Schools
Volunteer Interpreters Help Stamford Immigrants, School System
Building One Community recently provided interpreters to help with communication between parents and teachers.
From Building One: Spanish/English volunteer interpreters, organized by Building One Community – The Center for Immigrant Opportunity, attended parent-teacher conferences at Stamford schools on December 12-14, to help immigrant parents and teachers communicate. Schools who welcomed interpreters include Roxbury Elementary School, Newfield Elementary School, and Springdale Elementary School.
Interpretation services were also provided by Building One Community volunteers at Rippowam Middle School’s Open House earlier this fall. Interpreters help both parents and teachers to express and understand the experience of the student, whether it is at home or at school. With the assistance of interpreters, teachers and parents can discuss ways to better support their student(s) and encourage them to learn. Children who grow up speaking a language other than English at home are more likely to fall behind grade-level reading by the 4th grade, which can impact their ability to keep up with classmates in middle school and high school. By providing interpreters, Building One Community aims to create a dialogue between immigrant parents and teachers to prevent or address difficulties that immigrant children face in school.
Image via Shuttershock
