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RESOURCES FOR WORKING WITH ELL
FAMILIES
Working With Interpreters and Translators in
Schools
Translated Materials to Download
Children's Dual Language
Books
WORKING WITH
INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS IN SCHOOLS
Although the two terms
are currently used indiscriminately, in professional terms,
interpreters translate orally and
translators produce written
documents.
Interpreting is much more difficult that it might appear to
monolingual speakers. Interpreters must have excellent memory,
processing and auditory skills and be able to accurately convey
meaning at a rapid pace. Many words cannot simply be re-said in
other languages because they might not exist.
Translators must have
a superior understanding of the grammatical and idiomatic nuances
of two languages. In many cases, a larger number of words need to
be used in written foreign languages than in English, to convey the
same meaning.
Working With
Interpreters
- Always select trained,
competent, experienced interpreters or translators.
Don't ask children, family members or whoever happens to be
available to interpret/translate.
- Allocate time before
the meeting or event to meet with the interpreter and
explain the purpose of the meeting-event and the most important
information you want to convey - give the interpreter the
information in writing, if possible.
- During the event or
meeting ask presenters or public speakers to use short and simpler
phrases, avoid jargon and idioms, provide concrete examples and
stick to the subject.
- Important: While
talking during the meeting PAUSE…. every so often and wait
until the interpreter has finished translating to start talking
again. If you don’t pause, what you said is may not be
interpreted properly.
Having Materials
Translated
- Take time to read the
material you want translated and check for timeliness and relevance
to bilingual parents. Make sure the material is written in concise,
simple language. Remove jargon, idioms, technical language,
acronyms i.e PTSA, WASL, ASAP, LEP, ESL.
- Literal translations
cannot happen in most situations. There are many words, phrases or
notions that simply do not exist in other languages.
- Check for the right
language or dialect your audience speaks. Does the language
(dialect) have a written form?
- Important: Always
define statements or situations, explain the purpose of events or
meetings in all materials to be translated. Do not assume the
translator or the reader know what you are talking
about.
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TRANSLATED
MATERIALS TO DOWNLOAD
TransACT /EduPortal
One of the best ways to involve bilingual families is to provide
them with materials in their native language such as a "Welcome to
Our School Poster" in 23 languages. Seattle Public Schools has
partnered with TransACT to provide school staff with a translation
library of generic documents (GenEd Parent Notifications) for use
in the content areas of: Health and Medical, School Administration,
National School Lunch Program and Special Services. An overview of
other services provided is listed below.
TransACT® GenEd
Parent Notifications are available in the following languages:
Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Bosnian, Cambodian, Chinese, French,
Haitian Creole, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Lao, Portuguese, Punjabi,
Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Tigrigna, Urdu and
Vietnamese.
Accessing TransACT/EduPortal: Visit the
“inside site” for Seattle Schools and click on
“TransACT/EduPortal” or visit www.transact.com. To access this
service, you must have a user name and password. If you are
not already registered, follow the registration instructions below
to create a user account.
TransACT User Registration:
Step 1: Go to www.transact.com
Step 2: Click on
‘Login’ (left side of page)
Step 3: Click on ‘First
Time User? Register for Access’
Step 4: Follow the prompts to
create a user account.
Step 5: Click on the link in
the verification email you receive after you register.
Step 6: Go back to www.transact.com and log
in.
An Overview of TransACT/EduPortal
Services
TransACT provides mandated
parent notification letters in multiple languages along with
compliance guidelines for No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Special Ed
(IDEA), the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), TITLE I, III, IX, and X;
national school lunch program; health, medical and immunization;
school site administration for parent notifications; and special
services.
Washington State EduPortal® is a
versatile and powerful tool, containing more than 12,000 resources
specifically selected for Washington school leaders including fully
searchable WACs, RCWs, ERS bulletins, OPSI bulletins and memoranda,
OSPI administrative law judge decisions, Attorney Generals
Opinions, WASA resources, and more.
Need Assistance?
Contact TransACT at support@transact.com or
(425) 977-2100.
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CHILDREN'S
DUAL LANGUAGE BOOKS
As a part of a
literacy backpack project, The Washington Reading Corps recently
compiled a list of dual language children's books
in English and the following languages: Amharic, Chinese, Hmong, Khmer, Lao, Samoan, Somalian,
Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese. Visit this link for lists of books,
including publisher and purchasing information.
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