"At Your Service" Newspaper Column

 

Michael R. Milam

Agronomy Specialist and County Program Director

For Daily Dunklin Democrat-At Your Service

October 03, 2007

Conversational Spanish for Educators scheduled

            The Dunklin County University of Missouri Extension Council is sponsoring a six-week course in Conversational Spanish. The dates for the class are October 18 and 25; November 1, 8, 15, and 20. All of the sessions will be at the Dunklin County Library in Kennett from 6-8 p.m. These classes are on Thursday evenings with the exception of the last class which will be on Tuesday because of Thanksgiving. The cost of this course will be $30 per person and this fee will include a Spanish-English Dictionary. Checks are made payable to Dunklin County Extension.

In 2005, there was a 36 percent increase in migrant farm workers in Dunklin County. Many of them speak little English, requiring the use of other laborers to translate communications from the producers to these workers. With the increase of Latino workers in the gins, there is a real need for Spanish language programming. The interest in having classes for those needing some Spanish language resources came out of the needs identification for the plan of work process and calls from individuals requesting information. We also learned that educators had a need for Spanish because they had students whose parents often spoke little English.

This is the third time that the Dunklin County University of Missouri Extension Center is offering a Conservational Spanish class to the public. Agricultural producers and ginners were the original target audience; however, we learned that others in the community had an interest in improving their language skills. Since we have had several educators involved in the first two classes, we saw that many educators wanted additional Spanish language skills. After discussing this course with my Regional Director, Janet Kline, she put me in touch with an individual on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus who handles the continuing education units (CEU’s) so that we can offer them to educators. These will come through the College of Education. There will be no additional cost for the CEU’s.

            The instructor will be Irvin Griffith, a retired high school Spanish teacher. I first met Irvin and his wife Natalie when we traveled to Acambaro, Mexico in August 2002 as part of a Black River Baptist Association mission trip to work on a small church. Since he was a Spanish teacher, he translated for us and his background helped increase the success of the trip. While I could communicate with a few of the church members, I realized that I would need additional language skills to go beyond that. After the completion of this trip, Irvin offered a course in Conversational Spanish to those of us who were interested.

            I learned that Conversational Spanish is not street Spanish. This is a basic course with the first session dealing with pronunciation, greetings, and common phrases. Those taking the classes will also learn several of the common verbs and how to construct basic sentences. Part of the instruction includes what is referred to as “Speed Spanish” because it is a method to mix and match verbs with key words to make complete sentences. As we have learned from the first two classes, everyone has a different need in vocabulary. Whether the person is an educator, ginner, producer, or an educator, there is enough flexibility so that participants can request help in areas in which they have needs.

            There will be a break during each session and refreshments will be provided. There is no formal textbook; however, we will provide each of the participants with a notebook so that they can keep up with the handouts from each class. In addition to the teaching materials, there will be information listed for Spanish Language Resources on the Internet. There are several Spanish Language resources that have been used by participants from the first two classes. They are also free.    

            Since six weeks is not enough time to learn everything that you might need, the Dunklin County University of Missouri Extension Council has purchased some additional Spanish language resources that participants can check out to aid their learning experience. We are looking into getting even more materials to assist the class.

            I have talked with several of the participants from the first two classes who have indicated that if we sponsored the class again, that they wanted to return just to increase their language skills. A letter will be going out to past participants informing them of the class. So if they don’t have a conflict with the dates, I expect several of them will return.

            For additional information or to register for the course, call the Dunklin County University of Missouri Extension Center at (573) 888-4722. This year, we have decided that to offer the course, we need a minimum of fifteen participants. So we will need to have these signed up, no later than Monday, October 15. If we do not have enough participants, then the money paid for the course will be refunded.

 

University of Missouri Extension programs are open to all.

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