By Salem Chicago News Staff
Three years ago, Bridgeport middle school teacher James Okafor noticed his students lighting up during a single lesson on simple machines. That spark became Chicago’s first bilingual robotics club, run entirely in English and Spanish.
“I had kids who barely spoke in class suddenly explaining gear ratios to their friends in two languages,” Okafor said. “That told me something.”
The club now meets twice a week after school, building competition robots from donated parts and secondhand kits. Okafor translates every instruction sheet himself, and older students mentor younger ones across both languages.
Enrollment has grown from six students to more than forty, and the club recently placed in a regional youth robotics competition for the first time.
“Half these kids never saw themselves as ‘science kids,'” Okafor said. “Now some of them are talking about engineering school. That’s the whole point.”
Okafor said he’s applying for grant funding to expand the program to two additional South Side schools next year.
