CARICOM, in association with the Organisation of American States, will be holding a Workshop for Teacher Training in the Delivery of the CARICOM Primary Level Enhanced Spanish Curriculum, on November 7-10, at The University of the West Indies, Mona. This workshop is being coordinated by the Latin American-Caribbean Centre, and constitutes the third phase of an OAS/CARICOM Project. It will entail the training of trainers who will, in the next phase of the project, train Primary Spanish teachers in their respective countries. Participants will include representatives from all member states apart from Haiti.

CARICOM Countries have recognised the critical role of foreign-language competence in response to the need for effective interaction between countries of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds in this rapidly changing and highly competitive global environment, and especially within the context of regional integration. Statistics (2002) show that the 5,700,000 English-speakers in CARICOM Countries are surrounded by a community of 225,000,000 Spanish-speakers. This suggests that strategic action must be taken to promote the involvement of our people at all levels of regional interaction. The preparation of our children to participate in this dynamic, modern and pluralistic world requires the nurturing of their linguistic competence and socio-cultural awareness from an early age.