Baldwin-Whitehall School District pilots new translation software for those who speak Nepali talk
Holly Niemi, an English as a second language teacher at Baldwin High School, teaches students from all over the world. The district has only one ESL student in 1996. Students in classes there now hail from such diverse locations as Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Russia, Vietnam, Rwanda and Nepal. That can make it challenging to send a note or reminder home to parents, who may have little familiarity with English.
To make school and family communication simple and effective for those speaking a foreign language at home, the Baldwin-Whitehall School District piloted a newsoftware program, Talking Points. The application, which is free to download, allows parents to receive translated text messages from the district and to send translatedresponses and ask questions.
The pilot program focuses on those speaking Nepali, the largest foreign language population in the district, which comprises more than 650 families. Baldwin-Whitehall began the program with the 2020-21 school year and so far, 180 parents or guardians havedownloaded the app.
It works, said Marissa Gallagher, director of student services. “There’s definitely great back-and-forth dialogue. I’ve sent out districtwide messages through Talking Points, and I’ve gotten a number of questions or responses immediately that I was able to efficiently answer, whereas in the past, we would have sent out an email, and there would have been no way [for some families] to reach out quickly with the response or question.”
Users receive the message in whatever language they’ve designated and type their messages in their home languages, and the message automatically translates in the app. The app supports more than 100 languages.
Ms. Niemi said she has used Talking Points to send parents reminders, including that report cards are coming out at the end of the first semester. Because the app is in the pilot stage, she also sent the message via an interpreter.
Ms. Gallagher explained that a lot of the district’s interpretation and translation was either done through large documents or in-person translators during parent-teacher meetings. The missing piece was how to communicate the simple daily messages between faculty or staff and families such as, “Your student had a great day” or “She left a lunchbox in the cafeteria.”
For example, Ms. Gallagher said one student was not logging on the district-provided laptop for hybrid classes. Through messaging back and forth on Talking Points, she found out the family didn’t have a charger, and the computer’s battery was spent. She was able to tell them a charger was available at the school, and the family picked it up that day.
Ms. Gallagher noted that some families who speak Nepali may not be able to read Nepali or speak different dialects, but Ms. Niemi said they have the option to listen to messages through the app. Ms. Niemi also mentioned Talking Points has really helped families of students who are no longer enrolled in ESL programs.
Baldwin-Whitehall purchased the software license for a year, and Ms. Gallagher said the district plans to continue the pilot program through the end of the academic year. Then the district will decide whether to continue or expand the use of Talking Points.
The district pays per student for unlimited messaging through the app, but moving to a districtwide license means “a very sizable price difference,” Ms. Gallagher said, hence the decision to test Talking Points first.
Currently, 382 students in the district see an ESL teacher and another 50 haveESL teachers montior their progress. And about 23%of Baldwin-Whitehall elementary-age students speak Nepali.
Ms. Niemi didn’t see Talking Points as a replacement for oral interpretation. Rather, the app will serve as an additional resource to accommodate families.
“As a district, we’re pretty innovative and trying to think outside the box and do new things and take risks, and this was just one area that we’re just sort of catching up with the times,” she said. “We text message our friends and family all the time. And so why not try something in our normal lives we do and we use to communicate?”
The idea for using Talking Points in Baldwin-Whitehall came from a brainstorming session in a group called Project One, which focuses on building and growing district partnerships with community organizations.
“I just think the most important thing is we are really making a concerted effort to communicate with our families, especially during this time,” Ms. Niemi said, referencing the pandemic. “We always have, and we’re continuing that for the future.”