Become a better communicator in your workplace

Are language barriers hurting productivity in your workplace? We can help! Join Penn State Schuylkill's office of Continuing Education and Workforce Development for Practical Spanish for the Workplace courses I and II and improve your workplace communications.

Course Offerings

Spanish in the Workplace: Level 1 - SPAN 5007A

This course will offer Spanish for the workplace to facilitate basic communication with employees or clients whose native language is Spanish. Emphasis is placed on oral communication and specific vocabulary used in a business context. Written and oral practice is provided to exercise the ability to find and communicate information of daily transactions.

Course Objectives

  • Become proficient in workplace Spanish vocabulary
  • Demonstrate an ability to engage in simple business in Spanish
  • Increase active vocabulary by practicing conversation with authentic materials
  • Improve listening skills to become more proficient in understanding Spanish
  • Understand basic questions and requests in Spanish
  • Identify key grammatical structures to improve reading and speaking strategies in Spanish
  • Develop your next level skill, in translating sentences and short texts or forms from English to Spanish and Spanish to English
  • Improve cultural communication skills
  • Be able to ask and in-take information to fill out documents pertaining to business

Dates: February 12 - April 9, 2026
Times: Thursdays, 5:30 - 7:45 p.m. (Last class on 4/9 will be held 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.)
Location: Live instructor-led training via Zoom
Cost: $359 per person

Register

Spanish in the Workplace: Level 2

This workshop will refresh and reinforce the topics covered in Level 1. The class will continue conjugating verbs in the present tense along with gaining a general sense of the past and future tenses. At the end of the course, students will be able to carry on a simple conversation without consulting a dictionary.

Dates: November 20, 2025 - February 5, 2026
Time: 5:30 - 7:45 p.m. (Last class on Feb. 5 will be held 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.)
Room/Delivery: Live instruction via Zoom classroom
Cost: $359

Register

Spanish in the Workplace: Level 3

This workshop begins by reviewing the basics of Spanish presented in Levels 1 and 2. (It is expected that students enter the class with a rudimentary understanding of pronunciation and the present tense). The differences between the two past tenses (preterite and imperfect) will be explored, along with further practice with the future tenses. Notes on culture will be added to each session, and the workshop will be adjusted according to the needs of class participants.

Class dates TBD

Spanish for Healthcare Workers (SPAN 5018)

Hola, me llamo Pat y soy su enfermera (o)
(Hello, my name is Pat and I will be your nurse)

Spanish for Healthcare Workers is an entry-level course designed to help medical professionals communicate effectively through conversational competence with Spanish-speaking patients in a medical setting.

By the end of the course, students will learn how to:

  • Apply medical vocabulary in routine medical situations.
  • Write notes and simple treatment recommendations/directions.
  • Demonstrate basic understanding of some Hispanic/Latino cultural medical practices and the patient-doctor dynamic and relationship.
  • Describe signs and symptoms from the most common diseases in the United States.
  • Demonstrate basic skills to conduct a patient interview in Spanish.

Meet the instructor:

Maria T. Berger holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology & Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. Berger is experienced in teaching Spanish language courses at Higher Education Level for more than a decade, including in person, hybrid, and online courses modalities. Berger has also served as an interpreter for Spanish speaker patients in the mental health field.

Dates: Coming Soon!
Time: Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Delivery: live instruction via Zoom classroom
Textbook: Access to an eBook and four months of unlimited access to online educational materials are included with the registration fee.
Investment: $495

Optional Student Resource (not included in registration fee): 

  • Basic Spanish for Medical Personnel: 2nd Enhanced Edition by Ana C. Jarvis Houghton Mifflin Company. 2011. ISBN-13: 9781285052188

Interested in taking this course? Contact Erica Kunkel at 610-396-6221.