Advocacy, Translation and Interpreting: Equipping Foreign Language Teachers to Meet Community Needs
Research shows that foreign language teachers in new-growth immigrant communities are often the only bilinguals available to broker communication between the school and the community. However, that work necessitates a skill set (translation, interpreting and advocacy) not included in universities' foreign language teacher education programs. Why not equip our foreign language teachers with some basic knowledge and skills related to translation, interpreting and advocacy while they are still college students--before they face the pressures and anxieties of doing high-stakes work for which they have not been prepared. This presentation by Prof. Soria Colomer (U of South Florida) and Prof. Ann Abbott (U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) at ACTFL 2013 does the following: 1. Outlines the situations foreign language teachers face in new-growth immigrant communities. 2. Provides specific examples of how we can integrate advocacy, translation and interpreting into FL and FLTE education. 3. Suggests foreign language community service learning gives FL and FLTE students an idea of immigrant communities' needs while they are still in college.
