I had an experience with a social worker at a school recently that inspired me to write this email. Before I do, I want to share that this social worker is fantastic -- passionate about helping kids, is action-oriented, and good at her job. But I continue, because I think it paints a picture of misses and near-misses that happen in schools across our country every day.
Imagine a scenario with me. We have a counselor, a student, and a parent, all of whom are native speakers of English and are speaking English to each other. Nothing out of the ordinary here. The parent has come in to meet with the counselor, and it has been arranged for the fourth grade student, Maura, to be present as well. This is how the meeting starts ... Counselor: Can you tell your mom “Thank you” for coming in today? Student: She says thank you for coming. Mother: You’re welcome. Counselor: Tell your mom that you told me she and your dad are getting a divorce, and I want to talk about how I can help you get through this time. Student: [doesn’t say anything] Counselor: Can you tell her that, please? Student: [uncomfortably] Uhm, Mom? You know how you told me you and Dad aren’t going to be married anymore? I told my teacher. And now Ms. Peters wants to talk to you about it. She says she wants to help me, because, uhm, she says it'll be hard and stuff. Mother: [stunned silence]. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We might expect the next thing this mother to say is, “Why is my daughter part of this conversation right now?” and she might be quite upset, and rightfully so. When we read this scenario, it is clearly a very bad decision to involve this child in this way. So obviously bad, in fact, that no one would even consider doing this. Yet the competent, passionate, eager social worker I spoke to recently had this very plan in mind for a parent meeting the next day. Why? Because mom is a Spanish-speaker, so she thought, well, Maura speaks Spanish and English, so she can be my translator, and I’ll just keep things basic to make it easier for her. If we wouldn’t do this with English-speakers... if it is clearly a horrible horrible idea for English-speakers... if we know it is detrimental to the child’s well-being and is the opposite of taking care of an English-speaking child... if we know that it is bad for the trust and relationship with the English-speaking mother... Then why on earth would we do it to a mother and child who speak a language other than English? (And let me clarify that this meeting with this particular social worker did not wind up happening this way; the social worker was given clear instructions and used a professional interpreter to conduct this meeting without the child present.) You might think, well we never use students as interpreters at my school. I would ask you, how sure are you about that? Are you positive that there is never a time when a well-meaning, otherwise competent staff member might have asked a student to help them communicate with their parent? Even if not, you might think, well, we have a teacher who speaks Spanish, and she’s the ELL teacher anyway, so she already has a relationship with the families, and she would translate in this meeting. Let’s dig into that a bit more, too. Let’s assume the ELL teacher is completely fluent in Spanish and won’t have any language gaps, won’t struggle with any vocabulary or constructing correct, professional sentences. What would the ELL teacher otherwise be doing at this time? Would she be teaching Maura and several of her classmates a lesson they will now miss by no fault of their own? Would she be planning a lesson to deliver next week, which she will now has to rush? What will happen after this meeting? Will the ELL teacher continue to play the go-between between counselor and mom on an ongoing basis, continuing to pull her from her instructional responsibilities, not just today but ongoing? Having been in this situation myself, the answer is most likely yes. Using a fluent staff member (unless their job responsibilities officially include translation and interpretation, they are trained in such and have regular time to do so) creates inequities for the very same group they are being asked to interpret for. It’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul. And it is completely avoidable. That is why I decided to leave my ELL Coordinator role and help schools full-time, to implement protocols, training, and accountability across their schools, to avoid situations like the one above. I will be helping schools create equitable language access for the parents while letting the child be a child and allowing the teacher to help that child learn and grow. At my own schools, non-ELL staff use of in-person interpreters and translation services increased more than seven times from the 21-22 to the 22-23 school year, and their use of phone call interpretation has increased by more than six times. Again, that is not including ELL staff communications. As a result, families have better access, ELL services are uninterrupted, and staff are gaining greater insight into the students and families they serve.
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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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