http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunhera ... 440737.htm

Posted on Tue, Sep. 05, 2006


ÀSe habla construction?
Classes in Spanish begin for employers
By PRISCILLA FRULLA
pfrulla@sunherald.com

With an estimated 30,000 Spanish-speaking workers helping rebuild South Mississippi, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College has begun classes to help supervisors communicate.

The next session of construction Spanish will begin Sept. 12 at the Jefferson Davis campus in Gulfport and will continue each Tuesday for five weeks. A Thursday night class will also start the same week.

The classes will be offered free courtesy of a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Wayne Kuntz, MGCCC's director of work force development, said classes are expected to fill quickly with room for only 15 participants in each session.

"We found there was a huge demand with the need for housing. There were a lot of workers coming from different parts of the country that didn't have English skills," said Kuntz. "A lot of people on the Coast don't speak Spanish. In other parts of the country more people are bilingual."

Three similar classes were recently offered and Kuntz said the college also has plans to teach Spanish for paramedics, EMTs and other health care workers.


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Construction Spanish
What: Classes to teach Spanish to construction workers.

When: Classes start Sept. 12.

Where: MGCCC, Jeff Davis campus, Gulfport.

Cost: Free to qualifying applicants.

Phone: 897-3855.


Classes in Spanish begin for employers
By PRISCILLA FRULLA
pfrulla@sunherald.com

With an estimated 30,000 Spanish-speaking workers helping rebuild South Mississippi, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College has begun classes to help supervisors communicate.

The next session of construction Spanish will begin Sept. 12 at the Jefferson Davis campus in Gulfport and will continue each Tuesday for five weeks. A Thursday night class will also start the same week.

The classes will be offered free courtesy of a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Wayne Kuntz, MGCCC's director of work force development, said classes are expected to fill quickly with room for only 15 participants in each session.

"We found there was a huge demand with the need for housing. There were a lot of workers coming from different parts of the country that didn't have English skills," said Kuntz. "A lot of people on the Coast don't speak Spanish. In other parts of the country more people are bilingual."

Three similar classes were recently offered and Kuntz said the college also has plans to teach Spanish for paramedics, EMTs and other health care workers.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Construction Spanish
What: Classes to teach Spanish to construction workers.

When: Classes start Sept. 12.

Where: MGCCC, Jeff Davis campus, Gulfport.

Cost: Free to qualifying applicants.

Phone: 897-3855.