Although he recently retired from teaching Spanish at Poplar Bluff High School, Charley Harper is still helping local residents to learn a second language — in this case, English.
Harper continues to lead a class at Fellowship Church in Poplar Bluff that helps native Spanish speakers improve and expand their English speaking skills.
Harper has been bilingual in English and Spanish his whole life. He was born in Asuncion, Paraguay, as the son of medical missionaries with the Baptist church.
Growing up, his family would spend four years working in the South American nation followed by one year back in the United States before returning to the mission field.
“I went to third, seventh, and twelfth grades in Joplin, Missouri,” Harper said.
When he came to Poplar Bluff in the late 1980s, he said he was “longing for an opportunity to use my Spanish skills, but at that time, there were no Spanish speakers.”
About a decade later, Las Margaritas restaurant opened, and Harper took the opportunity to make new friends fluent in Spanish but in need of help to develop their English skills.
“We would sometimes have an English class in the morning before the restaurant opened,” Harper said.
Formal classes for the Spanish-speaking community began in 1997 at First Baptist Church, where Harper and his family attended at that time.
When his mother retired as a missionary and moved to Poplar Bluff in 2006, they began to attend Fellowship Church, and together, they continued to work with the Spanish-speaking community.
Language classes used to take place on Wednesday nights, where the student’s children took part in the children’s ministries offered at the same time.
The move to Mondays at 6:30 p.m. was spurred by the COVID pandemic and the work schedules of those currently participating in the class.
Harper says that for his students, although their ability to understand what others are saying in English is good, they want to improve their conversation skills and pronunciation.
“I’ve seen their confidence level grow,” Harper said, “along with their willingness to engage with others at the church and expand their friendship circle.”
As Harper is currently the only teacher, the church is seeking volunteers to help out with the class. No prior knowledge of Spanish is necessary, he says, just the willingness to speak and make new friends.
For more information or to volunteer, call Fellowship Church at 573-785-6981.