School Communication with ESL Homes

1
School Communication with ESL Homes

• Jen Harris and
• Laura Card
• EDPY 413
• University of Alberta

2
In parents view, the school is the door to
society at large (Jang and McDougall, 2007)

• Allow parents to use the school as a space for
  social and academic gatherings
• Social spaces for parents can be created through
  the promotion of extracurricular activities,
  sporting events, family dances, or library clubs
• Parent support groups can be created with teacher
  guidance and support. Such groups can be run and
  maintained at the school

http//images.google.ca/imgres?imgurlhttp//
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Welcoming ESL Parents Into the School Environment

• Allow parents to be volunteers in the classrooms,
  lunchrooms, playground, or office
• Provide parent support groups/ ESL classes that
  teach cultural norms and daily routines.
• Teachers can encourage family nights where movies
  are shown, games are played or holiday themes are
  celebrated. Such nights give parents a non-
  threatening opportunity to enter the school
  without worrying about language or their childs
  achievement.
• Provide opportunities where language is not a
  barrier.

4
Less than 50 percent of the school population are
native English SpeakersOur school Communities
need to adapt.
www.vsb.bc.ca/vsbprograms/kto12/ESL/
5
Factors that Inhibit ESL Parent Communication
Values

• Values some cultures believe that their children
  are the schools responsibility during school
  hours and the parents responsibility out of
  school hours they think that the two dimensions
  do not interact and should be kept separate.
• Parents who have had little or no educational
  experience will most likely be intimidated and
  overwhelmed.
• Curriculum and teaching methodology is often
  different from parents country of origin.
• Racial/linguistic/sexist discrimination from
  either side.
• Teacher/school biases, hidden curriculum.
• Diminished self-confidence due to previous
  experiences.
• For many parents there is a deep fear of children
  losing their culture and religion.Parents may be
  more deliberate and intense in preserving
  cultural and religious traditions than they were
  in their home country.

6
Factors that Inhibit Parent Communication
Language

• Language if parents do not speak English they
  are often too embarrassed or frustrated to come
  to the school and try to communicate with the
  teachers. In this circumstance, it is important
  that parents are made aware of their right to an
  interpreter.
• Communication is hampered by educational jargon
  and assumptions.
• Some parents feel that the language barrier
  leaves them powerless

7
Factors that Limit Parent Communication Economic
Status

• Employment many parents have two jobs these
  parents do not have the time to get involved at
  the school
• Type of job(s) held often have irregular hours
  compared to those of other families.
• Transportation may be difficult
• Some parents cannot be involved because 46
  percent are living in poverty, of whom, 60
  percent are working poor (EMCN, 2006). These
  parents are preoccupied with meeting basic needs.

8
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
Self-Actualization
Aesthetic
Cognitive
Self-Esteem
competence
Belongingness Love
affiliation, acceptance
Safety
financial security, psychological safety
Physiological
nourishment, sleep, exercise, etc.
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Factors that Limit Parent Communication School
Resources

• Schools lack manpower
• Schools dont consider the reading needs of these
  parents.
• Access to translators/interpreters is limited.
• Teachers or administrators may not be adequately
  prepared for working with ESL parents (may be
  uncomfortable with open door policy and/or have
  no experience conversing with ESL parents).

10
Parent Reception Meetings and Greetings

• Aside from the normal parent reception meeting,
  ESL parents need to have grade levels,
  curriculum, assessment methods, school supplies,
  intervention plans, and classroom expectations
  explained to them. An
  interpreter should be present.
• Conflict and miscommunication between English as
  Second Language parents and teachers has had a
  major impact on educational policy (Gou Mohan,
  2008).

11
Creating Family Literacy Programs

• Bilingual/ family literacy programs -gt library
  with multi-language books
• Build conversation skills between parent and
  child in English
• Read aloud
• Home reading exchange at parent night
• Send home lists of recommended books
• Invite them to access library
• Teach technology to parents -gt useful
  multilingual websites
• Hobbies as a group -gt cooking, games
• Encourage them to read with their child
• Parent and child are learning English together

12
Parent EveningsDialogue Across Differences(Gou
Mohan, 2008)

• Review curriculum, policies, and assessment
  methods
• Recognize first languages at parent night
• Tour of the school, introduction to teachers
• Students speak in L1 and L2 (1st 2nd language)
  as interpreters -gt validates parents L1
• Parent nights help to increase understanding of
  the ESL program
• Portfolios show examples of student progress

13
Parent-Teacher Conferencing

• Empty rituals when conferences lack substance
  they turn into meaningless routines and the
  participants walk away feeling disappointed and
  cheated (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2003).
• Send home translated information a week before so
  that parents can review the topics and plan their
  questions and comments for the teacher.
• Follow-up verbally after written notice (or
  vice-versa).
• Send home checklists of student accomplishments
  and records of skills and behaviors for parents
  to review.
• Use the checklist information at parent-teacher
  interview.

