Scout Interpreter Day Held for 2005:The Year of Languages
by Christi Moraga

Four girl scouts from the Marlborough-Hebron area are the proud recipients of the Scout Interpreter Strip, a badge designed for scouts who can speak and write in a language other than English, with the idea of interpreting for scouts or visitors who need help communicating. New “Interpreters” come from Troop 5220: Katie Harazim for French, Maggie Boon for Spanish, Allison Ledwith for Spanish and from Troop 5037: Ania Jomard for French. This opportunity was arranged by Christi Moraga, World Languages teacher on the Committee of 2005: The Year of Languages, and Linda Zimmer, Girl Scout Leader of Troop 5220. The language evaluation took place on April 8, 2005.

In order to receive the interpreter strip, scouts must prove themselves in four areas of language: a) carry on a conversation in the target language, b) write a letter in the target language, c) translate orally a short text, and d) translate in writing a short text. Mrs. Moraga created three meaningful linguistic and cultural situations in which the scouts needed to prove their linguistic proficiency: art museum gift shop, café, or ski resort. The girls imagined that they were traveling abroad to a Scout Jamboree to a country where they knew the language, but other scouts with them did not. On their way, they stopped off either at a museum or a café and had to interpret for their fellow scouts. For example, at the Museum Gift Shop of El Museo del Prado in Madrid, one scout had to read the prices and special offerings of the museum, write down notes in English, explain the set up in spoken English to her fellow scout and then interpret for her in Spanish to the pretend gift-shop owner who spoke no English. The girl who spoke no Spanish wanted to “buy” a poster and the interpreter had to find out how much it cost and whether she wanted it wrapped flat or rolled up in a tube. There were real posters, books and postcards on the table from El Prado. Finally, the scout had to write an email in Spanish to a key pal in Spain, explaining the museum experience and/or talk about the upcoming experience at the jamboree (campfires and/or activities). Another scout chose the French café situation, in which she had to order French food from an authentic Parisian menu for her friend who spoke Spanish, but not French. A third situation to choose from was to rent skis at Portillo, Chile or Mont Tremblant, Canada.

The Interpreter strip is available in a dozen languages and more can be added per need. Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts who speak and write another language are encouraged to get evaluated, since one never knows when the need will arise to interpret for a fellow human being. For more information regarding scouting, write to Linda Zimmer at lin.die@erols.com. In order to set up another Scout Interpreter Day, write to Christi Moraga trigal@comcast.net. To see more activities for 2005: The Year of Languages, visit the following websites: www.yearoflanguages.org and www.ctcolt.org.

Return to the CT COLT Year Of Languages Scrapbook Page