Mar 10, 2020 2 min read

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“Comment allez-vous? Bien gracias, y usted? Molto bene, grazie.”

Asking how one is doing and the response that one is doing well are the basics of any language, and middle school students have been studying French, Spanish, Italian and Latin since November at Citizens Library, 55 S. College St., Washington.

The pupils have been attending weekly classes taught by Dr. Dominick DeFilippis, a retired professor of modern languages and cultures.

“Because of their age, the students pick up the language easily,” De Filippis said in a news release from the library. “It’s nothing short of a miracle as the brain figures out and masters the grammar.

“We should begin teaching languages in elementary school. With this age group, there is no need to teach concepts overtly like the future or past tense.”

New students are still being accepted, and a Spanish class will start in April, when DeFilippis will also offer a six-week “French for Travelers” course.

On Tuesday evenings, Thomas Tedrow, an instructor in French and Italian at Bethlehem-Center High School, is teaching language to adults.

The classes and free, and anyone wanting to take the course should call the library at 724-222-2400 to sign up.

DeFilippis also plans to offer French and Spanish classes to interested teens this summer at the library.

Those who don’t have the time to attend classes can enroll in on-line courses offered by the library. Mango languages (mangolanguages.com) is an online language course that is available free of charge to those who have a library card.