14
Parent-Teacher Conferencing

• Portfolios to demonstrate progress and growth.
• Student can lead/translate the beginning of the
  conference, but a translator should be employed
  for the educational or behavioral matters, to
  avoid awkwardness and misinformation.
• Make a plan with parents give them specific
  tasks that they will be able to do so they can
  supplement the students learning at home.

15
Establishing Teacher-Parent Communication
Parameters

• At the beginning of the year, teachers and
  administrators should all decide together what
  their home communication policies are going to
  be.
• Policies should be clearly communicated to
  parents at the beginning of the year.
• Schools need to ensure that home communication
  practices are universal throughout the school so
  that parents do not get confused with different
  teachers methods of communication.

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Eliminating Language as a Barrier

• Ample representation of the various cultures in
  the school.
• Display signs in families first languages (i.e.,
  Welcome, Please report to the office, etc.)
• Hallway signs and decorations in multiple
  languages
• Take care to promote diverse cultures in your
  school so that your school atmosphere does not
  only reflect western world-views
• Send home parent tip sheets for homework -gt
  preferably with a translated page.
• Scripted questions to ask about the students day
  at school or curriculum (with answers -gt also
  enables parents to help with review).
• Regular communication through a school agenda -gt
  provide room for parents to write questions or
  concerns.
• Familiarize yourself with families cultural
  background and values
• CultureGrams http//www.culturegrams.com/

17
Eliminating Language As A Barrier

• Send out multilingual newsletters
• Add a section to the newsletter to thank parents
  who help out or to encourage parents to come and
  support a school event or activity.
• Ask parents or community volunteers to act as
  translators or ask the ESL consulting services to
  provide your school with a translator.
• Ensure that your school website has some sections
  or phrases that are multilingual and/or have
  translated pages.
• Bilingual staff can assist as translators at
  school.
• Translating all newsletters -gt students can write
  home in their first language about what they are
  doing in class.
• Multicultural materials in school displays -gt
  multiple languages

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Celebrate and Welcome Diversity of Culture and
Language
www.edu.gov.on.ca/.../sharingSpace_sidebar.html
19
Jang (2007) demonstrates the necessity of aiding
parents in taking ownership around issues of
community and celebrating different cultures that
make up our school(s).

• Schools can act as the middle-man to assist
  families in receiving family therapy and language
  lessons, and to help foster cultural communities
  among families in the school population.
• Not only do students and parents need language
  skills and language instruction, they also need
  psychological support. They may be suffering from
  post-traumatic stress, grieving the loss of
  family members, as well as having to fit into a
  new community.

20
Social identity in the new language and new
culture is being formed, and for the time being,
the new identity is fragile (Rance-Roney, 2008)

• Parents and students need assistance
  understanding the new culture, and encouragement
  while constructing their new Canadian identity.
• Help parents to understand that Canadian society
  can support their ethnic background while they
  adjust to Canadian customs.
• New language/culture/identity formation can
  happen within the school setting.
• ESL classes for the adult should be held at the
  same school as the kids so the whole family feels
  they belong in the school - ESL father
  (Ladky/Stagg, 2008)

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Strengths of Newcomer Families

• Resiliency
• Adaptability
• Flexibility
• Positive values
• Facilitate larger perspective for all of us

22
Recognize the school as a center of information
and support

• Jang and Douglas (2007) discuss how immigrant
  parents face unique challenges related to
  settlement, language, and employment (p. 4).
• Outreach center lists
• Information sessions about Canadian schooling
• Community potlucks
• Settlement services
• Mental health professionals

23
Refugee Experience

• Educational gaps hamper refugee students and
  parents
• Canadian Refugees by Language Ability English
  speakers 48.4 (EMNC, 2006)
• many families are separated - roles have to
  change and this causes family dysfunction

24
Somali Parents

• In Somalia the community raises the children -
  not just the nuclear family.
• implications for school its our responsibility
  too
• Father the bread winner
• Mother is caretaker/educator
• there are now many single Somali mothers because
  of fathers lost in war or divorce once in Canada
  due to new stresses

25
Pre-Assessment Process and Home Visits

• Observing language use in context allows
  educators to see how students actually use the
  relatively compartmentalized skills measured by
  formal tests (Herrera, Murry, Morales-Cabral,
  2007).
• Home visits allow parents to share their childs
  educational history, their personal observations,
  and explain their childs linguistic abilities in
  their first language.
• Home visits can provide alternative evidence of
  skills (a Kindergarten student sorting sock
  colours opposed to sorting blocks at school).
• Observing student interactions with family, who
  share the same linguistic-cultural basis,
  demonstrates true linguistic abilities.
• Whenever possible, home visits should include an
  interpreter in so that the majority of the visit
  can be in the students first language.

