Language initiative

ESTEPONA Town Council has launched a new service of interpreters for foreign parents of children attending schools in the town. The initiative was developed through the Area of Foreign Residents and Municipal Delegation of Education and has been extended to cover secondary schools.

This project gives the parents the ability to express themselves in Spanish, assisted by an interpreter should they encounter any problems. Communication then proves to be more fluid which assures nothing is lost in translation keeping the academic performance of the student as the main focus.

This service is developed thanks to the collaboration of a group of 14 volunteers who offer translations in a total of 10 languages – English, French, Russian, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Norwegian, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Arabic. The project creates a relationship between teacher and parent allowing them to monitor their child’s school life together and providing better support or reinforcement if required.

This pioneering service has been well accepted among the educational community, which considers it as a very useful mechanism for educators, as it represents a significant improvement in communication between teachers and parents.