Spanish Language Instruction for Staff
Instruction
Spanish instruction is free to Merit* and Professional and Scientific** employees. Some goals of the instruction are to help employees communicate more effectively with English Language Learners, to facilitate cultural awareness, to offer them training that may be helpful for their professional advancement, and to help members of the University community gain insight on what it is to have limited communicative proficiency.
Two instructors are available to teach employees beginning and intermediate Spanish one-on-one, in small groups, or in larger classes. These instructors are both are fluent in Spanish, have a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Spanish, and are trained language instructors (but are not native speakers of Spanish). For more information or to ask about Spanish instruction for yourself and/or another employee, please contact Staff Language and Culture Services:
Corinne J. Stanley, SCLS Facilitator
(319) 335-5822
corinne-stanley@uiowa.edu
* For a definition and more information about Merit jobs, please visit this page of the Compensation and Classification website: http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/classcomp/merit/index.html
**For a definition and more information about Professional and Scientific jobs, please read this page of the Classification and Compensation website: http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/classcomp/prof/index.html
***A SPECIAL NOTE FOR HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES:***
The use of trained interpreters is extremely important in many clinical situations. Staff Language and Culture Services (SLCS) cannot train professional interpreters. SLCS Spanish instruction is intended to help employees improve simple day-to-day communication and rapport building with students, clients, and patients.
If you would like training as a professional Spanish interpreter, please contact the Des Moines Area Community College's Interpretation and Translation Program or search for information on the Iowa Division of Latino Affairs website .
For some basic information on when to request an interpreter and how to work with one, we recommend this resource from Queensland Health, Queensland, Autralia: Providing Care to Patients from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds: Guidelines to Practics, "Language Issues" innovate to produce the best website and tools for the world."
Spanish Conversation Group
Staff Language and Culture Services hosts a Spanish Conversation Group every Thursday from 12:15 to 1:15 pm in the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. Anyone wishing to practice speaking Spanish in a small group may attend. You do not have to contact Staff Language and Culture Services in advance.
The goal of the conversation group is to provide employees with a regular opportunity to hear and speak in Spanish. The Conversation Group is informal, and topics of conversation focus on what that day's attendees would like to discuss. In the past, we have chatted about fruit of the coast of Colombia, the Earthquake in Chile, beaches in the Dominican Republic, medicine, dentistry, machismo, vocabulary differences in Spanish speaking countries, and more. We are open to suggestions of topics that the people attending would like to discuss or avoid.
There is no formal instruction given during the conversation hour, and we focus on increasing fluency and learning more precise vocabulary. All levels of proficiency are welcome and will be included in the discussion. All conversation (even with beginners) is in Spanish. Most weeks one or more native Spanish speakers will attend in order to chat and to help others with more natural expression.
More about the location: Currently, the group is meeting in MELROSE CONFERENCE ROOM 3. The Melrose Conference Rooms are on the fifth floor of the Pomerantz Family Pavilion. They are located near Elevator L, but are not within the Melrose Dining Room. To get a map showing the location of the Pomerantz Family Pavilion, please visit: http://www.uiowa.edu/~maps/p/pfp1.htm
Last updated December 2012