Classroom Champions: Librarian goes the extra mile to ensure students have access to books in their native language [Video]

RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) – The librarian at Clay Hill Elementary says she knows every one of the school’s nearly 200 students.

“When people ask me if I have any kids I always joke and say I have 180-something kids,” school librarian Ebonie Ervin says. “I love them dearly and I want to see them all succeed and have wonderful futures.”

But she says some of those students at the Ridgeville school only speak Spanish.

“We continuously get new Spanish-speaking students. Many of whom don’t speak any English at the start,” Ervin says.

She soon realized that these students did not have the same resources as the English-speaking students did.

“When we would have sustained silent reading in the library, there really wasn’t anything here for them,” Ervin says.

Saying when she realized the issue, there were only two Spanish books available for students. One of those is an English-to-Spanish dictionary, …