Thread: WHY NOT!:Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation

Published December 28, 2010

Teachers in a town in Pennsylvania are taking Spanish courses to communicate with parents who speak little or no English.

Karen Quinn, a teacher in Reading High School in Pennsylvania, finds herself unable to connect with parents at her school.

Latinos make up about 75 percent of students in the Reading School District, and Quinn says she has a tough time communicating with parents who speak little or no English.

"It gets lost in translation, literally," said Quinn, an itinerant support specialist at the high school.

So, Quinn decided to do something about it.

She joined 25 reading teachers and administrators in volunteering to take a new "Spanish for Educators" course at Penn State Berks.

The course focuses on the basics -- key Spanish phrases and vocabulary that school staff can use during the school day and in the community.

The training already has proved useful, said Kirsten Eppler, a third-grade teacher of English as a second language at 16th & Haak Elementary School.

"It helped us get through parent conferences," she said.

The district paid the nearly $30,000 bill for staff to take the introductory course.

"It gets the message out there that we care about our community," acting Superintendent Frank J. Vecchio said. "And that's what it's really all about, reaching out to the people we serve."

While participants say they are thrilled with the course, many are disappointed that the school district has decided not to pay for a level-two class.

"We got such a good start," said Stephanie Frill, a second-grade teacher of English as a second language at 10th & Penn Elementary School. "It's a shame not to keep it going."

The school board decided not to fund a level-two program, Vecchio said, because the district needs to focus first on getting as many staff members as possible introduced to Spanish.

Another 25 staff members are set to take the entry-level course in the spring. The district will pay for that as well.

"We're looking for the most efficient way to provide Spanish lessons for educators and staff," Vecchio said.

He said the level-two course would have cost the district an additional $31,025 for 25 people.

Teachers and administrators who complete the entry-level course can proceed to the second level if they find another way to pay for it.

The school board also has given the go-ahead for an in-house Spanish-language program. In that effort, three teachers -- two from the district and one outside contractor -- will guide a course introducing staff to basic Spanish. The program is budgeted to not exceed $13,050.

But some teachers who took the first Penn State course said it's unfortunate the district isn't being more supportive of the advanced class, particularly given how much the teachers got out of the introductory course.

Tina Buchter, a third-grade teacher of English as a second language at 12th & Marion Elementary, said the district will pay for up to nine continuing education credits per year, but most teachers are enrolled in master's or doctorate programs and don't have any credits to spare.

"And I can't afford to pay for it on my own," she said.

The entry-level class, taught by Penn State Berks Spanish instructor Susan Langkamer, was held once a week during the fall. The final session was Dec. 14.

Frill believes that her efforts to learn Spanish have emboldened some Latino parents to try to communicate in English.

"The walls come down," she said. "They see you're trying, and they smile and they feel better with trying to speak English."

LeAnne Zettlemoyer, a music teacher at Northwest Middle School, agrees that parents of Latino students seem to be noticing the change.

"It can be very frustrating, and I can see the frustration on their faces," she said of parents' struggles to communicate. "They definitely appreciate the effort."

"You're trying to meet them in a way that no one has tried to meet them before," added Buchter.

The impact of the Spanish lessons also is noticeable through interactions with students, said Shannon Darlington, a gifted-support teacher at Northwest Middle School. Darlington said she now is able to better communicate directly with Spanish-speaking students and doesn't have to rely on other students to help.

"A lot of times the kids would have to translate for each other," she said. "And that's not really fair to the students. Now, I can have more of that direct communication with them."

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2 ... z19VQpRQdC

Anything else we can do for you?

Oh yes... lets continue with all of the Bi-lingual B.S so that the kids or their parents NEVER HAVE TO LEARN ENGLISH The kids and their parents should be taking ENGLISH CLASSES WTF Is wrong with this country Why are we letting ILLEGALS force their culture and language on us **** THIS

Ditto that!
I'd like to see statistics or anything else that shows this country caters to ANY particular ethnic group other than Latino/Hispanic. How can they continuously scream that we are racists when everything we see and hear screams that it IS Hispanics that our tax dollars are supporting above all other immigrants illegal and legal.

Hopefully the teachers are learning how to say, "Learn English, you are in America now" in Spanish.