Department of English

Life in a Second Language Simulation

Training

Simulation information:

The goal of the “Life in a Second Language” simulation is to help the employees of the Department of education in the state of Iowa gain insight into what life is like for families with school age children who come to Iowa from other countries and who know little English. To achieve this goal we have created a fictional town, “Polyopolis” in the country of “Euphonia.” Participants will be assigned to be families with different backgrounds and socio-economic status who will be asked to perform certain tasks such as registering their children in school, conferencing with a principal about a school problem, etc. When they arrive at a station, (a school, or employment office, for example) they will find that the staff and forms are in another language (e.g. Romanian, Spanish, Chinese, etc.).

The simulation requires you to play a role (school principal, school secretary, police officer, health clinic receptionist, etc). You will wear a name tag indicating your role and sit at a station indicating the name of the institution you represent, i.e. School, Police Station, Employment Office, etc.

When you arrive at your station you will find:

  1. A name tag with your role
  2. Directions for your role
  3. A sign for your station

It is important that you speak and understand ONLY YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE at all times (bilingual translators are exceptions to this rule and will be given special instructions). If a participant speaks your language, that’s fine. Otherwise, you and the participant can use gestures, draw, or use other strategies; you can decide how helpful you’d like to be. If you are given the role of a secretary, for example, it may be helpful to recall how a typical secretary behaves in your home country.

THE RULES

  1. SPEAK ONLY YOUR OWN LANGUAGE; YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND ENGLISH (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF WORDS THAT SOUND SIMILARLY IN YOUR LANGUAGE).
  2. SPEND NO MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES WITH ANY ONE PARTICIPANT/FAMILY

KEY POINT: INTERACT WITH THE PARTICIPANTS — IN YOUR LANGUAGE, IN SIGN LANGUAGE, WITH GESTURES, DRAWINGS, ETC. COMMUNICATION AND INTERACTION SHOULD BE YOUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE.

LSL Simulation Main page