VENTURA : Pen Pals Meet for Language, Understanding

Ventura High School Spanish teacher Aline Grossman instructed her students to exchange letters with Spanish-speaking children to help the teen-agers overcome Latino stereotypes.

And her idea seems to have worked.

When the two groups met for the first time Monday, many seemed more aware of their similarities than their differences.

Ventura High sophomore Robert Napolitano gave his pen pal, 10-year-old Jesus Silva, a framed baseball card and some chewing gum for Christmas, along with a word of caution.

“Make sure you chew it at home,” 15-year-old Robert said. “I don’t want your teachers to get (upset).”

Then the older boy shared even more of his hard-earned wisdom. “You’ll really like high school,” he said.

“It’s so much better than fifth grade.”

Robert and Jesus met at a party in Grossman’s classroom, one of five get-togethers the teacher held throughout the day for her five Spanish classes and their young pen pals from Will Rogers School in Ventura.

The two groups have been writing letters back and forth this fall in a program to enhance the high school students’ cultural sensitivity and Spanish proficiency.

The children from Will Rogers are in bilingual classes and many are native Spanish speakers just learning English.

Some of the children, who are in second through fifth grades, wrote their letters in English. But many others penned their missives in Spanish, taxing the knowledge of the high school students.

As ninth-grader Rachel Cirricione said: “I had to use my dictionary a lot.”

The younger children also benefit from the letters, getting a thrill from corresponding with older students, teachers said.

Some children even have pictures of their pen pals taped to their school desks.

Mary Perez, a fifth-grader with deeply dimpled cheeks, said she liked having ninth-grader Sarah Schwan as a pen pal because “usually I only have friends my age.”

And 14-year-old Sarah said the enjoyment was mutual. “It’s kind of fun to have someone look up to you.”