|
Several weeks ago, I listened some of Leila Hormozi’s podcast episodes about building a high-performing team of employees. Even though the podcast is geared toward businesses, it struck me how applicable her lesson was to our work of building the new habit in existing teams to use translation and interpretation regularly. Leila says an employee does not believe a change is going to take place until they have heard you say it seven times; you should talk about it so frequently, employees/co-workers should associate your face with the change you asking them to do. TipReflect on how frequently you are talking about your translation and interpretation systems, and with whom. Reflect on what else you can do to become a walking billboard for the behavior change you are asking of people: translate everything written and provide interpretation for everything spoken The StoryIn past years, summer school enrollment has been a time of frustration for me and our multilingual families. Previously, I was not a part of this particular enrollment process, how it was being communicated to families, or what the deadline for summer school registration was. I would often receive texts from our parents who speak other languages asking how they can get their child or children signed up. The worst was when I would receive texts -- "How do I sign up Jazmin for summer school" -- after the enrollment deadline had passed. (I want to note that I do not say this to cast blame on my colleagues as failing in their duty. They are competent people working hard to provide for kids. Our responsibility is shared, and I had not yet found an effective way to collaborate horizontally.) This past year was different. It was the first summer school cycle after my overhaul of our communication equity training and accountability systems:
Nevertheless, I did receive a text from a family after the deadline, wanting to sign up her children. This time, I had the peace of mind that this parent received the information in her language, but like all of us who are parents have experienced, was simply overwhelmed by life and had missed the deadline. Still, I followed up on her request to see if there were openings. I explained the situation to the person who had spearheaded the summer school effort, saying, “I know everything for summer school got translated this year …” to which she emphatically responded, “1,000%. Because I had you in the back of my head!” That was a feel-good moment for me: I had you in the back of my head. I love that, because it told me I had communicated effectively, and my training was doing its work in spaces where I wasn’t necessarily present all the time. This also allowed me to differentiate my action-taking: I no longer needed to assertively advocate for a parent who was denied access. Instad, I could calmly explore options that remained to this parent. Call to ActionCheck this list of seven ways you can talk about communication equity without sounding like a nag or having people tune you out. Choose one thing you are not yet doing, and implement it this year:
If you decide to adopt one of these moves, I would love to hear from you! Just email me with your idea! [email protected] Faster TogetherMany ELL Coordinators or others in similar roles are keenly aware of the inequities in communications for their families who speak other languages, but they are also trying to solve every other problem in the world, that progress is hard.
Anne works with ELL Coordinators and others to help move schools along the pathway of noncompliant to compliant to equitable multilingual family communication. To find out more, just schedule a pressure free time to talk.
0 Comments
A really common challenge that is felt by school staff, and in particular by our wonderful folks in the front office, is the ability to make a family feel welcome in the moments while they contact an interpreter. Often times, calling or requesting an interpreter’s presence requires multiple steps and takes several moments. In the meantime, the family is left waiting – and maybe isn’t sure what is happening or if they are being taken care of. At the same time, the office staff wants to communicate with them, but is unsure how to do so. This is one problem that we can address through the use of a visual tool. Spanish TipUse visuals to support communication between office staff and families. (Don’t miss the free printables in the call to action!) There are many many ways you can implement this tip, but this week, we will focus on letting a family know that you are contacting an interpreter to help them. The StoryThis story is really everyone’s story. You have experienced visuals helping you at some point in your own daily life experiences: symbols that indicate which bin is trash and which is recycling, signage at the airport showing you where you can pick up your luggage, or a road sign letting you know that a big curve is coming up ahead. As teachers and instructors, we use visuals a lot in ESOL instruction (and just good instruction, in general) to facilitate students’ learning and acquiring of new vocabulary and content: anchor charts, illustrated word walls and word banks, color coding, and the list goes on. I have long provided visuals to participants of my Spanish for Educators classes to encourage conversation between staff (who are feeling nervous about using their newly acquired Spanish) and family members (who are feeling nervous about whether they will be helped in their language). In short, visuals are the bomb. With that in mind, you may already use visuals in the front office. There is a popular one with over a thirty languages informing parents of their right to an interpreter, and asking them to point to their language so the person helping them knows which language to request for interpretation. There are so many ways we can use visuals we don’t normally think of that go far beyond the typical “Welcome” sign or display of flags from families’ countries of origin. With intention and forethought, we can use visuals to facilitate the most common exchanges staff and families have at school to make them smoother and less stressful for all involved. Spanish Call to ActionPrint and laminate a simple cue card that office staff can point to while they are contacting an interpreter to loop families in on what is happening so they can rest at ease that they are being helped. Below are two you can simply download and print, each with a different feel, depending on your schools’ vibe. Of course you can always make your own, too – and in any language(s), not just Spanish. Both of the designs below say, in Spanish, “Hello! Permit me one moment while I contact an interpreter. Thank you for being here.”
