Fall 2020
FVTC Global Education and construction trades team up to promote understanding, safety and productivity on job sites.
Most everyone can identify a few words in Spanish but getting beyond “hola” to “hand me the hammer” takes some work. The Spanish Language & Culture for Construction course teaches English speakers functional Spanish to use on-the-job.
“Our main goal is to communicate better with co-workers,” says FVTC instructor Maria Carone. “Building awareness of cultural differences helps co-workers better understand each other rather than misinterpreting information,” which also helps job site safety.
Andy Tremel, a student in the FVTC Electrician apprenticeship program and Suburban Electric employee, explains, “Knowing what different tools are called helps so much because you can understand what co-workers are talking about.” He adds that the Spanish speakers also appreciate that the English-speaking team members took the initiative to learn their language.
On-the-Job Understanding
Spanish for Construction is just one of the occupational-specific classes offered by the Global Education team. Other classes include Spanish for Law Enforcement and Spanish for Healthcare, and the specialized training can be paired with other occupations or replicated in other languages.
