ABSTRACT
In this chapter, students of Beginning Medical Spanish will acquire the necessary oral communicative skills that will allow them to arrange appointments with patients and negotiate scheduling difficulties using the vocabulary of the days of the week to describe their schedule. They will learn how to communicate about the time of the day (la hora) using the verbs (ser) and (tener). This is a particularly helpful chapter for medical staff or professionals regularly in charge of scheduling appointments. In addition, students will also be able to identify and elicit information about daily and weekly activities by using the present tense of regular -ar verbs. Lastly, they will further develop cultural awareness of the fluidity of the Hispanic notion of time for some members of the Hispanic population and will learn to respond with humility when discussing expectations of punctuality with their patients with regards to medical visits or appointments. They must keep in mind that sometimes the patient may be late or not show up for an appointment if they have a family obligation and they may not understand that this might be seen negatively in the U.S. It is important to find out what personal circumstances may impede the patient from being present at an appointment or visit.
