MLB: Latin American baseball players get an English immersion - latimes.com

MLB: Latin American baseball players get an English immersion - latimes.com: ...With a routine that is part pedagogy, part performance art, Lynette Nadal begins drumming the table loudly while shouting the alphabet in a sing-song cadence, three letters at a time. Instantly the men, minor league ballplayers from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico, join in, dancing in their chairs and pounding the table in a staccato beat while repeating the letters back to her.

Welcome to the Florida Marlins' first week of introductory English, an exercise nearly as important as batting practice and fielding drills for any Latin American prospect hoping to make his mark in the major leagues.

'For nearly all the players who make it to the big leagues, there's such a strong correlation between their educational level, how well they speak English and their accomplishments on the big league level,' says Nadal, who has been teaching baseball players for more than 20 years.