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SpanishOnPatrol.com was founded by Kendal and Philipp Knetemann who live and work in Aurora, Colorado. The company was inspired by experiences both had as children when they came to the USA each speaking a foreign language. Although Kendal and Philipp both achieved complete fluency in English, they personally experienced the challenges of the language gap during their learning process.
During her 23 years teaching Spanish in American schools, Kendal designed and implemented courses to help kids get excited about learning a foreign language. During that time, Kendal observed the increasing challenges that would arise when teachers and staff were unable to communicate with monolingual, Spanish-speaking students. She began thinking about creating language courses focused on work-related vocabulary and phrases.
The idea crystallized while conducting Spanish language seminars for law enforcement. Officers attending the seminars expressed a need for more practice to reinforce what they had learned. With this in mind, Kendal developed a comprehensive course officers could easily access online whenever they needed.
Combining her teaching skills with Phillip's expertise in programming and web design, they launched their first interactive online course, in 2005. Today, thousands of law enforcement officers are using the phrases and "Alert Words" they've learned through the innovative online teaching methods.
With the success of SpanishOnPatrol.com, Kendal and Philipp applied the same concept to other professions. From teachers, healthcare and banking professionals, to customer service and real estate, the job-specific courses by MyspanishTeacher.com are helping many others excel when working with the Spanish-speaking public.
"I'm not attempting to make the country bilingual," says Kendal. "I simply want to help professionals and businesses bridge the communication gap when they interact with the Spanish-speaking community."
What makes SpanishOnPatrol.com unique is the hands-on method Kendal employs to develop each course. Through in-person interviews and observation of work-day interactions, she has crafted a comprehensive vocabulary of job-specific words and phrases for each course. Students are encouraged to ask questions about specific phrases or make suggestions for new vocabulary.
"Many students are surprised to find I personally respond to them," says Kendal. "It's important to me to provide the highest quality service and content to assure it is the best online resource of its kind."