?How do you say are you serious? in Spanish?
I cannot put this into words.
Today I answered a phone call from a women who wanted to know what she needed to do to teach Spanish. Of course, when you assume something, you make an ass of you and me. I assumed she meant for a high school or middle school, so I said our college didn't have a Bachelor's in teaching Spanish, but maybe she could get her AA from us then move on to the university - it might save her driving and money - and recommended she talk to an advisor. She cut me off and said she didn't want to get a bachelor's degree because that would be four years and questioned the fact that she needed a BA. She was 59 and just got laid off from her sheet-metal job and didn't have the time or inclination to go to school for four years, plus she wasn't sure she could handle that much school. I said she could check with the county school board to see their requirements, but that when I was pursing my education degree in the 1990's they required at least a BA.
Then, curious, I asked if she was fluent in Spanish. She said she wasn't fluent, but she knew a little Spanish.
I was stumped. I kept telling her to talk to an advisor, and she kept trying to tell me about the JobsPlus program that would pay her to go back to school and how it's been her dream for some time now to teach Spanish.
Remember my assumption about teaching for a school? Well, after nine minutes on the phone with her she said she knew a guy who didn't have a BA and he taught Spanish from his house so why couldn't she do that, too? I, amazed, said that if she was going to teach from her home she probably didn't need any degree whatsoever - she just needed to convince someone to pay her. I may have said anyone could try to teach yoga or knitting or anything from their house BUT that it seemed like she'd need a license or a business program or something to entice people to study under her or cover her legally. (AT THIS POINT I'M JUST MAKING STUFF UP ARGH!!)
At that she said she thought she'd at least need an Associate's degree plus she wanted to take some Spanish classes with us. I told her that she was getting into areas that I was not able to help her with once she got beyond instructions for how to apply for admission to the college and that her best step was to either talk to advising, Jobs Plus (again), the career center, or possibly the Small Business Development center with the idea that once she knew what she was doing then our office could register her.
She still wanted to keep me on the phone and tell me more about her dreams of teaching Spanish and her life story, but I insisted that unless she was talking about traditional teacher programs I could not help her, and finally got off the phone then promptly burst into fits of giggling. In Spanish.
Today I answered a phone call from a women who wanted to know what she needed to do to teach Spanish. Of course, when you assume something, you make an ass of you and me. I assumed she meant for a high school or middle school, so I said our college didn't have a Bachelor's in teaching Spanish, but maybe she could get her AA from us then move on to the university - it might save her driving and money - and recommended she talk to an advisor. She cut me off and said she didn't want to get a bachelor's degree because that would be four years and questioned the fact that she needed a BA. She was 59 and just got laid off from her sheet-metal job and didn't have the time or inclination to go to school for four years, plus she wasn't sure she could handle that much school. I said she could check with the county school board to see their requirements, but that when I was pursing my education degree in the 1990's they required at least a BA.
Then, curious, I asked if she was fluent in Spanish. She said she wasn't fluent, but she knew a little Spanish.
I was stumped. I kept telling her to talk to an advisor, and she kept trying to tell me about the JobsPlus program that would pay her to go back to school and how it's been her dream for some time now to teach Spanish.
Remember my assumption about teaching for a school? Well, after nine minutes on the phone with her she said she knew a guy who didn't have a BA and he taught Spanish from his house so why couldn't she do that, too? I, amazed, said that if she was going to teach from her home she probably didn't need any degree whatsoever - she just needed to convince someone to pay her. I may have said anyone could try to teach yoga or knitting or anything from their house BUT that it seemed like she'd need a license or a business program or something to entice people to study under her or cover her legally. (AT THIS POINT I'M JUST MAKING STUFF UP ARGH!!)
At that she said she thought she'd at least need an Associate's degree plus she wanted to take some Spanish classes with us. I told her that she was getting into areas that I was not able to help her with once she got beyond instructions for how to apply for admission to the college and that her best step was to either talk to advising, Jobs Plus (again), the career center, or possibly the Small Business Development center with the idea that once she knew what she was doing then our office could register her.
She still wanted to keep me on the phone and tell me more about her dreams of teaching Spanish and her life story, but I insisted that unless she was talking about traditional teacher programs I could not help her, and finally got off the phone then promptly burst into fits of giggling. In Spanish.