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FEDERAL WORKS AGE2JCY WORK PROJEC'1.1S .Ailil-iI:HS'.L"RATIOlJ For Release Thursday , September 18 , 1941 20 , 000 A..."DJ,IY Al-ID NAVY FLIERS TO TAKE WPA SPA.'1>.JISH CLASSES f A greatly expanded program of Spanish i nstruction for the flying pers onnel of both the Army and Navy air forces was announced today by Commi ssioner Howard O. Hunter of the Work Projects Administration . The instruction is to be furnished by WPA teachers of the Adult Education Program under a $415 , 644 supplementa ry project recently approved by the President and certified for national cl~fense purposes "by both the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy. The courses are designed to provide an elementary speaking and r0ading knowledge of the Spanish l a ng,uago for approximately 15 , 000 members of the Army Air Forces and 5 , 000 of the lfavy 1 s air arm . Mr . Hunter also said that a now beginner ' s text in Spanish , especially adapted to the needs of tho air forces , has been :;:>ropar cd oy staff members of the Adult Ed.ucation Program and will be off the presses within the next week . Fifty thousand copies of this ha ve already been contracted for by the Army Air Forces and a somewhat smaller number by the NaV'J . "This now progrrun is an extension of a much smaller progrnm which was initiated early in the summer, 11 Hr . Hunter addecl . 11 At thn,t time, at tho request of Ma j . Gen. H. E. Arnold, Chief of the ,A,rn.y Air Corps, the WPA sot up a project for Spanish instruction for the officer personnel of the Air Corps only . "Meanwhile , the Navy hc_9,s r equested a like service for its flying personnel and the Army has de cided to extend tho instruction to the noncommissioned as well as commi ssioned officers of the Air Forces. This involves an expansion of almost 100 percent in the present program. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2270 - 2 - "Members of our military and nav a l air forces are expected to be ai~ong our ~os t effective American re;ublics . tj 1 amb assado rs of good wills to the Centra l and South It is i n)ort an t, if they are t o ca.r:i;y out their ;·:1issions there efficie11tly , that they be able to use t he language . 11 The i•JPA has on the r olls of its Adult Education Program 2. l a rge nu.mber of p ersons quali f ied to te gch Sp anish a s we ll a s other foreign lai.1c,u c,ges . Tl1.is ~)ro g1• ,:un ma:rns it poss ible for t h ese unemp lo yed :peop l e to earn their security w2.ges by j_Jar ticiyati ng in the national defense l)rogram. 11 Tho Si)0..:.1.i sh toP.ching J rojec t is 2.lrend;:,r opero.,ting ri..t 40 .Axmy air st at ions with a tot a l of between 7, 000 and 8 , 000 commissioned officers receiving instruc tion . Q;u.arte1·s are provi ded on t h e }_)o sts by the Army and the 1·T.P A te a chers arc brought in each cle.y from nearby cities and t owns . oporath1g , t n.e ) l·o gram enrploys only a bout As curro:1.tly 150 teache rs, but this number l) robably will be incroa,soa. to 400 as t i:10 eJr._9a..'1dcd J)ro gram gets under way. Their WPA wages average be t we en $75 and $80 a month , a lthough many ho ld degr ees and t eaching certific a tes. Tho now text book, •1hich he,s b oon p rolJa,r ed. ui1dcr t ho d ire ction of a group of l a nguage s i) ocialist? by staff mo:·:1bors of tho 1:!PA Adult Education Pr ogram, is ::.:irobably u niq_uo, 1-'b.· • Hunt or said. It nakos use of a v o c abulary of approximately 600 S:panish words E:.nd its mas tery is OXJ.JOct od to g i v o t ho student an ability to di s cuss airpla~es , fl y ing , flying c onditi ons , and to c a rry on simple co nversations on general top ics as well . Mos t of the less ons a re concerned. wi th t he fictiona l ex:i?loHs of 11 Juan y Carlos, 11 two American aviators who make a forced l anding near a South .American t oun . To the na tive s t he~r exi)lai n what ho.s ha,pcned to their plane, arrange to ge t ne cessary parts and seek dire cti ons t o t he neare s t to \m where they on5 agc r oor:1s at a hotel and order f ood. They c ommuni c a te with t h o .Anoric an consulate , go oBigltiz~tr8fPing tour, at tend sever a l soci ~ igt,WR~ ons, and in tir.10 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2270 - 3 - return home with two South American aviators with whom they have bec<?me friendly and show them arou..~d an J.xmy air field in the United States. The book is of a siz e to fit the po cket of a flying sui t 1 cont 2,ins several air pla:1e charts with ea.ch part label ed in S1)ani sh, a map of South and Centra l .America and an exhw.stive vocabulary of mil!tary and technical words and phrases . - -0000000- - - Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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