Special mystery readers ‘visit’ Boulder Hill Elementary Dual Language students

For the past few years, the students in the first, second and third grade Dual Language program at Boulder Hill Elementary School have participated in a letter exchange pen pal program with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) students from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. This year, due to COVID, the program made adjustments and the university students were remote mystery readers in several of the first and second grade classrooms.

The SHPE students read Spanish books to the young language learners and shared their majors and tips on how to be successful in a remote learning environment. The purpose of the pen pal program is to elevate the Spanish language of the Dual Language students as well as to inspire the students to attend college through the positive interaction with the college students.

“A huge thank you to our pals for continuing to inspire our little learners,” said Zenaida Lopez, first grade Dual Language teacher at Boulder Hill Elementary School.