Illinois Wesleyan University is bridging the language gap for District 87 students and their families.
Pre-law student Celina El Ghossaini is the founder of the registered student organization credited with offering interpretation and translation services to families of students in Bloomington’s District 87. The Multilingual Accessibility Club was born from El Ghossaini’s struggle to connect nuances in the English language and concepts in her constitutional law class.
“We talked about the Warren Court, and that was about Chief Justice Warren. I didn’t know what the Warren Court was and everyone was talking about Chief Justice Marshall, I didn’t know what a chief justice was at that point," said El Ghossaini, a Lebanese immigrant raised in the United Arab Emirates who immigrated to the U.S. when she was 12.
El Ghossaini said in this instance, homophones created confusion.
“I knew about justice as in ‘this is just and this is not.’ You need some cultural awareness and context when you are an immigrant or the child of immigrants," she said.
El Ghossaini believes differences between standard English and academic and context-heavy English, along with differences in schooling between U.S.-born and immigrant students, lay the ground for confusion. According to social scientists, psychological distress in non-native English speakers may at times be associated with external acculturation.
El Ghossaini knew she didn’t experience anxiety in a vacuum.
“I thought about other people who, there may be even some basic things they don’t have access to — like parents and parent-teacher conferences — who aren’t able to engage in the schooling of their children. That should never have to change with a language barrier," she said.
Director of Multilingual Programs for District 87 Kimberly Taber was onboard immediately when El Ghossaini approached her to offer translation services. Taber said the district uses technological tools and a sprinkling of community interpreters to meet their family’s language needs.
Taber said the student volunteers have filled the gap.
“I can just reach out to Celina, and say, ‘Hey, we need Tajik today, or hey, for student conferences we are going to need these three languages, can you help us out?’ And so far, the answer has never been no," Taber said.
Shachi Sharad, who volunteers for the club, remembers fear gripped her when she immigrated to the U.S during middle school.
“I didn’t go to elementary school here, and I just remember feeling so out of place and panicked all the time. I was really the only Indian girl in my grade. I was just thrown into a school where no one understood me. It was very nerve wracking. I just had to do it on my own," Sharad said.
Sharad said helping a student’s family of Indian descent at District 87 encountering similar problems her family overcame was transformative for her.
She thinks El Ghossaini’s club facilitates the parent’s ability to help their children thrive academically.
“I was able to help the parents understand what they needed to do for the child, and I helped the teacher understand how to help the student," Sharad said.
Pranav Patel is coordinator of the Hindu temple BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir. Patel said there are about 200 Gujarati families living in the Bloomington area, and around 450 in Central Illinois. He said 70% of Gujarati families speak English, but for the 30% who don’t, in-person interpretation services are best.
“The Gujarati language binds your culture. There are just some words that can’t be translated into English. You can try, but the meaning changes.”
Hindi is the national language in India and Gujarati is spoken in the state of Gujarat, said BAPS Gujarati Language Classes Coordinator Priyangi Patel.
“There are 26 states in India, and every state has a different language,” said Priyangi Patel, who teaches Gujarati every Sunday to Indian American students. She said for Indian intergenerational families living in the U.S., transmission of their mother-language is crucial for communication.
“They learn their mother-tongue, and that’s easy for them to communicate with their grandparents and form an attachment. Otherwise, it’s very hard for them," she said.
Pranav Patel and Sharad echo the need for interpretation services for families from different regions in Indian living in Central Illinois.
El Ghossaini’s club offers Interpretation services in 23 languages, and she’s hopeful volunteers will continue registering.
District 87 plans to partner with El Ghossaini’s volunteers during registration season. So far, they’ve provided interpretation services in French, Uzbek, Russian, Tajik, and Gujarati.
