In recent years, the Lansing area has experienced an increase in the diversity of newcomers’ countries of origin. The Lansing School District alone is now home to students from 65 countries speaking 55 languages!
In an effort to help the Lansing community meet some of the linguistic challenges posed by the Capital Area’s increasing cultural diversity, the Refugee Development Center, Michigan State University’s Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, and Office of International Students and Scholars, the Lansing Public School District, and the faith community have established a partnership called: “Uniting Languages: The Community Interpreter Project”.
Launched in the fall of 2009, the Community Interpreter Project is seeking to build a database of volunteer interpreters in the Lansing area. At this time, the main job of volunteer interpreters has been to attend parent-teacher conferences at several schools in the Lansing School District. The goal of this project has been to facilitate parents’ conversations with teachers about the behavior and academic progress of their children.
Interpreters are oriented on confidentiality, standards of interpreting practice, and cultural awareness. If you know someone who is bi-/multi-lingual and would be comfortable interpreting in an educational setting, please contact Shirin Kambin-Timms at skt.refugeedevelopmentcenter@yahoo.com.
The RDC is excited about this partnership and its capacity to help support our new neighbors!
