UW-Green Bay & Marinette School District Unite to Offer “Spanish For Educators”

Green Bay, Wis.—When the Marinette School District identified a need for Spanish instruction for teachers and staff, they collaborated with UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus. Regional and campus leaders have a powerful relationship and a history of collaborating on solutions-focused answers to community challenges.

In early March, Marinette School District and UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus met to determine the needs of a district-wide Spanish language program and how best to structure to ensure the majority who expressed interest in enhancing their Spanish skills, could. Bethany Welch, an English Language instructor at UW-Green Bay and an active interpreter in the Marinette community, was also consulted.

In collaboration, the “Spanish for Educators” curriculum was developed, which will be self-paced and offered June 28-August 20 this summer to accommodate the schedules of teachers and staff. 

In particular, Welch wanted to ensure the course includes cultural competency elements, along with reasonable expectations for machine translation­—a necessary but limited tool. The online course is six weeks in duration and will build knowledge and skills by training teachers and staff with:

Basic Spanish vocabulary and pronunciation for conversing in the classroom and setting expectations

Simple words for everyday things, including survival expressions for parent-teacher conferences

Conversational phrases and sentences to use in the cafeteria and on the playground

 “I am so excited for this opportunity and collaboration,” says Kayla Furton, English language consultant with the Marinette School District.

The Marinette School District has a growing population of Hispanic-speaking students. UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus is home to the UW Colleges’ oldest Intensive English Program and organizes English as a Second Language (ESL) classes through the Division of Continuing Education and Community Engagement.

To learn more about “Spanish for Educators,” visit the website at http://www.uwgb.edu/continuing-education/career/professional-development/ or contact Linda Hornick, Program Specialist at 715-504-3351 or [email protected].