Faster TogetherIf you are eager to get your talking going in Spanish, build relationships, and you agree it is not something you do just at the beginning of the year, but that you do every day and it completely defines why you want to learn Spanish, enroll in Spanish for Relationship-Building, the only Spanish course built specifically to help people who work in schools build relationships with Spanish-speaking students and families. Starting in January 2024, it is a great way to start off the new year!  We have been talking about how to get PD time for communication equity in your district, and how to get it on your terms (e.g. enough time and not stuck in what’s left after everything else, live training and not asynchronous, etc.). Two weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of bringing other voices to the table so it isn’t just one voice (yours) saying it is important, but it is the whole school community. Today, I want to bring back a tip I shared a while ago: to keep a story bank throughout the year of things that happen due to families not having access to information, programming and people and the impact that had on the family and student. Today we will put it to a new use Tip of the WeekIn May I suggested you pull from your story bank to write case studies that you can use in your PD sessions to build empathy. (This is a strategy another friend of mine used recently to great success. In fact, he borrowed the case studies I had written, but for you, this will be so much more valuable if your participants recognize themselves and their families in the stories.) But this week, I want to highlight another fantastic use of that story bank: to persuade PD gatekeepers of the importance and urgency of training staff on this issue. Combine those stories with a shift in language away from "blah" terms like “multilingual communication” or “language access” to the big words like “equity” and “inclusion” and “civil rights law”. The StoryEarly last spring, I made a request for 90 minutes of “communication equity” PD time for all staff. It was more time than I had ever been given for all staff PD before. Our VP of Academics called me a few days later to ask me what “communication equity” was. It makes sense she wouldn’t be familiar with the term, because I haven’t encountered it anywhere else. I was just trying to think of how to describe what I was actually trying to do, and that language rang true for me. I have since heard other groups call it “language justice” which is great, too, but it can also refer to a much broader field of practice, and I still feel “communication equity” more specifically describes what I was trying to do. (But if “language justice” rings more true for you or will possibly resonate more with your colleagues, by all means, use that term!) In the course of that phone call, I was able to give her several concrete examples of what I meant and ways in which our immigrant and refugee families were being excluded: the students who was absent the first two weeks of school and the school didn’t call or take any action to support the student; the students who got excluded from summer school because their parents didn’t receive translated registration forms prior to the enrollment deadline; the many small and large barriers between families and parent teacher conferences. All these stories added color to what I was saying for someone who cares deeply about equity, about students and families, but does not have daily contact or personal experience with the multilingual community. The door to my 90-minute PD was opened, and the rest is history. But what is even better, is this same VP of Academics, when planning the next summer’s PD already had a placeholder for the topic before I even asked her for it. She had internalized (and documented) that communication equity training is a need, and this was now something that we needed to do every year to fulfill our mission for all students and families. While this story will play out differently in each district due to different systems, circumstances, and individuals, I would pose that while these two strategies may not be sufficient by themselves, they are important and highly effective pieces of the puzzle when making requests for PD time. Call to ActionKeep a story bank of things that happen when the school fails to provide equitable access to information, programming and people due to language. When you make your request for PD time, use “the big words” like “equity,” “justice” and/or “inclusion” and use 2-3 concrete stories from your bank to illustrate your point vividly for someone who isn’t in the work every day. Faster TogetherIf you’d like to get more information on support available to you:
Thank you for believing, like me, that all families are family. |
Anne TruranI taught, coached, taught again, founded an ELL program and taught and coached some more. From the border to central Texas to the Midwest. Now I work with schools to improve communication and connection with multilingual families. Archives
May 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed