preparing students for jobs of the future

Katrina BeeckDanika Cornelius

Mary RisnerMelissa Swarr

AATSP 2013San Antonio, Texas

Preparing Students for Jobs of the Future

Overview

Introductions

Danika Cornelius-Spanish for Leadership/Business

Quotes from the “real world”

Melissa Swarr- Spanish for Healthcare

Language for Specific Purposes (LSP)/NOBLE resources

Katrina Beeck- Spanish for the Community and the Workplace

About You…

SPANISH FOR LEADERSHIPDanika Cornelius

Seacrest Country Day SchoolNaples, FL

Communication and support from Mary and CristinNOBLE resources

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/bmag/sbsm0305/leadership.shtml

Leadership Literature Studies:

Don QuixoteSor Juana Inés de la CruzJosé Martí

Other lessons accomplished this school year:

-Reading news articles

-Keeping an online journal with weebly.com

-Creating resumes

-Learning basic phone skills such as greetings, making appointments, and leaving messages

-Learning more complex numbers such as decimals and fractions

-Acquiring business etiquette knowledge through readings, discussions, presentations, and role play activities…

Helpful resourcesDave’s ESL Café: www.eslcafe.com (I used the “Business English” activities in Spanish)

Country Reports (Spanish): www.es.countryreports.org (Resource presented by Cristin Blees)

Notes in Spanish Podcast: www.notesinspanish.com

Biggest Struggle: Initial lack of support/buy-in from fellow teachers

Student feedback:I really enjoyed how the lessons were not from a textbook. We got to explore many different topics. I felt like we had a lot of input on what we got to study.

My favorite part of the course was when we went on the fieldtrip to see the replicasof the Niña and the Pinta. I felt like the literature we read was coming alive. I got to talk to the people on the ships about the possibility of becoming a crew member.It was so cool.

I would have enjoyed the course even more if we had done less literature and more business skills studies, because I plan on going into this field in college.

This course was great, because I feel like I finally had a breakthrough with my speakingabilities! I can actually respond to open-ended questions and present without lookingat my notes the entire time. I really know Spanish after completing this course.I look forward to using my Spanish in my career.

Current plans in progress:-Invite more guest speakers to the class

-Through the efforts of Dr. Risner and NOBLE:Set up connection with Brazilian class learning Spanish

-Establish service learning component as part of the curriculum

Locally Internationally

INTERMISSION

Student Testimonials

What did you like best about the class? • I liked how it helped prepare for learning the process of getting a job and being

able to use Spanish with it. Also the different types of projects were fun. • It covered a lot of different topics in a globalized world. • I liked how it solidified our Spanish through talking and presentations. • I really liked the interviews with different professionals. • It's applicability to the real world. **Cristin Bleess course-Spanish for Leadership

Student TestimonialsHow do you think the SFL class will help you use Spanish in the "real world"?

• Worked on things that were all real world situations. • It showed us how the real world works in a way and gave us skills that would benefit us in the

competition for future jobs. • Talking about jobs is helpful, as well as resumes, and just talking a lot in general. • I learned phrases that made my Spanish sound less basic and how to present myself in a more

professional manner. • It prepares me for more formal interactions with people where you're trying to make a good

impression.

**Cristin Bleess course-Spanish for Leadership

Quotes from the workplace…

Lack of A Global Mindset

• A survey showed that amongst the poorest performing of the so-called employability skills exhibited by school-leavers were international cultural awareness skills.

http://www.think-global.org.uk/news/blog-item.asp?n=12723

• Earlier this month, another executive from Manpower Inc. was quoted in a New York Times article as saying that although their clients can find workers with technical skills, those candidates “don’t have a global mindset or can’t work with people in different cultures.”

http://blog.nafsa.org/2011/07/28/is-having-a-global/

Ed-Deloitte Consultant

• Language is a BIG plus - understanding all of the side conversations, interacting with more senior executives (particularly in Sales functions) who may not speak English as well, or just being able to interpret e-mails as they are forwarded or data as it is sent is all much easier with language understanding.

• Cultural awareness is also critical. My colleagues who work

internationally less frequently tend to become impatient, have unrealistic deadlines, or are otherwise culturally biased when we are working overseas. This can lead to frustration or, worse, misunderstandings with our clients if not corrected.

The Languages of Business

Spanish for HealthcareMelissa Swarr

Hempfield High School

Landisville, PA(Lancaster County, PA)

Why?

• Experience in post-secondary education – Basic Spanish I/II in nursing college did not provide students with the conversational skills needed to communicate with patients.

• Though taboo and a possible liability, nurses were still being asked to interpret for doctors.

• Because I asked! (I have no background in healthcare!)

• Selfish reasons…

How?

• I approached the department coordinator to talk about the need for a course geared toward healthcare-bound students who had more than the basic language skills I was seeing at the community college.

• We agreed it would have a prerequisite of level IV high school Spanish.

• It was a long process- getting approval does not mean it begins the next year.

• Budget consciousness…

How?

• The first semester it ran, there were four sections out of my six total for the year (block schedule)!

• I mapped out my course and decided how I wanted to approach such a broad topic...

• The kids gobbled up an entire week of my preparation in the first two days!

• There were several times during the first semester where I was only a day or two ahead of the kids! It is work, but the reward was worth it.

