There was a time when I was the Spanish funnel for my district. If something needed to be communicated to a Spanish-speaking family, I was the person asked to do it: translate this newsletter, call this family to schedule this IEP meeting, check with these parents to see if it’s okay for this child to attend this field trip, interpret in this parent-teacher conference. Many times I was not only acting as translator and interpreter, but I was placing calls on behalf of other staff members: calling a family about a vaccination update on behalf of the nurse; scheduling a conference on behalf of the classroom teacher; calling a parent to get her dismissal preference on behalf of the front office. I should note that I was not a paid staff interpreter or family liaison. I had a full-time instructional role. There was a time when I thought I was being helpful. When I thought this is what access to information and community must look like here. When I thought this is necessary, so this is what I will do. I no longer think that way. And if you see yourself or your schools in this email, then I very much hope my tip this week is helpful. Tip of the WeekHave a couple one-liners ready to go for when folks in your school try to “funnel” communication through just one person. This way, you won't be left speechless, you won't jump to agreement, and best of all -- you'll respond in a way that triggers consideration of communication equity. The StoryBack when I was my district’s Spanish funnel, I didn’t know that what I was experiencing was happening at schools all over the state and country. Talking with other people at other schools and districts clued me into the fact that this was a widespread phenomenon. Last spring I spoke to two ELL teachers from another state. One of them got particularly animated when I brought up communication equity … the one who shares a language with her families. Here was her problem: her job is to teach ESL to middle and high school students. A recurring issue she experiences weekly is that while pushing in to support an ELL student at the high school, she will receive a call from middle school admin asking her to translate a suspension letter for a middle school student and to call the family to communicate the suspension to them. First issue: Discipline is not this person’s job. Not only is making this person the Spanish funnel taking away from her ability to do her actual job, but she is not trained in interpretation, including its code of ethics. Even though she speaks Spanish fluently, this is a no-no in the eyes of the Office of Civil Rights. Second issue: High school students are now being robbed of the instructional support they need because their only ELL teacher is being pulled to do something that is not her job. But there’s more. This ELL teacher was tasked with interpreting all the bilingual parent-teacher conferences. But because there are over 100 students and just one ELL teacher/Spanish-speaker, they had to “prioritize” which students were invited to a conference. The ELL teacher, who feels deeply committed and accountable to her students and families, wants all students to get a conference. So her idea for a solution was to have teachers complete a Google Form to answer questions about each student, and then she would do all the bilingual conferences for all Spanish-speaking families by booking a room all day and relaying the teacher comments to all the families. First issue: Not all students were offered a conference, though I can guarantee most of those parents want to know how their child is doing. By prioritizing the students with “problems,” the school is missing the opportunity to collaborate with parents and create an opportunity for a student who is doing fine to do great. Plus, this denies some parents their right to a conference. While students from English-speaking families might be "prioritized" as well, the de-prioritized conferences can still happen because the parents have access to sign-up and participate without any special assistance. English-only households are not ever excluded from conferences. But the same practice does, in fact, exclude multilingual households. Second issue: This ELL teacher’s “fix” for the problem would make it so classroom teachers never had to call a Spanish-speaking parent, never had to sit in the same room as a Spanish-speaking parent, never had to look into the eyes of the parents of the students whom they teach every day. In sum: The situation in those schools is creating all sorts of inequities for bilingual students and families because they are operating as if a Spanish funnel is the way it works ... and it does not work. This makes me all kinds of mad. And I’ll bet it does you, too. Call to ActionHere are two of my favorite one-liners for when a school is trying to funnel all family communication through just one staff member, whether that is the Spanish teacher, the ELL teacher, or just the one person on staff who speaks the language of families. Take these and use them:
Faster TogetherPart of the issue here is that the person tasked with building, fixing, or improving multilingual communication, or communication equity systems, is also tasked with a 524 other high-priority things. Hello, public education. Having been in these shoes before, I know viscerally how much time and energy it takes to tackle just this one issue of communication equity.
That is why I am here to help. If you know this is a problem at your school or district, but you don’t have the capacity to make and/or execute a plan, that is what I do! If you are interested in getting some help:
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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
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