Reality Spanish/Reality English Community Celebration Held
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
A program that helps employees learn how to speak Spanish and English in their profession has been developed for Kosciusko County.
A Reality Spanish/Reality English Community Celebration was held Thursday night at Ramada Plaza Hotel in Warsaw.
Approximately 40 Kosciusko County business leaders, K21 Foundation board members, Kosciusko County Health Care Foundation and Reality Spanish/Reality English trainers attended the celebration.
Those who attended had the opportunity to learn about the curriculum available in the program as well as get information about the program's history and future.
Reality Spanish/Reality English uses total physical response storytelling which engages the learner through auditory, visual, tactile, kinesthetic, spatial and oral senses.
Each class engages students by utilizing gestures as memory cues and small group role-playing.
The program is sponsored by the Health Care Foundation in Warsaw, according to Tracie Hodson, executive director for the foundation.
"We see the program as a fun and engaging way to bridge the ever-widening cultural gap between our English and Spanish speaking community members," Hodson said.
Hodson said the program is a way to strengthen the relationships between the two cultures to help create a more productive and efficient work environment and community.
She said the goal is by the end of 2008 to market the program in 17 counties in northeast Indiana.
In January 2007, the Health Care Foundation became the managing entity of the Reality Spanish/Reality English Program.
They received a $149,970 grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to help fund the program's expansion and growth.
The grant allowed the Health Care Foundation to complete its Integrated Community Model beta project.
Suzie Light, executive director for the Kosciusko County Community Foundation, brought the program idea for the Integrated Community Model Beta Project to Kosciusko County.
"The goal of the program is to embrace all people in our community and provide a common reference point for all citizens from a cultural aspect," Light said.
Kosciusko County has become the only community in the nation to offer all Reality Spanish/Reality English courses, she said.
Reality Spanish/Reality English was developed by a Colorado-based company, LingoLync LLC. By late 2003, the company had developed two curricula including Reality Spanish for Teachers and Reality Spanish for Law Enforcement.
The beta project grew to offer courses for English and Spanish in business and health care careers.
Classes offered in the program in Kosciusko County include Reality Spanish for Teachers Level 1 and 2; Reality Spanish for Law Enforcement; Reality Spanish for Healthcare; Reality Spanish for All; Reality Spanish for the workplace-office and banking, construction, manufacturing and production and service industry and Reality English for the Workplace-Construction, Manufacturing and Production and Service Industry.
Those who participate in the class are trained by Health Care Foundation employees and they go to local businesses such as banks and schools to teach employees English and Spanish.
Students in the course learn English and Spanish through the use of a CD-Rom, workbook and audio CDs to become certified trainers.
The class covers key phrases, scenarios and cultural topics.
The classes offer functional, context-based works and phrases in the target language. Each course, excluding Reality Spanish for All, is industry-specific and includes common words and phrases.
For more information about the program visit www.realityspanish-ne-in.com
