Addressing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Needs Within the LGBTQ+ Community

nurse assisting a patient

Testing for more than 120 languages in over 60 countries, Language Testing International (LTI) has seen the ACTFL language proficiency tests applied in so many unique ways and capacities—most notably within academic, government, and commercial sectors. However, the nonprofit sector is another area that LTI proudly serves and in which we advocate for the use of language proficiency testing.

Nonprofit organizations that provide community services, for example, are better equipped to maximize their inclusivity and impact when their leadership, staff, and offered services are reflective and representative of the community they serve, and the languages spoken in them.

How is this accomplished?

In any industry—not just in nonprofits—an often-overlooked variable in determining the success (or lack thereof) of a provided service is based on the provider’s level of cultural competency. As a customer, consumer, or service recipient, do you feel seen, heard, understood, and represented? Was that service advertised or communicated to you in your primary language and delivered in a context and tone that was culturally and linguistically familiar, comfortable, and relevant to you?

These questions are all factors that human beings consider—be it consciously or subconsciously—when choosing a service provider; whether it’s deciding which retailer to buy a product from, which class to take, which vendor to hire, or often more importantly, whether one feels comfortable enough to seek help in a crisis situation.

Celia Patitucci is an HIV educator and certified tester who has worked on the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. In a recent episode of LTI’s podcast LANGUAGE IS YOUR SUPERPOWER, Celia shared key insights regarding the importance of language proficiency in the provision of culturally competent care through her work with Central Florida’s diverse LGBTQ+ community.

Celia’s work has included offering services, such as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), HIV testing, general medical guidance, and services specific to transgender and non-binary members of the community who, as Celia explains, are “part of the community that you have to be culturally competent” about, because “their needs are different than somebody else’s.”

As a native-Spanish speaker from Puerto Rico, Celia lives in Central Florida, which boasts one of the largest populations of Puerto Rican citizens outside of the island of Puerto Rico. Celia first became involved in nonprofit work after volunteering to help her local community in the aftermath of the horrific mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016, which happened on their Latinx-themed night. It was through her volunteering efforts that she noticed “there [were] not a lot of Spanish-speaking testers” to support the healthcare needs of the Spanish-dominant LGBTQ+ population in the region.

Celia obtained her HIV tester certification through a Department of Health sponsorship and began getting calls from local community organizations to offer her expertise, including her command of Spanish. As a native Puerto Rican, she also possessed the cultural competency necessary to understand, connect with, and provide appropriate interventions for persons who identify as Latinx.

“About fifty-percent of our clients are Spanish-speaking,” Celia shared. “I think also that that’s part of the community that for many years was not targeted.” Now, “a lot of agencies … are being more conscientious about having not only Spanish-speaking employees, but also, culturally competent employees.” The Spanish-speaking LGBTQ+ “population here in Orlando is mainly Puerto Rican. So, that’s very important for us to know how they think and why would they not get tested. There’s a cultural difference there with the Hispanic community. You have to be very clear with the way that you speak and the words that you use. It’s not just learning the language; it’s knowing the culture.”

It is work like Celia Patitucci’s that illustrates how the power of language extends beyond the more recognizable workspaces of business and academia. Many individuals from marginalized communities, who are innately competent in another language, cultural norms, and ways of communication, often wish they could find a way to help those in their community who are less fortunate or experiencing a crisis.

As Celia and many others have demonstrated, when language is a significant obstacle or barrier for meeting the needs of underserved individuals, adding language proficiency testing to the industry-specific required certifications of your outreach team can result in increased access to services, better health outcomes, and heightened social impact. Your organization can be an agent of change and a champion of the community you operate in during their greatest time of need.

To take steps to certify your employees’ language skills, visit www.languagetesting.com to get started.

Listen to Celia’s powerful story in our LANGUAGE IS YOUR SUPERPOWER podcast here.

Using AAPPL Topics to guide curriculum planning: An educator’s perspective

teacher showing something on the tablet to a student

Recently, ACTFL put out their comprehensive list of topics for the AAPPL. These topics offer excellent preparation for the test. I’ve also found them to be valuable in other aspects of my curriculum building and unit planning.

I began my teaching career in the formulaic era of Realidades and Paso a Paso‘s thematic chapters about amusement parks and bulk vocabulary memorization. Eventually, I had to revise my professional approach when I realized that, while my students were gaining a treasure trove of Spanish information, they were unable to apply this information and use it in ways that were meaningful to them.

I came across the AAPPL three years ago when my district investigated obtaining the Seal of Biliteracy for the State of Iowa. Having my students earn recognition for their skills was an important step in moving our courses forward. Professionally, I learned a lot of lessons in my experience with the AAPPL, such as investigating the ACTFL Can-Do Statements and critiquing my own units. The first time I looked at the topics the AAPPL covered, I had two important takeaways: 1) my curriculum included a focus on units and topics that were not covered in the test, and 2) the topics that are covered in the test are relatable and allow the students to make personal connections and use the language in a way that is meaningful. I began to use the AAPPL Topics as a curriculum guide—not to “teach to the test,” but to help create a curriculum that culminated with students being able to use the language effectively.

For example, I have always done a “city places” unit. Through my experience with the AAPPL, I shifted my focus from simply listing places in a city to being able to describe our community and provide information and support to visitors.

I use the AAPPL Topics that ACTFL provides and ask myself: How might my students have to use these in the future? How may my students need to provide explanations, information, advice, or descriptions about themselves and our community within each of these topics? This provides helpful direction and a great springboard for my unit planning throughout the year. I don’t tailor everything I do to the topics provided by ACTFL, but I always keep in the back of my head: Can my students use the information we are going over in class in a meaningful way? In what ways can I incorporate technology and innovations into what we are doing? In what ways am I preparing my students to give information about community service options in our area?

