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Photo by Reed Hutchinson UCLA Photographic Services |
Rafaela Elena, left, and Sherrod Hastye. |
Spanish spoken here
By Anne Burke
Today Staff Writer
Sherrod Hastye, a manager at University Apartments South, studied French in high school. Unfortunately, je m’appelle Sherrod doesn’t get him very far with the Spanish speakers on the cleaning crew.
So Hastye decided to go back to school. Once a week, he joins about 20 other supervisors from Housing and Hospitality Services for a two-hour class in Spanish language and culture. Meeting in a classroom off the Covel Commons cafeteria, Hastye and his classmates are slowly learning simple phrases, like el libro es azul (the book is blue) as well as cultural traditions that may affect workplace interactions.
Hastye’s course, which started in mid-September and will last 24 weeks, is a pilot program conceived by Staff Affirmative Action consultant Lee Walton and director Linda Avila.
“I looked at the increase of minorities on campus, particularly in the Hispanic area, and I noticed that sometimes management would encourage Spanish-speaking employees to take an ESL (English as a second language) class,” Walton said. “I thought, wouldn’t it be a great idea to flip that and, instead of putting the onus on the employee, have management be more proactive and allow their supervisors to learn how to speak Spanish?”
To gauge interest, Walton sent an e-mail to Housing and Hospitality supervisors who manage Spanish-speaking employees. “Within one day, we received a response back from 31 managers. That’s when we knew there was a need and an interest,” she said.
The course has two instructors. Susana Zárate from Santa Monica College handles the language instruction. Psychologist Jorge Cherbosque, co-director of the Staff and Faculty Counseling Center, handles the cultural component.
“The idea is to try to make an inclusive environment here at UCLA,” Cherbosque said. “That involves having employees learn English and (American) culture, but by the same token, teaching managers about the languages — in this case Spanish — of employees they supervise, so they can communicate and understand better.
“We also want to transcend language and go into the culture — the values and norms and rituals,” Cherbosque continued. “It’s about creating bridges between supervisors and their employees.”
Cherbosque offered this scenario demonstrating cultural miscommunication. A supervisor asks a Spanish-speaking employee in front of her coworkers if she can work on Sunday. Fearful of offending the supervisor in front of others, the employee might say yes, even though she has no intention of doing so because she has an important obligation that she can’t miss.
When the employee doesn’t show up, the supervisor might think she’s a “flake,” when, in fact, she was obeying the norms of her culture, Cherbosque explained.
A better strategy might have been to take the employee aside and ask her privately if she could work on Sunday, Cherbosque suggested. “The sender is the one who’s responsible for making sure (the communication) is clear,” he said.
Hastye is already using his Spanish with Rafaela Elena, who works for Premier Building Maintenance Services, which handles cleaning and landscaping for University Apartments North and South. Hastye needs to talk to Elena on a daily basis about one aspect or another of her duties, which include cleaning the leasing office.
In the past, “I would talk to her in English, and she would answer in Spanish,” he said. They somehow understood each other, but it wasn’t a particularly satisfying way of communicating, he said.
Now Hastye is able to greet Elena in her first language — “I’ve got the como está, muy bien down pretty good now,” he laughed — and he’s trying to learn phrases that will help articulate specific needs. Hastye takes his class seriously; he practices at home and watches Spanish language TV.
Avila said Staff Affirmative Action will evaluate the course after it ends. It’s possible that it might be offered in another language or to supervisors in other areas of the campus. |
