And the ideal way to improve that rapport, Joseph Miller told us, was to “learn Spanish.” But his previous attempts to learn Spanish at the local community college and with a tape program had failed. Then his company enrolled him in the Pars Omni® Foundation Spanish course with 11 of his co-workers. Well before the end of that course, Joseph told us, “I never thought learning Spanish could be so easy…”

Ability to Speak Spanish Gaining Importance in U.S. Workplace

Being able to communicate in Spanish has become a higher business priority for employees in many types of organizations in the last few years. The rapid growth in the number of Spanish speakers in the U.S., and the growing importance of business relations that cross national boundaries put a premium on the ability to speak and write Spanish.

Is there a cost effective way to train adults to communicate in Spanish, at an effective level, with a reasonable investment of time? Here are some alternatives, along with the pros and cons of each:

Alternative	Pros	Cons
Adult school community college course	low cost per instructional hour	Time consuming, with generally meager results
Private tutoring	effective for some people; very flexible scheduling	Costly, can be time consuming, usually somewhat stressful and tiring; lacks naturally flowing social interaction that is so beneficial to language learning
Tapes, CDs, books	low cost; easy to fit into daily schedule	Not effective except for those who are already at a basic level or better
Small group instruction (private or at a university)	moderately effective	Can be time consuming, especially considering homework that may be required; moderate to expensive
Intensive travel course in Spain or Latin America	fairly effective,especially for those who already know some Spanish	Can be inconvenient to schedule, cost is sometimes high
Pars Omni® program,	Very effective for the time and expense required; very enjoyable and low-stress; lower level courses require little or no outside work; provides ancillary team-building benefits for organization	Fixed schedule; more expensive (per hour) than some traditional courses

For organizations seeking to enable their employees to speak Spanish, Pars Omni's unique approach offers some significant advantages over alternative approaches.

Highly Effective Instruction: Students Achieve Rapid Results

In the 72-hour Foundation program, students can expect to achieve rapid conversational results. Typically, this program is delivered over a 6 to 10 week period, with 2 to 4 3-hour class sessions per week.

The emphasis at the Foundation level is on developing comprehension and speaking skills. A basic foundation of the grammatical structure of the language is developed within the context of a highly functional 2,000 word vocabulary. By the end of the course, students enjoy an active use of between 1,200 and 1,500 vocabulary words and passively comprehend between 1,500 and 2,000 words. Students will be using the present, past and future tenses and be able to communicate in a wide variety of personal and work situations.

Students Look Forward to Each Class

All learning gives rise to a certain amount of stress. The most effective learners are able to manage – and in some cases eliminate this stress. In the Pars Omni® instructional approach, we give much emphasis to eliminating stress of all kinds. Learning to speak a new language – especially at the beginning – tends to arouse discomfort and embarrassment on the part of most adults. But, typically, in our programs, students report that they find the classes highly enjoyable and relaxing; often, they report that they have more energy at the end of a three hour session than they had at the beginning. This is as it should be: as the teaching – learning rate is accelerated, stress must simultaneously be reduced.

Classes Can Be Accommodated Into a Busy Schedule

A typical Pars Omni® class schedule for the Foundation and Proficiency courses requires students to meet for two 3-hour class sessions a week for approximately ten weeks. Whether this time is scheduled during or after work hours, it usually represents a surprisingly easy accomodation of an otherwise busy schedule. Partly this is due to the fact that, at least at the Foundation and Proficiency levels, little or no homework is required. Outside work, at these levels, has limited effectiveness when compared to the learning that takes place in the class.

Pars Omni® Program Provides More than a New Language

A Pars Omni® class is specifically designed to work with a small group; the effectiveness of the method depends on the proper orchestration of group dynamics. A side benefit of this approach is that the class fosters cooperation, tolerance and support among members of the group. If group members are from the same company, the class can provide a team-building benefit.