The exercises were called out in Spanish: Salta! Corre! Da una vuelta! (Jump! Run! Turn Around!). Along with games and songs, the exercises are some of the techniques used in the school's after-school Spanish lessons.

Dayton Oaks is one of roughly a dozen county elementary schools that offer after-school language classes organized by the PTA.

Howard County schools begin offering foreign language instruction in middle school, but many parents feel that approach misses the critical years of language development.

Marianne Ross, who coordinated Elkridge Elementary School's after-school Spanish program and sends her son to its classes, sees a steadily growing interest in Spanish language instruction among the school's parents. She also feels there's a growing need for foreign language, especially Spanish, to be introduced earlier.

"They (parents) see the changing demographic and they see the need for us to be multilingual or bilingual at least," Ross said. "For kids, it's going to be essential to know another language when they grow up. And Spanish seems to be very universal."

At each of the schools offering the program, the PTA hires private companies to conduct the classes, which are funded by fees paid by participating students.

Chris Doherty, co-founder of Learning Language Foundation and instructor of the Dayton Oaks students, echoed Ross' sentiment.

"Picking up a foreign language in middle school is a shame because we're missing a big opportunity when the child's brain is most accepting of language," he said.

A similar company, Small Talk, conducts after-school classes in Spanish and German at 12 county schools, including Elkridge, Bollman Bridge and Clemens Crossing. Tina Sauer, who owns Small Talk, said she's seen a clear uptick in business at Howard County schools since her company began offering classes at Hammond Elementary six years ago.

"The best age is between 5 and 10 to introduce a second language, according to research," Sauer said. "I've talked to middle school teachers and they can see a big difference between our children and ones that haven't had previous language training."

Both Doherty's and Sauer's businesses use interactive activities, including games and puppets, to engage youngsters in learning Spanish. In the Dayton Oaks class, Doherty used a multicolored ball to teach his students the Spanish words for throw, roll and bounce. They also played a game of "four corners" using the Spanish words for colors and numbers.

Dayton Oaks fifth-grader Michael Stillwell said he enjoys learning Spanish and is glad that he can greet the Latino employees at his favorite McDonalds with "Como estas?" (How are you?).

Although they've received many requests for foreign language instruction at the elementary level, Howard County school officials say adding the program would be too costly.

"We would love to extend our world language program into the elementary schools, but the cost to do so is prohibitive," school system spokeswoman Patti Caplan said.

So, for the meantime, companies such as Doherty's and Sauer's are experiencing growing demand for Spanish lessons as well as other languages.

At Dayton Oaks, parent Debbie Subera-Wiggin hopes to see Mandarin added to the language lineup.