What?

• What do you think nurses and nursing students were looking for in a Spanish course? It wasn’t being delivered…

• What would you do to go about breaking a theme like ‘Healthcare’ into a high school course?

• What supplemental materials/tech gadgets/sites could you use to help lighten your workload?

• What did I have to explain to my supervisor and principal as they set out to observe this class? It’s not what you may think…

Who?

Who takes the course? • Any student looking to go into any field of health, and

has completed our level IV takes the course to get a good perspective, especially patient intake and demographics, patient care instructions, assessing pain, ethical situations associated with interpretation, etc.

Who teaches the course?• At this point only the person that proposed and

prepared the course has taught it (or wants to). Job security!

When?

• When is a good time to dive into a new course, prepare every piece of material and every word so that it correlates to your specific subject – every worksheet, activity, idea, homework, project, etc.? Never. As mentioned, the rewards outweigh the workload the first year.

Personally speaking, I look forward to the switch from teaching the same basics over and over… this is the course where I can have a little freedom and a little fun. I’m not so tied to “covering” material in the curriculum. Additionally – the type of student signing up for this level and this type of specified course is typically a very self-motivated individual, and chooses to take the course based upon personal goals rather than fulfilling university entrance requirements.

Where now?

• Current public school economic struggles and OpenCampusPA…

• Online Spanish!?!? I agree! I disagree! Wait…• Here we go again, more changes, more work…

Moodle…• The rewards … an example…

Challenges

• The process takes time – supervisor approval, proposing the course and administrative approval… then into curriculum guides and talking it up before students can register.

• No matter how much you prepare, you are never prepared enough until you teach through a new course once. Expect frustration. (Projects… great idea! Whew, a breather! Wait! Now I must grade them!)

• No matter how much you plan, when the students are learning you will realize there are changes to your course (order of things, topics, etc.) that you need to make.

• No human is a walking encyclopedia, a fountain of information, or a Google search tool… there will be questions that you do not know the answer to… simply say you do not know, find out, and get back to the student. (But do use trustworthy sources.)

Challenges

• Frankly, any new course is a lot of work for a teacher. A new course that you create all materials for is even more work. Arm yourself with plenty of reference materials to pull from. Use resources to help you… I made myself a book and used Edmodo.

• Teacher flack and negative peer feedback… all departments are different. You may have teachers who are jealous, some who are envious, and some who are just angry. The answer for this is simple.

• Don’t bank on first year numbers to be the norm. New courses, new interest, ebbs and flows… eventually it all evens out. My class ran four sections the first year and has evened out to two per year (one per semester) with full classes between 20-28 It is worth it!

• Word of mouth is a powerful tool… an example of meat and potatoes and the teacher everyone loves but the course they hate.

• ** A special admonition for a healthcare course…

A peek…

INTERMISSION

LSP Professional Community

Facebook: Language Learning for Business & the Professions

LinkedIn – Language Learning for Business and the Professions

Twitter

@langforcareers

SPANISH FOR THE COMMUNITY

& THE WORKPLACEKatrina Beeck

Katrina Beeck, Muskego High School, Muskego, Wisconsin

Adding LSP at Your School: Spanish in the Community and the Workplace

Background

A 7th grade Spanish 1 program was added, therefore creating the need for a 6th year program at the high school level.

The World Language Department made the decision to add add semester long courses in

hopes to retain students.

Step 1: Survey your students

Survey your students!You want to develop courses that relate to YOUR students!

• Spanish in the Community and the Workplace

• Spanish Culture and Current Issues

• Spanish Composition and Conversation

• Spanish Conversation through Film

• Spanish Art

• Spanish Literature

Step 2: Write a proposal and get approval from your district

Last summer we wrote 4 proposals: All require a Spanish 3 prerequisite. In order to take AP Spanish the prerequisite is

Spanish 4 or 2 semester electives - one being composition and conversation.

1.Spanish in the Community and the Workplace2.Spanish Composition and Conversation 3.Spanish Culture and Current Events4.Spanish Conversation through Film

All were approved, but only the first 2 listed are being run next school year. 2014-2015 school year all should run.

Spanish in the Community and the Workplace is a course that will allow students to apply the Spanish they have learned in previous courses to community and career-related situations. It will raise students' awareness of the use of the Spanish language across the professions and of the importance of bilingualism in the United States and abroad. The main topics covered will be Community, Employment, Business, Medical, and Education and Social Service, but students will have the opportunity to explore careers of specific interest to themselves.

In the works for 2013-1214.. Spanish in the Community and the

Workplace!

Sample Activities

• conversations(in person and on the telephone)

• emails

• brochures

• business and marketing plans

• Memos/letters

• proposals

• interviews with Spanish speaking professionals

• cultural scenarios

Materials and Resources

•Newspapers : La Prensa, Hola Hoy

• Magazines: People en Español

• Internet sites: audiolingua.com, practicinginspanish.com, laits.utexas.edu/laexec/laexec.html#, DiyChart.com

• Spanish speaking professionals from your community

• Books: Comunidades más allá del aula, Cultural Intelligence, BARNGA, 52 activities for Improving Cross-Cultural Communication

What Can You Do At Your School?

What Interests Do Your Students Have?

Q & A

Contact Information