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Simply Ieva

When to Use Professional Interpreters vs. Bilingual Staff for Communicating with EL Families

Let’s talk about translation in the world of multilingual teaching. It is a bigger topic and covers both the translation of materials in the classroom and translation of school communication with EL families. Today, I wanted to focus on the other side of translation, namely best practices for communicating with EL families of our students who do not speak or understand English, but with whom we need to keep in touch. In this episode, I will review the laws and requirements that the schools must follow when considering hiring a translator, as well as an overview of 4 mistakes that can present very clearly if we decide to use just the bilingual staff instead of professional translators for this purpose.

What you will hear about in this episode:

  • Importance of Translation in Communicating with EL Families
  • Laws Governing Translation Services in Schools
  • Common Mistakes in Using Bilingual Staff for Translation and Interpretation
  • When to Use Bilingual Staff Effectively

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