¿Spanish Anyone?

The Spanish Interpreters program is an organized service group that provides interpreting for local schools in the Provo School District. If it be parent meetings, Fall Parent/Teacher Conferences, or an array of other workshops, there is a high need of Spanish speakers help out in the community. I recently volunteered for a parent Literacy Learning Night at Sunset View Elementary School. This event, held in the library, was to help parents learn how to teach their children literacy activities at home. Due to the high Hispanic population, myself and 2 other students helped translate several activities/games that the parents could not understand. We were at Sunset View Elementary for about 1 ½ hours and the school even gave us a cool yellow fly swatter to thank us (the fly swatter is still displayed on our fridge).

            This program has established a connection with close to a dozen schools and is extremely easy to participate in. First, you need to contact Ryan Martin (spanishinterpreters@byu.edu) and ask for more information. He or another director will call you to see how your Spanish fluency is and then send by e-mail a Google Document of all interpreting opportunities. You simply write your name and phone number under the slots that you can interpret for and show up to the appropriate school.

            Another branch that is being established is an interpretation program at the local Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. You need to pass an interview and learn basic hospital terminology in Spanish. Volunteers can sign up for a weekly 4-hour shift interpreting for doctors. After 100 completed service hours, you can become a Certified Hospital Interpreter and put the certificate on your resume.

            If someone doesn’t know Spanish, then this might be a difficult service opportunity, but to those who do, take advantage of this opportunity. It is simple and low-stress, plus counts towards highly coveted community service hours!