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This story was printed from redandblack.com.
Site URL: http://www.redandblack.com.
Students volunteer as interpreters
By MITCHELL GRAHAM
Published , October 19, 2001, 12:00:01 PM EDT
This week, University students studying a foreign language stepped out of their campus classrooms and into elementary school classrooms to serve as translators.
Forty students in intermediate Spanish and French classes volunteered their Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday afternoons for parent-teacher conferences at Chase Street Elementary School.
They acted as interpreters between teachers, who speak only English, and parents with different native tongues, said Lilly Erp, the school's employee-parent liaison.
Erp said the idea for student volunteers at the school came from her husband, a former University student.
"He saw the necessity of the students to practice (language skills)," Erp said. "They go to the University, they go to class, they have the knowledge, but they don't have an environment where they can practice."
The students' role in the conferences filled a need at Chase Street for people proficient in a foreign language. There is a bilingual "hole" at Chase Street, Erp said, where 30 percent of the children are Hispanic. But there are only two bilingual instructors.
She said the University students helped fill that hole this week, when they sat down with the families and teachers to review the children's academic performance.
Ten of the student volunteers were residents of Mary Lyndon residence hall's Spanish community, which decided to "adopt" Chase Street, said Monica Ruiz-Melendez, Spanish teaching assistant and graduate resident coordinator for the Spanish language community at Mary Lyndon.
"Not only are they improving their Spanish, but we are taking the University setting outside of the boundaries of the academic institution and bringing it into the community," Ruiz-Melendez said.
Sadler Croft, a sophomore from Atlanta and Mary Lyndon Spanish community resident, visited Chase Street Wednesday and Thursday. She aided a child's father, translating his questions and the teacher's responses.
"He was very enthusiastic," Croft said. "He was really glad I was there."
Students interested in volunteering at Chase Street can contact Erp at 227-7843 or the Romance Language Department at 542-1075.
© 2001 The Red and Black Publishing CO., INC
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