School may be out for summer, but for one West Orange educator, the learning is just beginning. Washington Elementary School's fifth grade teacher Christopher Yonitch will travel to Peru in the summer to learn Spanish and immerse himself in Peruvian culture. 

"Washington School has a very strong Latin American population … and we want to try and bridge the gap between the teachers and the parents," said Yonitch, who won a $2,000 Learning and Leadership Grant from the NEA Foundation to travel to Peru. 

Yonitch, 34, will stay in Cuzco, Peru for two weeks in August and live with a host family. Through ECELA, a language immersion program, Yonitch will take four-hour Spanish classes with one hour of one-on-one tutoring.

While learning the language, though, Yonitch also hopes to pick up on Peruvian culture. 

"Too often parents don't feel like they are welcome in the program because of the language barrier, but I think it's more of a cultural barrier," said Yonitch.

"We have to make sure they get informed when they go to school, we want to try to increase our enrollment at PTA meetings, so I choose Peru because of those Latin American students, I would say 50 percent of the population is Peruvian."

Yonitch said he's "excited" to finally visit the country so many of his students come from. Aside from the two-week immersion program, Yonitch will also be observing classrooms and teaching methods in Cuzco. 

"When I come back here and when I have to speak to the parents, it will make me more comfortable," he said. 

Yonitch grew up in West Orange but now resides in Livingston. He has been teaching at Washington School for eight years. 

The NEA Foundation gives two types of grants: Student Achievement Grants for initiatives to improve academic achievement, and Learning & Leadership Grants for high-quality professional development. Since 1999, the NEA Foundation has funded 61 grants for New Jersey educators. For more information visit neafoundation.org.