Last year I taught an ENL class ….
Last year I taught an ‘English as a New Language’ (‘ENL’) class through The Reclamation Project (‘TRP’) in the home of a Burmese family. The students who came to the class had been in American anywhere from several months to nine years. When I taught lessons that required them to use their address or to request emergency help on the telephone, either they couldn’t provide the information or were unable to articulate it clearly enough to be understood by me.
Over the years I have had many family members and friends, as well students and clients that speak other languages with various degrees of accents. I’ve acquired a sort of “filter” that fills in the gaps when they speak. If I couldn’t understand my new Burmese students, what would it be like for a 911 dispatcher receiving a call from them?
I paid a visit to the Fort Wayne Communications Department, where I met Dawn McGahen, Training Coordinator. She explained that the different languages can be difficult to deal with. The City of Fort Wayne has a contract with Language Line Services, an interpretation provider located in California, to assist them. The City pays by the minute, with different languages being different rates. Last year the bill was more than $3,600.
There can be a time delay waiting for an interpreter and the phone line will go silent. Consequently, callers sometime think that they have been disconnected and redial 911, thus complicating the link-up and delaying the emergency response time. Ironically, while I was visiting Dawn on one occasion, a Burmese woman had redialed eight times! She could only say “Burmese.” Sadly, the inability to say an address in English, contributed to several fatalities in Fort Wayne last year. Dawn agreed with me that a presentation on making emergency phone calls was needed. Dawn provided me a copy of the dispatcher training manual to review. From this, I gleaned the dialog taught to all dispatchers. Three parts are evident: (1)“entry” questions asked immediately on contact with the caller, (2) the questions relevant to the specific emergency and (3) the “disconnect “ comments based on the status of the arrival of emergency help and/or dispatcher work load.
My next visit was to Jim Murua, Assistant Chief Fire Marshall, who ranked the most frequent calls received involving the Fire Department, allowing me to create/organize a series of scenarios to share with students. I’ve recently requested the Police Department to do the same for me.
Based on the input from Dawn and Jim, I’ve created a PowerPoint presentation that they both have reviewed and approved for use. Additionally, I’ve created a role-play component that uses communications equipment donated by Digital Communication Products, Inc. of Fort Wayne. This gives the students an opportunity to role-play and/or observe some of the conditions presented in the PowerPoint. The students are then provided a bilingual hand-out as they leave that summarizes information.
This isn’t a one-man show. I enlist the help of local people that can translate and/or interpret to assist me. When they’re available, I like to use South Side High School students so that they can develop self-confidence and provide community service. So far, we have reached about eighty-five students through TRP, St. Patrick’s Church and the YWCA.
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