Bilingual class making an impact
High school students learn customer service skills in English, Spanish
High school Spanish students are learning to apply their language skills to the real-world in a new bilingual customer service class.
The class, now in its second year, incorporates professional Spanish and English, with basic office skills and soft skills that are valued in business, according to teacher Melanie Maldonado. Students practice answering the telephone, transferring calls, making copies, sending faxes, and learn about the importance of organization, punctuality and working with people.
“Language is part of it and part of it is just on the job training,” she said.
Students represent a mixture of native Spanish and English speakers. They must take at least three high school Spanish classes to be eligible for the bilingual class and are also encouraged to have at least one of the business technical classes focusing on Microsoft computer programs under their belt.
Students start out practicing in class, then do short internships in one of the district’s elementary school offices, Maldonado said. Later in the semester, they move on to work at local businesses such as Latino Tires, Cari’s Closet and Simmons Foods or non-profits such as the Manna Center. Finally, students end the semester by doing an internship at a business of their choice.
Not only do internships allow students to practice their bilingual skills, it also allows them to explore career paths they might be interested in in the future, Maldonado said.
Many times students are
nervous to make their first business phone call or make their first professional face-to-face contact.
“It really builds up their confidence,” Maldonado said. “I saw a lot of confidence grow last year, you know kids that were very shy and quiet and were able to approach people and set up internships at the end of the semester.”
At the end of the class, students will earn a bilingual customer service certificate.
“The hope is they will build relationships with businesses in Siloam Springs, which could be a career opportunity for them,” Maldonado said.
First of it’s kind
Maldonado said that to her knowledge, the class is the first of its kind in Arkansas.
Principal Jason Jones said he got the idea for the class while visiting the Francis Tuttle Technology Center in Oklahoma City with Superintendent Ken Ramey and Assistant Superintendent Jody Wiggins.
At the time, the Career Academy of Siloam Springs was rapidly moving forward, but it seemed like the industrial technology program tended to lend itself to the male population, Jones said. The bilingual customer service class seemed like a good opportunity to offer career training that would appeal to female students as well as the Hispanic population, he said.
Jones visited with the foreign language teachers about the idea and they worked together to develop a program and curriculum, he said.
“It’s a great course for us,” he said. “I really believe it will change lives.”
Many Hispanic students don’t realize what a valuable skill set they have, Jones aid.
“They don’t know what they are walking around with,” he said. “They don’t know the vast opportunities that they can have with bilingual skills.”
The class also exposes them to career fields they may have never imagined through the internship program, Jones said. Students have already been a huge asset to many community businesses through translating documents, helping with simple office work and interpreting when a Hispanic family comes through the door.
There is a tremendous need for bilingual employees in Siloam Springs, Jones said. Almost 30 percent of the school district’s population are minority and about 27 percent are Hispanic. The demographics of the community mirror the school district, he said.
“There is a large population that speaks Spanish,” he said. “They are customers here in our community.”
Knowing more than one language is an advantage in a wide range of career fields. Seniors Alex Marroquin and Anthony Guzman both took the class to help them with their future careers. Marroquin, who is not a native Spanish speaker but often hears Spanish spoken at home, plans to be a physical therapist and is hopeful the class will help him better serve his patients. Guzman, who is a native Spanish speaker, is planning to have a career in mechanics and is hopeful the class will help him better communicate with future clients.
Senior Anna Butler, a native English speaker, took the class to practice speaking Spanish in the realworld, rather than just writing it. She plans to be a high school math teacher and hopes the bilingual customer service class will help her better communicate with her future students.
The advantages of having bilingual employees go far beyond language, Maldonado said. Studies show that people who are bilingual tend to be better multi-taskers, more organized and have better critical thinking skills, she said. Even if an organization is not bilingual based business, employers often prefer bilingual speakers because of these traits, she said.
Learning from experience
There is a lot of student interest in the class because they realize the advantages that being a bilingual employee can bring, and in just one year, the class has doubled, from eight students to a total of 22, Maldonado said.
Senior Ivette Rios took the bilingual customer service class last year. She was initially interested in the class because she wants to major in international business and marketing in college, which includes customer service, and she already has a strong background in Spanish.
“It seemed like a good fit so I thought why not?” she said.
The most interesting thing Rios said she learned was how the differences in culture impact customer service and businesses.
“It’s not just about Spanish, it focuses a lot in businesses and etiquette and all that, something that you don’t get much in your business classes,” she said.
Rios did her internship with a friend at Carmen’s Beauty Salon. She also has an interest in cosmetology, so it was a good opportunity to explore that field, she explained. Seeing how things work in the real world was the best part of the internship experience, she said.
“Wherever you go there’s customer’s service, in the mall or even Walmart, or in the bank,” she said. “It’s just something that opened my eyes and I think will help me out in the future with the etiquette and do’s and don’ts, so it was really good.”
Junior Karla Garcia just started the bilingual class a few weeks ago. The native Spanish speaker just finished Advanced Placement Spanish and is taking the class because it is a good opportunity to showcase her bilingual skills, which she hopes to use in a career in human resources. The class has also helped her gain confidence with professional phone skills.
Garcia sees the class as a great way to get ready for the workforce. Being bilingual could help a person get a raise, or be an advantage on a resume or an application.