Police Officers Begin English and Spanish Classes
On March 15, a group of 90 Curitiba city police officers started classes in English and Spanish. The foreign language courses are the result of a partnership between the Municipal Social Defense Secretary and the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR), and is part of preparations for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
The Police Force is working to achieve excellence. They have top-notch professionals who will be even more prepared as a result of this course. They know that the World Cup and Olympic games will attract tourists and institutions from around the world. It is therefore essential that officers speak other languages.
“In public safety, communication is key,” says Municipal Social Defense Secretary Nazir Abdalla Chain. Thirty officers will study Spanish and another 60 will study English. The course will last three years, with two classes per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, each class lasting two hours.
In the agreement signed by the Secretariat and the University, classes will be conducted by professors from the Department of Foreign Languages Academic UTFPR, and each participant will purchase his own textbooks, which will be used throughout the year.
Officers enrolled in the course were selected from a group of volunteers. They were chosen based on criteria such as length of service and fewest absences. According to secretary Chain, the partnership was only possible thanks to the instruction management of the Municipal Guard and the UTFPR Director of Corporate and Community Relations, Professor Nicholas Afonso Barth.
