Inclusivity is at the cornerstone of everything Parents as Teachers National Center (PATNC) does. PATNC has translated many of its materials into a wide spectrum of languages. PATNC has collaborated with various programs to provide parent-facing materials from the Foundational Curriculum in Spanish, Somali, Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, French, Nepali, German, Greek, Korean, Portuguese and Turkish.
PATNC has partnered with Parents as Teachers programs around the country and the world to facilitate translation efforts. For example, in the translation of Somali parent-facing materials, Parents as Teachers collaborated with the YWCA Mankato and Wellshare International in Minnesota. The Minnesota affiliates pooled resources to fund the translation costs, while Parents as Teachers staff provided editorial services and built the materials into the online curriculum. Part of this work included the establishment of a glossary, reviewed by Somali-speaking Parent Educators, for the translation service to use to ensure the highest accuracy and relevancy of the translations.
PATNC has received grants to help support the cost of translation services and has collaborated closely with bilingual trainers to establish key terminology and review translations to achieve the highest level of quality for its Spanish-speaking training participants and parent educators.
Most recently, PATNC has also had all remaining parent educator resources from the Foundational Curriculum translated into Spanish and is in the process of reviewing and compiling these resources for professionals into an entirely independent and functional Spanish Online curriculum.
Additionally, a large number professional and model resources for affiliates are being offered in Spanish, such as the PAT Records.
Overall, there are about 300 parent-facing resources from the Foundational Curriculum (roughly 700 pages of content) available in Somali. There are between 30-40 available in Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, French, Nepali, with select resources (1-2) available in German, Greek, Korean, Portuguese and Turkish.
Moreover, there have been more than 100 Modified Reading Level and 20 Visually Adapted Handouts that have been created; these are designed intentionally for use with families whose primary language is not English to facilitate conversations when a resource is not available in the family’s home language.