Have you talked to your ESOL and bi-lingual teachers? We had a couple that would translate written materials and would translate at meetings. It made a difference in terms of parental involvement.
Maggie - I am fairly certain that there is software available at places like Best Buy where you type in English and it translates to Spanish for you. Another alternative (which would be my first choice) is that the National Honor Society Students at the high school level need a certain # of community service hours in order to get into and stay into the program. Contact the advisor at your high school and ask for volunteers - FREE and the kids prefer things like this to cleaning up at the local animal shelter sometimes.
We translate ours into Spanish. Our computer has a translation program, the only draw back is that it is a literal translation and doesn't always pick up on idioms. I would find someone who is fluent in both languages to do it for you.
By the way, I think this is a wonderful idea. I am on the flipside of that coin, being an English speaker in a Spanish speaking society, and I get so flustered when I don't understand what I'm reading or being told. With the influx of Hispanics into the US school systems with parents who don't speak English, we do a great disservice to these parents by unintentionally discluding them. There is a huge wealth of talent & energy just waiting to be tapped.
Hi guys, do any of you translate your newsletters, etc into other languages? I would like to be able to offer our information in spanish at the very least, I'm not sure how to go about doing this though. (the school wasn't exactly informative). Thanks, maggie
