Staci Davis is ahead of the game because she has a basic knowledge of a second language, thanks to a class she took last May.
"It was a good experience for me," Davis, director of Onsite and Independent Learning Programs, said.
Overall, the Spanish-speaking community in Indiana is the most rapidly growing segment of the state's population, according to www.bsu.edu/spanishatwork.
Ball State is offering the chance to improve the workplace for Spanish and English speakers in a variety of sectors, according to the Web site.
Ball State's Center for Organizational Resources is offering a noncredit Spanish class entitled "Community Spanish: A Survival Guide for English Speakers."
The class is designed for participants who communicate with Spanish-speaking individuals on a daily basis. The goal is to prepare people to speak and understand small amounts of basic Spanish. In addition, the class provides basic cultural information about Spanish-speaking groups to inform and educate English speakers, according to the Center for Organizational Resources.
"They can structure the program to help each individual out in their professional field," Davis said.
Students can sign up to take the class in their own profession so they can do daily tasks while communicating with Spanish-speaking people, Davis said.
However, the class is not set up for people to become fluent in Spanish, Carol King-Reed, director of special projects, said.
"We want to make them more comfortable with the language," she said.
Also, students are meant to leave the class with words of kindness and respect, King-Reed said.
"There is quite a bit of information on cultural differences, then a little bit on the language of kindness," she said.
Overall, the class is designed to help people do their jobs better each day.
The morning class will meet from 9 a.m. to noon on Feb. 16 and 23, March 2 and 9. The night class will meet from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 21 and 28, and March 7 and 14.
The classes are not on campus. They are located at the Outreach Services site, 10204 Lantern Road in Fishers. The cost is $195, which includes 12 hours of instruction as well as a set of materials with two practice CDs. Classes are open to anyone.
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