While looking at these topics, I discovered missed opportunities for different perspectives in our curriculum. It doesn’t mean you need to add whole units on certain topics to your already full curriculum, but perhaps there are ways to incorporate some of those themes in your current units? For example, instead of adding an entire health and fitness unit, why not incorporate some of the basic themes of healthy habits in your existing food unit or your daily schedule unit? This is where I get a lot of professional support from the AAPPL Topics. It helps me enhance my existing units and find those everyday applicable angles or perspectives that help hook my students and boost their confidence that they will actually use the language in meaningful ways.

To reiterate, this is not designing your units to teach to the test but rather to teach towards proficiency. The topics provided are broad and general enough that no teacher could ever create units for the specific content covered on the test. Knowing that “animals” might be a topic on the AAPPL test could mean that your students will need to provide information on domestic pets or wild animals common in your area or learning about marine life in a biology class. It’s possible that using the AAPPL Topics to enhance my curriculum will not help my students with specific items on the test, but it does help create a solid foundation of skills that my students are confident in. That confidence of being able to use the language meaningfully, more than anything, is what yields positive results for my students.

Whether or not you are using the AAPPL test with your students, I find the topics useful to all teachers during curriculum analysis and to anyone looking to enhance their units to highlight everyday applications. Our world is ever evolving and so is our language and the ways that we can use it with our students. Revising or revitalizing our units frequently is a great way to keep the language relevant. The AAPPL Topics are helpful guides during that critique process and, in times when you need a more direct guide in your curriculum development, the AAPPL Topics can help crystallize topics that are truly essential.

Delivering Equitable Access for Advancement Opportunities

Woman studying online

A company cannot truly achieve a diverse and inclusive workplace without establishing equity and equitable pathways that remove the barriers to entry, access, and advancement for its diverse employees. One tangible way to create these equitable pathways is through education and job opportunity.

JetBlue’s Global Scholars Program provides major cost coverage for employees to pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree, ensures the opportunity for transfer credit acceptance, and offers licenses, certifications, job experience, and JetBlue training. JetBlue’s Global Scholars Program continues to push the boundaries of what an employer is and sets an expectation for what an employer should be. When it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, JetBlue chose to partner with Language Testing International (LTI) for one major reason: accessibility.

LTI is the exclusive licensee of ACTFL, whose assessments are developed based on years of research conducted by language proficiency experts and are recognized by the American Council on Education (ACE). The ACTFL measures practical knowledge. These assessments are designed to determine what a person can do with his/her language skills. Test preparation is not needed as the tests measure language acquisition over years of learning and practice. Any test taker who is language proficient can take the test.  In the case of JetBlue, testing with LTI allows crewmembers to take tests remotely, minimizing the complications and expenses of on-site testing and lengthy registration processes. The platform also allows crewmembers to take the tests from wherever they have an internet connection, on their own time, without interfering with work schedules or demands at home. The assessments are designed for test takers to showcase their talents. As such, the exams are segmented into categories: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Test takers have the flexibility to begin the exam in the section they feel most confident.

The ways in which exams are certified for college credit means that crewmembers, in all positions, are eligible to begin or complete a college degree. An average college course is valued at 3 credits. “Someone who is a native speaker, or who is at the expert-level in a language, can get 9 to 12 credits for a couple of the ACTFL assessments. That is a huge benefit to our crewmembers in the program,” says Nicole Lembo, the Manager of Talent Management/Academic Programs at JetBlue. Through language testing, native language speakers are given a significant and equitable boost in progressing both academically and professionally. “We definitely had internal crewmembers who, when they are looking to switch roles, take their LTI certifications and add them to their resumes as evidence of their bilingual capabilities,” says Lembo.

To take the next steps in providing equal opportunities to your employees, visit www.languagetesting.com to get started.

To hear more about JetBlue’s partnership with LTI, listen to our podcast with Nicole Lembo.

READ MORE –> Commitment to Enhancing Employee-Customer Relations

Your multilingualism can help you get your college degree faster

College graduate

Are you proficient in more than one language and looking to attend or finish college? If so, did you know that you may be able to utilize your multilingual capabilities to earn college credits? Here’s how it’s possible.

ACTFL language assessments, delivered exclusively by Language Testing International (LTI) are approved by the American Council on Education (ACE)—the major authority responsible for reviewing, evaluating, and determining college and non-college course credits. Language proficiency tests in speaking, reading, listening, and writing can potentially help provide you with entire semesters’ worth of college credits!

For what are approximately one-hour tests that require little-to-no preparation or studying and can potentially offset thousands of dollars and dozens of hours’ worth of college courses, the benefits of taking ACTFL proficiency tests are a no-brainer for someone who already possesses a second-language skillset.

A perfect example of our ACE accreditation-in-action is how LTI is helping some of JetBlue’s 20,000+ diverse crewmembers acquire college credits through the JetBlue Global Scholars Program, especially if they are already proficient in more than one language.

JetBlue’s celebration of the diversity of its crew members includes the opportunity for their employees to apply prior college credits, training, and licenses as well as on-the-job training and multilingualism toward their associate or bachelor’s degrees. In other words, JetBlue employees can leverage their technical and language skills for college credits.

The JetBlue Global Scholars Program is making the dream of earning an associate or bachelor’s degree possible for many of its crewmembers. And LTI is proud to be JetBlue’s language testing provider.

Passing just one of the ACTFL proficiency tests for a second language can earn JetBlue crewmembers up to 9–12 college credits, which helps them bypass three or four 3-credit courses alone.

Maybe now is the time for you to leverage your second language, too! Get certified with LTI.  Visit www.languagetesting.com to get started.