Labour MP Paula Sherriff did the hokey cokey – in Spanish – at a language class for babies and toddlers.
Good sport Paula put her left leg in, her left leg out as she joined the Lingotot class at Christ the King Church in Mirfield.
The Dewsbury MP – just nominated as MP of the year – also sang along to a Spanish version of The Wheels on the Bus – Las Ruedas del Autobús.
With less than two weeks to go to the European Union referendum – and Britain’s in-out vote – Paula learned more about the ins and outs of teaching Spanish to tots.
Language teacher Amy Gumbrell launched the classes in April and mums and tots – some as young as 10-months-old – meet up to learn the lingo and have fun.
Former secondary school teacher Amy, 34, of Overton, ducked the politics of the referendum and said what she was doing was certainly unusual.
“When I say I teach Spanish to babies and toddlers the most common reaction is: ‘But they don’t speak English yet!’” said Amy.
“But for me that’s brilliant because it means they haven’t learned any bad habits, and the children don’t have any inhibitions.”
Amy has the local franchise for Lingotots which took off after languages became compulsory from the age of seven in primary schools in 2014.
“Language for children is one thing but for babies and toddlers it’s a complete new world,” said Amy. “There’s a lot of intrigue about it but word is getting round that it’s not something crazy.
“Learning another language is brilliant for problem solving and cognitive behaviour.”
Youngsters and their parents sing along and play games in the same way they would at any playgroup – except most of it is in Spanish.
WATCH: The Wheels On The Bus in Spanish
“The use of Spanish is growing and has taken over from French in schools and German is on the way out,” said Amy.
“We have a lot of movement of people in Europe and for business and commerce and, of course, holidays Spanish is very important.”
Paula – on the EU ‘in’ side – learned French at a young age and said it was vital youngsters learned a language.
“It’s huge,” she said. “Often when we go to France or Spain we expect people to speak English but it’s nice to speak the local language yourself.
“I am able to speak French when I go to Brussels and I was in China last week and picked up a couple of words.”
Sally Montier, of Mirfield, brought two-year-old Luka and 10-month-old Sebastien to the class for the first time and both loved it.
“My mum and dad live in Spain and speak Spanish so I thought it would be nice if the boys could speak it too,” said Sally.
“There was some disagreement about whether it was a good thing to learn a second language so early but Luka picks up language so quickly. Children are like sponges.”
Classes are held at Christ the King in Stocks Bank Road on Fridays from 12.30pm-1.30pm.
