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Last week, 28 of you requested a "Library Spanish for English Speakers" course when you answered our survey. I have found a 12-hour course which is accompanied by a booklet and two audio CD's. The approach is what they call occupational Spanish - it makes no effort to teach grammar or written language. It would be phonetic - learning practical words and phrases you could use in the library. Now, here's the problem: When could we do this? To get in 12 hours, we would either do two 6-hour sessions or three 4-hour sessions. Maybe in March or August? Tuesday, March 11th through Thursday, March 13th is during Spring break for some of you; is that bad or good? Or Tuesday, August 5th through Thursday, August 7 would be before school starts. To get in 6 hours in a day, we would go from 9 to 3:30 and do box lunches. What do you think? This is a tough challenge; we have to put in some time to learn enough Spanish to use it at work. When I did this at Austin Public, we did six 2-hour sessions..using what they call Accelerated Language Learning, which was not so targeted to library situations. It was only partly successful. I think this is a better approach - but when can you do it? Please respond ASAP. Your Friendly CE Coordinator, Jennifer Patterson
