LETS Play

LETS Play: Learn English Through Sports! Teaching Nashville's kids English through fun and play. L.E.T.S. Play builds language skills and confidence for students through sports while establishing lasting partnerships with schools and communities. L.E.T.S. Play uses students' excitement around sports, and in particular around soccer, to teach English in a structured environment to students. More than one in six Nashvillians now are foreign born, and about 25% of students in Metro Public Schools come from families that are not proficient in English. However, schools lack the resources needed to serve this number of ELL students. Additionally, the frequent trauma and gaps in schooling that these students have create additional barriers for students on top of the lack of language skills. Play, motivation, and exercise are shown to substantially impact learning outcomes overall. L.E.T.S. Play gives these students an outlet where they can continue improving their language skills while they play and exercise in a safe setting outside of school. Moreover, the experience and skills both in language and sports provide access to sports at school where they can find a place to belong and be challenged. With the use of a proprietary curriculum created by teachers trained at the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute and reevaluated through coursework at the Peabody School at Vanderbilt University, the program aims to improve student’s language and interpersonal skills, exercising and creating new relationships with peers that find themselves in a similar situation.