The University of Central Florida started hosting bilingual orientations during summer 2006. The session was created for parents or family members who speak or prefer to speak Spanish. While a large number of these parents do in fact speak and understand English, the Spanish sessions provide parents an opportunity to assimilate large amounts of information in their native tongue. Through the Office of First Year Experience, these orientations occur twice each summer; one for parents of students admitted for Summer B term and the other for parents of students admitted for the fall semester.
The structure of the program is very similar to the English parent program. After the initial orientation welcome, parents are sent to hear their first presentation of the day. At this time, parents who self selected to be a part of the bilingual program go to a separate room and hear the same information in Spanish. Each PowerPoint has been translated in Spanish and a representative from each office or orientation presents all the information and answers all questions in Spanish. In addition, student orientation leaders (O-Teamers) who are fluent in Spanish provide a student perspective for these parents.
At this past orientation on June 7-8, 30 guests attended the Spanish program and the following are a few of the comments from their experience:
The bilingual program is facilitated by Danny Meuninck and Sophie Cortes-Thomas, First Year Experience (FYE). For additional information, call 407.823.5105. The office of FYE is in the Division of Student Development and Enrollment Services.
