Keene Junior High School reading teacher Jeanna Hinerman immediately dove in and started researching a solution to help.
"When Daniel came we needed extra support, or resources, for him, so Ms. Hinerman went and did the research and she's actually the one who found the Timekettle," ESL teacher Lydia Melton said. "I don't know what we'd do without it. We'd have to find another resource or actually have somebody who speaks Spanish."
Daniel's parents also spoke very little English, so the school used a translator to help get him enrolled.
"We've got a motto — every need, every child, every day — but it's really our reality," KJHS Principal Don Bell said. "Daniel's not the only one. We have a couple of kids that speak other languages and we just want to serve them the best that we can. Kudos to our teachers for recognizing the need. And not just recognizing it but then going and finding a solution for it."
After much research and failure on trying other methods, they found Timekettle, a wireless ear bud that translates in real time through a phone app. The school ordered the device while Melton was out on FMLA.
"Daniel came to us beginning of the year fully Spanish speaking, so we really needed something where we could have some two-way communication," Hinerman said. "He wears the ear bud during class for instruction. I could wear the other one as well and we could have a two-way conversation, but most often we do it just so he can be part of the direct instruction and also a part of the small group."
The translation runs through an app, so Hinerman is able to read, in English, what Daniel is saying if he speaks in Spanish.
"It gets a little hard to hear when everybody's talking because he gets a lot of interference, but for direct instruction — luckily his math teacher is Spanish, so that helps with that — but for science, social studies and reading he's able to get at least get the direct instructions," she said.
There is a bit of a delay in the translation, so Hinerman said she tends to speak slower and take pauses so that Daniel can keep up.
"I pause, I let it catch up, and usually I can tell by his eye contact if he's still listening or if he's processing," she said. "It does have some glitches, in that it does take a little bit on the delay, but at least he's still getting some of the instruction and he's learning on his language skill sets. Primarily the thing Daniel is working on now is really understanding the language."
Daniel also has Spanish-speaking classmates that help translate if he gets behind.
"The device helps me in my classes," Daniel said. "It helps me study and learn. It helps me learning the right words."
Just in the last semester, Daniel has already been picking up on some English and his teachers said they feel he will be able to communicate in English soon.
"He knows a lot more English now," Hinerman said. "At the beginning he couldn't even open his locker, because he didn't know the numbers in English. Plus he has a very good personality so that has helped a lot. We have good communication even though we don't speak each other's languages."
The junior high now has two Timekettles on their campus — one for Daniel and one for a sixth-grader — and Keene Elementary School has two. They are in the process of trying to get a third one for KJHS, since they have received a new student from Mexico just this past month.
"We're more than confident that when he goes to ninth grade it will be limited use of the device," Bell said. "It takes him using it and utilizing it and he does. He's been fully onboard with everything and he sees how it's helping him learn in the classroom."
Other districts from across North Texas have contacted Hinerman for information about the device and for her research. Each Timekettle runs about $300, so Melton found some money in her ESL budget to purchase the devices. The device can translate 40 different languages, and several with different dialects.
©2024 the Cleburne Times-Review (Cleburne, Texas). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
