CCSN to set policy on classes taught in Spanish

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Monday, June 2, 2003 | 11:01 a.m.

Warren Hioki, an associate dean at the Community College of Southern Nevada, wanted to offer a class in the engineering technology department in Spanish.

But that dropped him into the middle of an unsettled debate over teaching in foreign languages at the largest institution of higher learning in Southern Nevada.

"We all know the Latino community is growing in leaps and bounds," said Hioki, whose department had hired a bilingual professor to teach Cisco Networking Academies 1-4 in Spanish, the primary language of at least 329,000 residents of the Las Vegas Valley, according to Census figures.

"I thought we should cater to that community," he said.

But then he got word from higher up in the college's administration. A memo told him to "put a hold on all classes not in English," he said.

Unbeknownst to Hioki, a professor had already offered another class in Spanish during the 2003 spring semester. When the college's leadership found out about the class, they realized they had no policy on the issue, and needed to come up with one.

A crossroads of sorts had been reached. Apparently, only one other class had been offered in another language before, back in the '80s, according to Laura Cortez, coordinator of programs for special populations at the college and a member of Alianza Latina, a group of Hispanic professors and administrators involved in the issue.

That class was also in computers, and in Spanish. But the professor returned to Spain, and the issue was never raised again -- until now.

"The need is there for Spanish, there's no question," said Dr. Robert Palinchak, vice president for academic affairs. "We're just trying to do this right."

Palinchak, who will be responsible for developing a new policy on courses taught in foreign languages at the college, was caught by surprise when he found out about the class offered in the spring semester.

Called Computer Information Technology 101, it was taught by Susana Contreras de Finch. She had decided to try the experiment after noticing the growing number of students for whom English was a second language.

"Every semester I would notice more and more of my students were asking me questions in Spanish after the class," she said.

So she decided to translate a series of handouts into Spanish last summer, and got approval from her immediate supervisors to teach the class.

"I said it should go through the Academic Standards Committee, but then (the head of her department) said let it go," said Diane Pannell, interim dean of information and telecommunications technology, who oversees three departments, including the one in which Contreras de Finch teaches.

The class had space for 28 students. Twenty-five enrolled. "That's very good," Pannell said.

The class then came to the administration's attention.

"(The department) advised me that courses were being taught in Spanish, and I didn't know that," Palinchak said. "I checked with deans, the curriculum committee, other administrators, the state UCCSN system, and everybody said they didn't have any knowledge of it.

"The state community college system's legal staff (said) that courses are presumed to be taught in English, and until further notice courses are to be taught in English."

For now, Hioki's class -- as well as Computer Information Technology 101 and at least one other class in library research -- will be offered next semester as "bilingual" classes, not in Spanish, he said.

But the debate over teaching in foreign languages at the college has just begun.

"(Contreras de Finch's) efforts have caused a lot of questioning, which is good," Hioki said.

Issues to be resolved include how to transfer credits to another institution if a class is taught in languages other than English, whether or not there are sufficient books and other materials in the college's library in those languages, and if such classes do more harm than good when students look for work in an English-speaking society.

"Offering courses in a foreign language could end up slowing down proficiency in English and their assimilation into the culture," said Joe West, dean of curriculum and scheduling and a member of the Academic Standards Committee, which will be passing along recommendations on the issue in the fall.

At the same time, Palinchak and others in the college said speaking two languages is an asset.

"Bilingualism is an attribute of a learned student," Palinchak said. "You are more valuable to an employer and to society as a citizen. But how you go about it (at the college) is another question."

Cortez, an 18-year veteran at the college, said that a solution might be to offer some classes in Spanish together with a required class in English as a second language.

Palinchak said he asked the Alianza Latina group of which Cortez is a member to come up with recommendations on the issue as well.

"For now, I'm deferring to those who know better," he said.

Cortez said the college is taking giant steps by even considering the issue.

"This is historical," she said in Spanish.

"We have shown that there is now a group of professionals in the college who are willing to struggle for the needs of the Hispanic population, and (there also is) an administration that listens to us."