The dozen preschool children sitting in Moniqua Acosta's classroom at the Child Prodigy Learning Center held their hands high in the air, counting from one to 10.
"Uno, dos, tres ... diez," the children screamed, slowly revealing all 10 fingers.
While many of the 3- and 4-year-olds are still learning their colors and numbers in their native English language, others have started to learn the Spanish counterparts. Even though Spanish is not part of the preschool curriculum, Ms. Acosta, 23, has added it at the day-care center about once a week.

While there is a growing population of Hispanics entering the United States, highlighting the need for more Spanish speakers, Ms. Acosta said she really believes English-speaking youngsters should learn Spanish because it's easier for them to learn and will get their brains thinking in different ways.

She said children can pick up the language faster because they haven't identified everything in English, making it easier to teach them the name of an object in English and Spanish.

"Adults have already labeled everything. To them a tree is a tree. But to a 3-year-old, they don't have names for everything. For them they are learning in code," she said. "Right now they are like sponges, and they can soak all of this up very easily."
Children didn't have too much trouble remembering past lessons, although their attention often wandered.

"What color is this?" Ms. Acosta asked, pointing to the light blue wall.
"Blue," said Jacquez Morton, 4. "I mean, azul. I forgot."

With a growing population of Hispanics in South Carolina, Julio Romero, a local advocate for Hispanics, said children who don't learn the language will be left behind.
"In some cities in the United States you have to know Spanish to get around," he said. "There are more job opportunities if you can speak it, and it's best to do it now when kids don't have any mental blocks."

According to the 2000 Census, 3,087 Hispanics lived in Aiken County and 407 in Edgefield County. There were more than 92,000 in the state. In Georgia, there were more than 429,000, with more than 5,600 in Richmond County.

Elaine Lacy, an associate professor of history at University of South Carolina Aiken, coordinated a study on the impact of a growing Hispanic community. She said speaking Spanish will be a necessity in the future.

"People here have a preventive attitude and don't want to learn the language, but this group of immigrants will not assimilate like they have in the past because it is easier to get around speaking Spanish," she said. "They can bank in Spanish and they live with other Spanish speakers. They aren't going home and if we don't incorporate them, they will be a permanent under-class."

Reach Peter G. Gilchrist at (803) 648-1395