Natalie Lalagos says multilingual students possess ‘a true powerful gift’
Posted: April 13, 2026
At Kealakehe High School in Kailua-Kona on Hawaiʻi Island, multilingual students are doing far more than just keeping up with their regular class work.
Through Transformative Translations, a program where bilingual and multilingual high school students in grades 10-12 take dual high school and college credit courses to learn translation skills, students are walking away with college credits and a confidence that their skills are an asset for the greater community.
Natalie Lalagos, a National Board Certified Spanish Teacher and an English and AP seminar teacher at Kealakehe High, founded the program—which is now in its fifth year on Hawai’i Island.
“I’ve always been fascinated by languages,” Lalagos said. “I grew up in a bilingual household. My dad spoke Greek fluently, but I never learned it […] It’s been hard for me to see the ways in which schools may not make things easily navigable for students and families, because everything is usually done entirely in English.”
In Hawaiʻi County, at least a quarter of residents speak a language other than English at home, yet most school communications are sent out in English only. Lalagos wanted to do something about that disconnect.
She remembers sitting down with a newly-arrived student, talking in Spanish about graduation requirements. That conversation was a turning point for her.
“I had a realization where I was like, he has no idea what the graduation requirements are, because this information is not accessible. And this is key, crucial information. I was looking around thinking, we see kids who speak all different languages every day. We could fix this.”
The program is fiscally sponsored by the nonprofit Friends of the Future, which manages grants and payments so Lalagos can focus on teaching and mentoring. Her other partners include co-founder and University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo professor Scott Saft, professors Kauā Segundo and Leisy Wyman, and the Office on Equality and Access to the Courts for providing Basic Orientation Workshops and in-school guest speaker visits.
The dual-credit program focuses on linguistics, translation, interpretation
Academically, Transformative Translations is a two-year dual credit sequence in partnership with The University of Hawaiʻi Hilo. Students can earn up to 12 free college credits and four high school credits by taking four linguistics courses. The program is working toward adding a fifth course that would lead to a certificate in translation and linguistics.
All students taking the course are bilingual and a handful are even trilingual. Languages represented have included Spanish, Marshallese, Pohnpeian, Mandarin, Kosraean, Tagalog, Ilocano, Portuguese, Japanese, Bisayan, Samoan, and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, among others.
In the first year courses, students study the foundations of linguistics: phonemes, morphemes, and pragmatics while constantly connecting concepts back to their own languages. They also begin structured practice in translation, exploring when a literal translation works and when cultural or idiomatic meaning matters more.
In year two, the focus shifts toward interpretation, including practice scenarios such as medical settings.
The course is offered on Kealakehe High’s campus, synchronously through Zoom, with other students from several participating schools around Hawaiʻi Island. Past school partners include Konawaena High School, Ka’ū High, and Ke Kula ʻo ʻEhunuikaimalino.
Alongside the dual credit courses, Transformative Translations runs a nonprofit internship program that students can apply for after completing at least one linguistics course. It currently offers two tracks:
Translation internship
- Students translate real materials like school flyers and family communications for schools and community partners.
- Each intern works with a native-speaker mentor in their language, receiving feedback on accuracy, register, and cultural nuance.
- They also get professional skills coaching, which has included resume building, organizing email inboxes, and an introduction to LinkedIn.
Podcasting internship
- Students create podcasts in their own languages, rather than defaulting to English.
- A volunteer podcast editor coaches them through planning, recording, and editing.
Students in the internship program receive a stipend for their work.
“We’re trying to really communicate that you have a valuable skill, and you should be paid for it,” Lalagos said. “It’s not something you should just be asked to do for free.”
Students enrolled in the Transformative Translations program learn linguistics, translation, and interpretation through a partnership with The University of Hawaiʻi Hilo.
Program offers advanced opportunities to multilingual students
“There’s a narrative sometimes about who early college is for,” Lalagos said. “We actually say, this is for everybody. In fact, you have to be multilingual to take this class.”
Transformative Translations targets students who too often get left out of advanced opportunities, including students who are multilingual, first-generation college students, and first-time early college students.
Lalagos shared that students are often intimidated to consider taking early college courses, but with a little encouragement, they enroll.
“Often it still has a powerful effect for an adult to go to a kid and say, ‘You’d be great at this. Don’t be scared of early college…you’re going to be fine,’” Lalagos said. Current students also act as informal ambassadors, reassuring their peers that professors are kind, the work is structured, and support is built in.
Darlyn Joy, a junior at Kealakehe High whose primary translation language is Tagalog, said,
“It’s like solving a puzzle. You have to find the perfect word that fits just right. It’s a fun brain workout. You really have to think hard to make a sentence sound natural in both languages.”
A senior at Kealakehe High named Ghilyana, whose primary language is Ilocano, said, “I like the people in this class because we’re able to bond over things we’ve experienced as second-language speakers, such as things we do as bilinguals and traumatic things we’ve experienced. It’s fun learning from others who speak your language, as it also helps you to know more deeply about your language and culture.”
Olivia, a sophomore at Kealakehe High, whose primary language is Spanish, said, “I have loved learning about different cultures all around my school. Before this class, I had my group of people, but I didn’t really make real friendships with different groups around my school. In this class, I have made friends with people from all over the world, and that I will never forget.”
Beyond coursework: the real-world skills students are learning
In addition to helping her students with the paperwork to enroll in early college classes and the actual coursework, Lalagos steps in as a mentor to help them hone their real-world skills.
“We’re building skills, we’re building self-advocacy,” she said. “We want them to know they can and should ask questions…that this is their learning.”
She helps students with taking notes, writing professional emails, Zoom etiquette, and how to ask questions of their professors during class.
She also incorporates “College 101” lessons: what financial aid is, the differences among loans, work-study, and scholarships, why their grade point averages (GPAs) matter, and how small changes in grades can open or close scholarship and program opportunities.
“We talk a lot about GPA, because most kids have never heard of GPA before. They don’t know. It’s like, ‘I have a 69.4% Oh, it’s good enough.’ We talk about why it’s important for you to bump it up just a little bit because you’re playing the game of college and scholarships,” she shared.
Her hope is that by sharing more about the program, other schools can be inspired to start similar programs and partnerships to benefit multilingual students.
“A lot of times the fact that kids don’t speak English fluently is seen as a problem,” Lalagos said. “We weren’t offering advanced opportunities for the languages they already speak. I want them to see their bilingualism as a true, powerful gift that can be used for the betterment of our community.”