TALKINGPOINTS

talkingpts.org

This free app allows teachers and parents to message each other in their preferred language: The teacher can send out a message in English, and the parent can have it translated into one of over 100 languages. Parents can also respond in their preferred language and it will be translated back for the teacher. It’s available as a mobile app or text-only for parents who do not have smartphones.

Brandie Wright’s school has a high population of families that speak Arabic and Spanish, and these families had always been harder to connect with than those who spoke English. As soon as she started using TalkingPoints, she started hearing from families that had never responded to messages that were sent out through the school’s other communication systems.

“When you create your student list,” Wright says, “you put the parents’ information in there, including the home language.” Once that information is set, all messages that go out to that family are automatically translated into that family’s preferred language. So you send a single message out to a big group of families, and each family receives the message in their home language. So this can be used as a single messaging system for all students.

Whether you have just a few families who don’t speak English or a large, diverse population speaking multiple languages, TalkingPoints can help you engage all families much more effectively.