“No lo sé” (“I don’t know”), according to most Geography staff members who are taking José Saleta’s free lessons in Spanish during their lunch hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Staff members were initially and unanimously enthusiastic about José’s generous offer (and all of them quickly learned the word “fantástico”), but you do what you really want to do!
The class began August 28 with 8 members and has now settled down to 5-6 regulars. The class is using Wikibooks’ “Spanish-Aprovéchalo” for a text, and José has managed to get us to Chapter 2 after 7 classes. Geography staffers are overworked and underpaid and can’t always even take time off for a lunch hour, but José is “formidable” (oops – is that French?) as a teacher and keeps the staff coming back for “más.” He makes the subject interesting and fun, he keeps reminding everyone that “there’s no such thing as a stupid question,” and he really knows his p’s and q’s – or should I say ñ’s and ll’s?
José’s offer to teach is unconditional. He makes no demands and gladly shares his expertise. Like Don Quixote, he may be tilting at windmills, but his objective is both noble and generous. We are fortunate to have such talent, generosity, and dedication in our department – ¡Viva Jose, el profesor!
