Welcome to the Spanish Education Fund
Our Mission
Support the Eden Prairie Spanish immersion program, through sustainable funding, to host the best volunteer international Spanish speaking interns and provide other educational and cultural resources.
The Spanish Education Fund (SEF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2009. Our purpose is to raise money and recruit parent volunteers to support the International Teaching Intern Program at Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School (K-5), Central Middle School (6-8) and Eden Prairie High School (9-12).
Interns from Spanish speaking countries around the world assist teachers and students in classrooms at these schools, providing a unique educational resource that has proven to be extremely valuable to language acquisition, by bringing their language and cultures to life. As a result, students become more confident in their ability to communicate in Spanish and create connections to people and places outside of their own world.
In addition to fundraising, we work with school staff to review and select intern candidates, recruit host and buddy families for the interns from our parent community for the duration of their stay, collect donations of winter clothing, organize parent volunteers to provide transportation for interns, and many other things to ensure interns have a positive experience while in the U.S. gaining valuable experience in the field of education.
Why do we have interns?
Interns bring their languages and cultures to life, and as a result, students become more confident in their ability to communicate in Spanish across dialects.
Research indicates that native speakers are a best practice component to a successful immersion program. They model conversational Spanish and expose students to native pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. This cross-cultural exchange benefits both the students and the interns by creating a connection to people and places outside of their own world.
As a school community, we value hosting international interns so they can learn about American culture, improve their English, and gain valuable experience through their interactions with students, staff and host/buddy families. They are also an incredibly valuable asset to our teachers in the classrooms and beyond!