SIS Overview

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Spanish Implementation Secretariat

SIS WELCOME

¡Bienvenidos al Ministerio de Educación Superior y Evaluación de Competencias!

Welcome and Greetings from the Secretariat for the Implementation of Spanish (SIS)

The Secretariat for the Implementation of Spanish or SIS was formed under Cabinet Directive on September 9th 2004 and formally launched on March 22nd 2005. It was formed as a unit of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and is currently a division of the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Skills Training.

The unit was specifically created to drive the Spanish as the First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in Trinidad & Tobago’s bid (at that time) to host the headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Even though the FTAA did not come to pass, it was felt that increased trade, educational, cultural and business relations with our Spanish speaking neighbours of the south warranted a unit such as the SIS.

As such, the unit went on to drive the SAFFL initiative through various measures. The SIS is pleased to be part of the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Skills Training and looks forward to enhancing the Ministry’s image and contributing to the long-term growth and development of the nation.

The SIS aims to continuously build an environment using creativity to enhance and stimulate interest and desire in learning “la lengua española” and about the regions dominated by this language. It is with great pleasure we welcome you to the Secretariat’s Homepage.
We invite you to make it one of your stops for information on learning and acquainting yourself with the Spanish language and the cultural ethos attached to the peoples and lands del idioma español. Remember… learning does not only take place in a classroom. Explore and have fun!

Spanish in the world

Spanish is a strategic tool in the internationalisation of our nation’s culture and strategic advantages. It is the driver for trade, and the vehicle of culture and values. It provides access to bodies of knowledge which otherwise would not have been available and is a generator of employment (tourism and hospitality industry, service industry, teachers etc.). It is the most widely spoken language in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. Latin America represents an extensive market: 515M population from over 44 countries (UNASUR, the regional union which encompasses all of South America (including heavyweights Brazil, Chile and Argentina), has a total GDP (PPP) of 7.9 trillion US dollars, compared with CARICOM’s16M population and 64.8 billion GDP (PPP) across 15 countries).

Did you know that?…

At least half of the world’s population are bilingual or plurilingual, i.e. they speak two or more languages.
Biliteracy brings with it many benefits: it makes the learning of additional languages easier, enhances the thinking process and fosters contacts with other people and their cultures.
Bilingualism and plurilingualism entail economic advantages, too: jobs are more easily available to those who speak several languages, and multilingual companies have a better competitive edge than monolingual ones.
The Romance languages include Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, among others.
Many countries have a number of regional or minority languages – some of these have obtained official status.

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