall to the Spanish department. During classroom exercises, the students record their conversations in Spanish using digital records and then listen and transcribe what they hear.

This exercise helps the students improve their grammar and accent, both critical skills to developing a comfort level when speaking in a foreign language.

The grant also provided laptops, which allowed access to authentic materials from the target culture to show students practical cultural items in different contexts.

Grades improved from first semester to second semester once this technology was introduced, and the students’ confidence in speaking a new language improved as well.