Naturally, the instructor plays a pivotal role in the successful delivery of Workplace Spanish® training.  If you are going to market these services successfully, you must know what qualifications are important, what role an instructor should play, and think about a few do's and don'ts for successful training.  So, let's begin . . .

This page contains 3 important subjects concerning instructors – their role, their qualifications, and a primer to focus their efforts in the instruction process:

1.  The Role of the Instructor

2.  Instructor Pre-requisites

3.  A Primer for Instructors

1.  Role of the Instructor

Of course, the instructor plays the key role in the delivery of Workplace Spanish® training.  NOT as a traditional "top down" academic teacher, but rather as a coach, facilitator, and cheerleader.  This is "bottom up" training!   In academic "top down" instruction, the teacher dictates the material, activities and pace of the class.  She / he follows a specific order in a text book and the language is learned step by step over at least a semester.

In Workplace Spanish® training, the communication needs of the group take precedence over everything else.  The instructor must know the objectives, priorities and challenges of the group and is there to help solve them.  This is a totally different role than that of a teacher imparting wisdom.  The WS instructor must be flexible, adaptable, creative and constantly on the lookout for examples of relating the material to its use in the workplac
 

When your students leave their WS class, they need to be well-versed on the communication priorities of their workplace — not on grammar, masculine or feminine gender, or any other language rule.  They need to be able to say (with confidence) the key Spanish expressions that will help them meet their business objectives.  If you find an instructor trying to teach "Spanish 101" with grammar and verb conjugation – save your reputation and fire them right away.

2.  Instructor Pre-requisites

A bilingual knowledge of Latin American Spanish is a necessity.  Great academic credentials are not.  In fact, it is extremely helpful to have an instructor with business or government experience in order to better relate to the workplace environment of your customers.  

Another important factor is building rapport with the class -- the class is not a lecture and the students are not being graded for credit.  Coaching and facilitating the learning of simple, everyday workplace conversation is the instructor's key role.  They must understand this and stick with the what should be done, not what they may want to teach. 

3.  A Primer for Instructors  (NOTE: click here to download the latest TEACHING GUIDELINES)

1. The key to effective teaching is understanding that it's the "USE OF THE MATERIAL" not the material itself, that is important.  
   
   a)  98% of the adults we teach want short, simple terms & expressions.  They want something they can readily learn, remember and use.  To be successful you must relate the material to the job -- not just teach the material.  The instructor must make it come alive in real world practice situations and conversations.
   
   

2. Energy, enthusiasm and a real-world approach 
   
   a)  Because you are not dealing with 'traditional students', instruction methods & objectives are different.  We teach verbally with a great deal of repetition and real-world practice – without teaching the alphabet or grammar.  The emphasis must be on practical use rather than academic learning.
   
   b)  The "lesson plan" is based on the client's priorities, not on the order of topics in the manual.  After finishing the basics of pronunciation, meeting & greeting, etc., don't just follow the manual -- follow the needs and priorities of the people attending the class.
   
   c)  The kiss of death is a teacher who tries to teach using traditional academic "full-language" methods.  The instructor must be able to dispense with traditional methods and realize that his or her group needs to learn specific terms & phrases, not "the whole language".
   
   

3. Techniques that work:
   
   a)  Group repetition -- this is the start of learning pronunciation -- the teacher leads the group through oral repetition of a section of terms & phrases emphasizing pronunciation.  Make it loud and fun.
   
   b)  Individual "round robin" repetition -- this "forces" everyone to pronounce expressions aloud giving the teacher a chance to coach their pronunciation.  It is the foundation of building confidence.
   
   c) One-minute quizzes -- short, fast quizzes that test students' retention of simple terms & expressions.  Use our "Drills for Skills" quizzes contained in each manual.  Supplement them with important material that has come up in class.
   
   d)  Practice Conversations -- brief, back & forth conversation -- (e.g., How are you? -- Fine and you?  Fine too., etc.)  These give the students the flavor of actually using the material with a Spanish speaker.  Most of our programs have a number of these conversations in the manual -- soon all of our programs will contain a number of practice conversations.
   
   e)  Role-Play -- set up short scenarios that may involve teams or just 2 people practicing situations where they need Spanish (e.g., taking a payment from Latino customer or demonstrating a quality standard).  Have the class "create situations" that frequently occur at their workplace.
   
   f)  Visuals -- use props that are appropriate for the material.  This could be something as simple as 'play money' for banking; tools for construction; a clock & calendar to teach appointments & timing, etc.
   
   g)  Play Games -- using the popular TV quiz show JEOPARDY as an example, divide the class into teams;  use questions from the manual and have the teams compete.  Give candy or some other small prize.
   
   h)  Create Real-World Situations -- have different class members describe typical problem situations with Latino customers or employees.  Have a group of 3 or 4 solve it using the expressions in the book.  Rotate the groups and give out prizes or keep score -- make it reflect their real-world workplace life.
   

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