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June 21, 2021 - 6:00 AM
A group of Vernon Spanish speakers are offering free language classes that will benefit travellers. All they ask in return is an entertaining travel story.
Mexicanos en el Okanagan is looking for 20 enthusiastic residents living in Vernon and Coldstream, who would like to learn essential Spanish travel phrases.
Potential students will have to submit their funniest story related to a language barrier when they visited a Spanish-speaking country. They will have a week to post their story at IloveSpanish Vernon, according to the group’s news release. Teachers will select the funniest stories.
The entertaining storytellers will be given two classes per week for a total of eight classes. Each class will run for 20 minutes and will start in the second week of July.
“The students who attend all of their classes will receive a symbolic graduation certificate which will be given during a graduation event where they will practice speaking Spanish with Spanish speaking members of our community, enjoy delicious Mexican tacos, pastries, and live Mexican music,” according to Mexicanos en el Okanagan.
Aida Sanchez and Fanny Chapman, administrators of the Facebook page, said it’s important to learn and practice Spanish for those who own property or who travel to Spanish-speaking countries, because it’s a good way to promote diversity and inclusion within neighbourhoods.
The IloveSpanish Vernon project is funded by the Community Foundation North Okanagan and the Vancouver Foundation.
“The City of Vernon is receiving more Spanish speakers every year and there are more coming because they are attracted to the beauty and warm weather of the Okanagan, the Okanagan College, and The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot. Let’s make them feel welcome and share their language with our neighbours,” Chapman said in the news release.
Vernon is one of two cities in the province to embark on the immigration project. The project intends to bring skilled immigrants to cities and towns outside of the larger metropolitan areas of Canada. In Vernon, the program is administered by Community Futures North Okanagan and available to employers within a 40-kilometre radius of Vernon.
READ MORE: Vernon to embark on immigration pilot project
Mexicanos en el Okanagan’s Facebook group has nearly 2,000 followers from the Okanagan, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, and Mexico.
The purpose of the group is to create a virtual safe space where people can feel confident because they can read news, get the essential and trustful information that they need in their own language, provided by people who understand their needs and have the same cultural background, according to its press release.
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