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Assessment

• It is essential that teachers make their
  assessment approaches clear to both students and
  parents before assessment is done.
• Positive feedback is key to building confidence
  in students and increasing interest in parents.
• Frequent feedback helps students take
  responsibility for their own learning.
• ELLs dropout rates are much higher than
  Canadian-born students (60 in Edmonton Catholic
  in 1999) / decreased enrollment in
  provincially-examinable high school courses
  (Toohey Derwing, 2008).

27
Communicating Assessment to ESL Parents

• ESL report card used in addition to an ESL parent
  night
• At parent night -gt show samples of levels 1-4
  students writing, speaking, etc.
• Involve parents in the ESL Intervention Plan
• ESL Assessment Portfolio parental input about
  strengths/academic goals/aspirations the parent
  has for the child

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Language Proficiency Assessment

• ELLs need to be able to assess their language
  proficiency so that they can communicate
  strengths and challenges to their parents.
• Reading checklists with easy-to-understand
  vocabulary help parents to see their childs
  language growth, strengths and challenges.

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Tips for planning a Home Visit

• Verbally set up a home visit time and then
  follow-up with written communication about date
  and time.
• Send home language proficiency checklist and Home
  Skills Survey in advance, so that parents can
  prepare questions.
• Book an interpreter well in advance.

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If Home Visits Do Not Work For Your School

• Provide child-care during parent-teacher
  conferences.
• Have ESL parent-teacher conferences at a
  different time than the school- wide conferences.
• Designate a school area as an ESL resource room
  where parents can gather, get educational and
  cultural information and sign out reading
  materials.
• Invite police, fire, medical and social services
  personnel to conference night to explain their
  roles in the community.

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Special Education Referrals

• When notifying parents of Special Education
  concerns, ensure that consent forms or meetings
  are accurately translated.
• Ensure that Special Education testing is assessed
  in the students first language.
• Always consider the ethical dilemma of how long
  the student has been in Canada and their previous
  educational background.

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Useful Websites

• CultureGrams
• http//www.culturegrams.com/
• Grasslands Public Schools
• http//www.grasslands.ab.ca/index.php?optioncom_c
  ontenttaskviewid180Itemid70
• Brooks, Alberta -gt comprehensive language
  resources
• People for Education
• http//www.peopleforeducation.com/
• Ontario group of parents working to support
  public education -gt where grasslands gets a lot
  of its materials
• Coalition for Equal Access to Education
• http//www.eslaction.com/
• Colorin Colorado
• http//www.colorincolorado.org/
• American site, primarily English/Spanish but with
  good reading resources

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More Useful Websites

• UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for
  Refugees
• http//www.unhcr.ca/
• Great source of information and lesson plans
• http//www.playagainstallodds.com/ -gt interactive
  online game
• http//www.unrefugees.org/usaforunhcr/uploadedfile
  s/Passages.pdf -gt educational tool/ simulation
  game to promote understanding of the experience
  of refugees

34
Useful Organizations

• NAARR Northern Alberta Alliance on Race Relations
• http//www.naarr.org/index.php?optioncom_content
  taskviewid28Itemid145
• Professional Development Cultural Crossroads
• Classroom resources
• EISA Edmonton Immigrant Services Association
• http//eisa-edmonton.org/
• Programs and Services
• Language Bank -gt translation services
• Catholic Social Services
• http//www.catholicsocialservices.ab.ca/CSSFindSer
  vicesbyCategory/ImmigrationandSettlement.aspx
• Counseling, sponsorship, language instruction,
  etc.
• Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers
• http//www.emcn.ab.ca/Community_Services/Youth_Pro
  grams
• Language cultural brokers
• Counseling
• Language instruction

35
Bibliography

• Basitani, John. (1997). Home-school work in
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• Calgary board of Education, Curriculum Support
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36
Bibliography

• Edmonton Mennonite Center for Newcomers. (2006).
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37
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