SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – U.S. Soldiers assigned to Task Force Northstar are scheduled to meet with Salvadoran officers and enlisted soldiers who can speak basic English. They will get the opportunity to improve on their conversational English during the duration of this year’s Beyond the Horizon mission.
Civil affairs specialists Sgt. 1st Class Danilo E. Figueroa who lived in San Salvador, El Salvador for the first 16 years of his life, and Sgt. Neil Arrieta, both with the 451st Civil Affairs Battalion, out of Houston, Texas, are taking on the project of helping Salvadoran soldiers better understand English. The goal is to give the locals who currently speak basic English opportunities to talk about miscellaneous topics and learn words and phrases they don’t currently know.
Salvadoran soldiers are occasionally given opportunities to travel to the U.S. for leadership courses and career development, such as platoon leadership courses and logistics classes. Opportunities like this give them the chance to improve on their English and get more from the training they receive in the states.
"We're taking officers who will be offered opportunities to take military schools in the U.S. and giving them conversational English, so they can be better prepared for the course work ahead,” said Arrieta. He also added that many of the Salvadoran soldiers can speak English better than they think, they’re just timid about making mistakes when speaking in English.
It’s important to be building relationships with the locals and communicate with them on what they want to learn, said Figueroa. He explained that he believes some of the officers most likely want to travel to the United States because they believe it will benefit their military careers.
Throughout the duration of BTH15 both Arrieta and Figueroa will be helping translate for Salvadoran soldiers and helping them with their English.
When we walk around the forward operating site, we stop Salvadoran soldiers and ask them how they’re doing, explained Arrieta. Instead of speaking to them in Spanish, they will do so in English. My hope is that, by speaking to them in English, they will become more comfortable speaking it themselves, he added.
“It means the world to me to come back to my home country and help anyone,” said Figueroa, “whether it’s something as simple as having a conversation...or establishing friendships.”
| Date Taken: | 04.07.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.21.2015 12:59 |
| Story ID: | 160702 |
| Location: | SAN SALVADOR, SV |
| Hometown: | SAN SALVADOR, ES |
| Hometown: | HOUSTON, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 144 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Salvadorans say adiós to only speaking Español, by SGT Sarah Anwar, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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