A group of people of various ages, races, and genders standing in a half circle making a pile of alternating hands in front of them

TLC to Present 3 Workshops About Generational Diversity in the Workplace

These online webinars can be purchased individually or as a package. They will all take place from 10-11:30 a.m. Central.

April 4 – Understanding Generational Differences

April 26 – Positive Communications Across Generations

May 15 – Leveraging Generational Differences in the Workplace

Learn more or register.

Staff headshot of Janice Rodriguez

TLC Executive Director Joins CPS Board at TSU

Janice Rodriguez, the Executive Director at the Tennessee Language Center, has accepted a board member position at Tennessee State University. She will be serving on the advisory board for the College of Public Service, which will focus on recruiting, community engagement events, and fundraising.

Screenshot with give people at the top of the screen in Zoom windows and a big Congratulations screen underneath them

Congratulations to our Newest TESL Graduates!

TLC recently celebrated our most recent graduates for Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). They are the 62nd cohort to complete our TESL course.

Screenshot with give people at the top of the screen in Zoom windows and a big Congratulations screen underneath them

Black and green logo from CMCSS Clarksville Montgomery County School System

TLC Offers PD Training to Clarksville Teachers

Dr. Brian Barnett, TLC’s Director of World Languages, presented a professional development workshop to Clarksville-Montgomery County School System world languages teachers in February. The workshop was part of their in-service day, and focused on facilitating target language comprehensibility. This is the third professional development workshop he has done for them.

Navy square with landscapes of Tennessee used to color in the letters spelling out Tennessee

TLC Featured in Recent Podcast

The Tennessee Language Center was featured in the most recent In Touch With Tennessee podcast. The podcast is produced by the University of Tennessee’s Institute for Public Service. This one features TLC’s Interim Director of Interpretation and Translation Services (ITS) talking about our language services. It’s about 12 minutes long – check it out!

Hand holding a glass globe over a stethoscope to signify medical interpreting

New Medical Interpreting Students Graduate

Congratulations to the 14 students who graduated from the Tennessee Language Center’s Medical Interpreter Training session on Dec. 13. The students represented 3 states (Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma), 5 Tennessee counties, and two languages (Spanish and Mandarin Chinese). Mandarin Chinese was a new language for TLC and increases our total number of languages served to date from 7 to 8. TLC’s program prepares students to take the test to become a certified medical interpreter through either the CCHI or the NBCMI, the two organizations that certify medical interpreters in the U.S. Find out more about TLC’s medical interpreting program.

Gavel resting on a desk with a book and balance in the background to illustrate our Court Interpreter Workshop

Fall Court Interpreter Workshop Concludes

The Fall Court Interpreter Workshop had 26 participants representing 16 counties in Tennessee. For the first time, an interpreter for Karen, the language spoken in Myanmar and parts of Thailand, took the course. This workshop provided by the Tennessee Language Center is the first step in becoming an interpreter with the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Young hand holding older, wrinkled hand on top of hospital blanket

TLC Interpreter Webinar Focuses on End of Life Conversations

TLC presented a webinar on Oct. 22 for interpreters, especially medical interpreters, about interpreting for end-of-life conversations. With palliative and hospice care becoming more common, interpreters are often present for these conversations, and the workshop focused on how to handle them.

“The subject was very interesting, and it does not get covered a lot,” said one attendee. “This was one of the best webinars I ever attended.”

TLC Works to Improve Disaster Communications in Nashville

TLC has taken a leadership role in the newly launched Cultural Ambassadors for Disaster Communication (CADC) program. Together with the Nashville Mayor’s Office and Office of Emergency Management (OEM), TLC is co-leading the program that aims to improve communications during disasters with the immigrant and limited English proficiency communities with the ultimate goal of saving lives.

During previous disaster in the Nashville area like flooding and tornadoes, it was often hard to reach these communities before, during, and after with emergency information. The goal of the CADC is to have “ambassadors” within those communities that are already in trusted or leadership positions. OEM and TLC will provide special training to these ambassadors. The program launched this Fall and will continue the ambassador training through the rest of 2022 and into 2023. TLC Training Specialist Richard Ponce de Leon is representing TLC in the program.

TLC Teaching Custom Spanish Class to Staff at Second Harvest Food Bank

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee works to provide food to people facing hunger and to advance hunger solutions in Middle and West Tennessee. Recently, they approached TLC about a custom Spanish class for staff members. The 10-week class started early in September with 10 staff members participating.