The City of Homer Community Recreation is providing several new classes for the fall schedule.
Hilda Caraballo will offer a beginner and intermediate Spanish course. This class officially begins on Sept. 4 but interested participants can register after the first day of class. The beginner course will take place Monday and Wednesday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and the intermediate course will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Caraballo, originally from Valencia, Venezuela, moved to Homer when she got married in 1991. She has been teaching Spanish through Community Recreation for 34 years. Originally, she wrote her own language book for the adult course but pointed out in a conversation with the Homer News that many of the features of the book became obsolete as travel changed with internet services. For example, there was a chapter in the book about going to a travel agency to purchase plane tickets — a travel need that doesn’t exist anymore.
In 2000, she also provided Spanish classes through the Kachemak Bay Campus, but since then many of the students have opted to take language courses online.
Caraballo has a teaching degree from education in Venezuela and a master’s degree in adult education. In addition to Spanish courses, she has also worked as a substitute teacher, mostly in Homer’s middle and high schools but also in the community of Voznesenka. She stopped teaching in the public schools during COVID but Community Recreation Director Mike Illg encouraged her to begin offering Spanish courses and she decided to try them again.
Caraballo said both courses being offered this fall will focus on basic communication skills but the beginner course will focus mainly on present-tense verbs while the intermediate will also cover past and future tense and will include more grammar.
Other courses being offered in October are several jewelry-making classes with Art Koeninger. His courses will include intro to silversmithing, lost wax casting and intermediate silversmithing.
To register for these classes online, visit the Community Recreation website at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/com-rec to create an account or stop by the office in person, located in the Homer High School. A full calendar of events offered is also available on the website and include a variety of athletic activities at various gyms in the community.
