This story is also available in Spanish, as translated by Rocio Rios
During his freshman year, Union High School student Caiden Mizrahi-Boyarsky, a native English speaker, asked his Spanish-speaking family members to help him learn that language, too. By his sophomore year, his teachers started asking him to translate for fellow students, he said.
“I talk to other students about this all the time, because it’s kind of a universal experience, and a lot of students are more than happy to step up,” said Mizrahi-Boyarsky, 17. “But also it’s sad that these students that are here for an education are just feeling like they have to rely on other students.”
In Evergreen and Vancouver, Clark County’s two largest school districts, about 18 percent of students aren’t proficient in English. The districts tap special programs, technology, and, yes, even fellow students to serve them.
Although state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction reports use the term “non-English language learners,” Evergreen and Vancouver call them “multilingual learners.” The term is more representative because some students are developing proficiency in multiple languages, said Brig Williams, Vancouver’s language development specialist.
Evergreen Public Schools
Mizrahi-Boyarsky said teachers have had him sit next to multilingual learners so he can translate. He said some students want to be fully immersed in English learning, but others get flustered when they don’t understand a math problem or writing prompt.
“I see the students feeling embarrassed, and it’s like sometimes I want to help, but then at the same time, I’m so tired of it,” Mizrahi-Boyarsky said. “When they’re not understanding a thing, that’s when it hurts my heart. I’ll be doing my work, and then I hear (teachers) trying to speak to a kid, and I’m like, do I step in?”
During the Feb. 25 Evergreen school board meeting, the board’s student representative, Nevaeh Peavy, suggested providing translation and instant language access devices. She said her peers have expressed concerns about “newcomer students needing translation in the classroom, and that sometimes students are being asked to translate.”
Evergreen currently doesn’t have a districtwide practice for translating in the classroom, but plans to pilot instant language access headphones for immediate interpretation later this month in 20 different classrooms around the district, Evergreen spokesman Mike Tokito said in an email.
Each Evergreen school has an instant language access device in the main office where one person can speak into the tabletlike device that will translate the words into any language. The district also has dual language programs and English language services to support multilingual learners. Out of 21,940 Evergreen students, 4,114 are multilingual learners this school year, according to a report from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
“Translation and interpretation devices provide a temporary bridge for immediate communication and can support initial comprehension, but they are not a long-term solution for language development,” Evergreen’s Director of Multilingual Learners Veronica Magallanes wrote in an email. “While these tools offer access to information, they do not teach English and, if overused, may unintentionally isolate students.”
Vancouver Public Schools
Vancouver offers a dual language program for students learning Spanish or Mandarin, but in English-based classes, the district allows students to use a laptop, Chromebook or iPad for translation support. Students have access to Google and Microsoft translation, although Kami is a leading option for older grades, Vancouver spokeswoman Jessica Roberts wrote in an email.
Kami’s features let students translate all or portions of a text to read in their preferred language and complete their work in Canvas, a web-based learning management system.
Another tool Vancouver students can use is Read&Write, which is integrated into the Chrome web browser to translate specific words or phrases with picture options. Teachers also have access to these communication devices to build lessons to help language learners, Roberts said.
However, not all languages are represented in each of the corporate translation services, Williams said.
Depending on whether a student has attended American schools for all or most of their education or if they’re a newcomer, “there’s different needs and best practices moving forward from one level to another,” Williams said.
It’s a great benefit to have some multilingual students who already know the content help other students, he said. Vancouver has 3,957 multilingual learners out of 21,951 students this school year, according to a report from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
“Our main support is what we call comprehensible input, and that is the model that we use, specifically in Washington state, but in Vancouver Public Schools where our job is to make the instruction comprehensible to the students, and sometimes that would include simple translation as well,” Williams said.
