WHITELAND, Ind. — Being the new kid at school is already hard. Now, imagine trying to study in a language you don’t understand, but all your classmates do.
Some new technology could help bridge that divide, and students in Johnson County will be the first in Indiana to use it.
The “translation station” produces the same, familiar hum of any old copy machine, but it could soon sound like music to the ears of kids who aren’t used to understanding everything they hear, or read, at school.
“This machine is a game-changer,” Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation culture & belonging coordinator Ruby Butler said.
Nearly 300 languages are spoken by Hoosier students, but that doesn’t always mean their instructors speak them too.
“We have students that come to our district and this is the first time they’ve ever been in American schools, period,” Butler said. “It’s just a very diverse district, probably more diverse than a lot of people know.”
The Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation is the first in the state to try breaking that language barrier for kids learning English and their families, by installing this device – the translation station.
“In lieu of having personnel that speak all 60 some languages, which isn’t always very feasible, this is definitely a really good solution,” multilingual learner district specialist Sarah Ambler explained.
The user can insert various kinds of documents – from tests, contact forms, flyers, even handwritten notes – into the machine and select from more than a hundred language options, like Punjabi, the most common second language in the district. Then, watch as a translated copy is printed. Although it’s physically located in the high school, staff members from any campus in the district can access the program remotely.
“It is so important for us to be able to communicate with our families,” Butler added. “We have been diligently trying to figure out how to get this done. So for us, this is just the beginning. Hopefully, it’ll open up more doors. Like I said, this is going to be a game-changer for Clark-Pleasant Community Schools.”
Almost a quarter of students in the district are multilingual, bringing about 60 different languages to Clark-Pleasant. Where before, some students and their families may have felt like outsiders, now – the staff hopes to send them home every day not only with important information and comprehensible homework, but a sense of inclusion.
“You should have seen their eyes when they saw the document written in their native language,” Butler said. “One of them said, ‘My mom can read this! My grandma can read this!’ because it was accurate, and it made sense to them.”
Butler says common programs like Google Translate are often only 75% accurate, or less, and can’t be trusted to properly communicate tone. This technology gets it about 95% right, and can be used remotely by teachers in any of the district’s schools.
“I imagine once word gets out about what this device can do, we’ll start to see these pop up around,” Butler added. “But let it be known, Clark-Pleasant was first.”