Jim Pancrazio

For the past five years Professor James Pancrazio of the Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Department, along with students from his Latin American Culture course (LAN 244.15), has driven to Chicago to assist Little Village schools on parent-teacher conference days by helping interpret for parents who can’t speak English. Nearly all of Pancrazio’s students plan to become teachers themselves.

For parents who don’t speak English, having a conversation with a teacher who does can be difficult. Pancrazio has established a system of “roaming interpreters” to help aid with the translation process. It is an opportunity for Illinois State students to practice their skills in a controlled environment, as well as to experience first-hand how teachers interact in a parent-teacher conference.

“I first became involved in this project when I was awarded a Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant by the Chicago Teacher Pipeline, a multi-year grant that was secured by the College of Education to support schools and provide teachers in urban areas,” said Pancrazio. “Initially, I restructured my course and added a number of new components, one of which was a field experience in Little Village.” Pancrazio talks to his college students about conveying cultural perspectives here. He tells them Hispanic parents often spend lots of time expressing gratitude for teachers’ work and that they might end up translating conversations about immigration or health, since the school may be parents’ main connection to this society.

Of course, the students are translating a language, but the interpretation is more complex and complicated than a simple translation.  Beyond language, ideas that can cause confusion about schools and parents’ role in schools may surface, and students are able to play a role in resolving these issues.

Actor Tim Mooney

Actor Tim Mooney, author of Acting at the Speed of Life: Conquering Theatrical  Style, will perform his entertaining one-man show, Molière than Thou, in English on Wednesday, October 26, at 7 p.m. in the Kemp Recital Hall.

The event is organized by the French Club and funded by a grant from ISU’s Office of Registered Student Organizations. Admission is free, but donations to the Scholarship for French Study Abroad Endowment Fund will be gratefully accepted at the door. Suggested donations are $2 for students and $3 for others. 

Mr. Mooney is the former founder and editor of The Script Review and was the Artistic Director of Chicago’s Stage Two Theatre, where he produced nearly fifty plays in five years. While most of Stage Two’s plays were original works, when they turned to the classics, Mr. Mooney found himself taking on the hilarious world of Molière, eventually writing seventeen hilarious rhymed variations of Molière’s plays with an impish sense of rhyme.  He continues to present Molière across North America, recently expanding his repertoire with Lot o’ Shakespeare (featuring one monologue from every Shakespeare play), while teaching classical acting and occasionally performing his other one-man sci-fi thriller, Criteria!