Spanish Proficiency Assessments
CHICLE developed the Spanish Proficiency Assessment Tools (SPAT) in 2006 for a wide variety of county employees, including health and social service workers, emergency responders, dental providers, and general office workers.
The tools provide an objective method to determine the types of interactions that a staff person can comfortably participate in. They are easily modifiable to suit other work situations, such as school systems, non-profits, car dealers, hotel and restaurant staff, or any business or agency that serves Spanish speakers.
If your organization is large enough, we can train one or more of your employees to administer the assessment. If not, we can contract with you to do the assessments, either in person or by phone.
SPAT contains a general assessment of speaking and listening ability. If the person passes that assessment, an additional assessment related to the actual work of the employee is administered. These more advanced assessments are based on dialogues that will be developed with input from your organization
SPAT also contains an assessment of cultural competency that can be administered to any employee, as well as assessments of writing and translation skills for fluent Spanish speakers. Our 20-question assessment of Cultural Competency is mainly a series of True-False question. Examples: "Hispanic is a racial category like Caucasian or Asian." or "When working with Latinos, you can assume that they are observant Catholics."
Please contact us for more information about SPAT!
Custom Group/Private Instruction
We are also happy to arrange language instruction to suit the needs of your company or organization. These classes are ideal for employees who frequently interact with international clients or customers or who might be making business trips abroad. Additionally, we can organize English classes on- or off-site as well for groups of employees - imagine what a bilingual workforce could do for you and your customers!
The content, length and location of these courses is entirely up to you; CHICLE has previously provided texts and materials for restaurant, hotel, police and health-related courses, and would be glad to discuss your particular needs.
Please contact us for more information!