I know that we have been advertizing free trials for school districts, but I want to mention that we will do a free trial for any organization. You just need to tell us what you need, and we will be happy to deliver it to you--for free!...but not forever :)
I wonder if Ann Logsdon (2009) was reading our minds when she wrote:
"Web-based meetings, conducted on reliable equipment with adequate
Internet processing speed, can offer the interpreter and the [ESL] family more
opportunities to pick up on subtle meaning and non-verbal feedback to
improve communication in ways that cannot be accomplished by telephone
alone." (From the article "Top 3 Ways to Accommodate Parents of English Language Learners"
http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/publicschoolprograms/tp/eslparents.htm)
When Ary and I were first creating the business, we were saying, "We need to get FaceTime." We knew that it would be a powerful tool so that Ary could act as the liaison remotely, possibly for a variety of small schools who don't have the resources to hire a full-time liaison. We are one of the few in the liaison or interpreting industry that has FaceTime. Please leave a comment below if you know of another company that offers FaceTime.
FaceTime can be used for schools, but we have also thought that it would be a great program for helping dentists, lawyers, and chiropractors. We are definitely willing to let anyone try our services for free. You just need to go to www.advocatelatino.com and register. We'll take care of the rest.
I know that this blog is really starting to look like a blogfomercial. It actually is and was always meant to be. I have never considered myself a writer, and I probably never will. We have a new idea for a business, and I am doing my best trying to promote it.
I would love it if somebody could make some comments about something outside of the company, possibly related to communicating with ELLs or possibly not. I would definitely do my best to try to comment on it.
Our idea, by the way, is to create a company that acts as a Latino liaison for small school districts who cannot afford to hire a part-time or full-time liaison. We believe the need for this is huge. We also believe that many school districts might hesitate because of the fear of cost. That is why we are offering the best prices possible. You can read below (my second post) to see how I broke it down. We also believe that there are dentists, lawyers, and chiropractors in small communities who also could use us as an interpreter in their offices.
Right now, there seems to be two options for schools:
1. Pay $4 per minute for a three party call.
2. Pay $15 or more per page for document translating.
When the companies that created the two options above were thinking about who their customers would be, I doubt that many of them were thinking about schools. I hope they weren't. Most schools can't afford these prices. Also, only having these two methods of communicating at your disposal is not enough for the fast-paced environment of a school. Teachers don't always have the time to make a three party call. What if the parents aren't there? Then, they have to do it again. Also, three party calls can be awkward, and they can take a long time. With us, you can send us an email and we will take care of the rest with a two party call.
For three party calls, we can do it over the phone or on FaceTime. Imagine having an (extra) interpreter at your disposal at conferences. You wouldn't need to hire anybody. You wouldn't need to use children. You wouldn't need to leave with important information unsaid.
I guess I will get into something a bit more "bloggish." You'll see the bias in it, but I will write it anyway. I don't think it is right to have children do the interpreting for adults. It puts them in a awkward situation. They might be talking about themselves, their siblings, or their cousins. It might be about someone they don't even know. The school, when putting the children in this situation, might be breaking privacy laws. Schools need to have professional liaisons or interpreters ready at all times, no matter how small they are and no matter how few Latinos/ESL students there are at the school.
Take care everyone. To make it even more bloggish, I will just leave you with my number in case you have any questions. It is 715-821-0116.
The next blog will be about students who are not Latino. It will not be a blogfomercial because we do not service non-Spanish speakers.
Thanks for reading. Make a comment.
Eric
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