Community Practice One

     The activity I chose for my first community practice is using the Spanish language at my job. I work at a daycare and one of the students in the three year old classroom comes from a Spanish speaking family. Although her and her mother can speak English fluently her grandmother who often picks her up knows no English at all. She was interested in knowing if the child ate her lunch that was sent today but didn’t know how to communicate with the supervisor. I overheard this conversation and translated explaining that the child refused to drink the milk at snack and would not eat her fish and rice for lunch. The grandmother was upset by this but I was able to explain that she was not feeling well and that might be why. I could tell that she appreciated my translations and was thankful someone knew how to communicate in Spanish. I think that this experience was very beneficial and I was lucky enough to know basic words such as leche, pescado, and arroz to explain which of the foods the child refused. My boss was extremely impressed with me and she thanked me for helping her in that tough situation. I think that it is important for employers to hire at least a few employees who are bilingual or have some basic Spanish knowledge in order to help accommodate to all of the families and students at the daycare.