THE QUOTE THAT SAYS IT ALL!
“Don’t underestimate the value of teachers simply communicating
a positive attitude toward their ELLs. I have interviewed students over the
years and had many advanced ELLs help me in presentations to pre service
teachers on “how to read/teach ELLs” As might be expected these kids were
not usually adept at pinpointing the strategies that worked for them when
they were newcomers, but nearly 100% of them talked about the teachers
smiled at them on the first day versus the teacher that looked irritated to
have someone in their class that didn’t know the language, or the teacher
that was encouraging, saw their other culture as a boon to the class (the
history teacher that wants to hear their nations’ perspective on WWII ,Or asks
them to compare/contrast the civil war in their nation with the US civil war,
the math teacher that asks them to show the class how long division is
taught in Korea, etc.) rather than something to be overcome/forgotten. They
have also mentioned the teacher that would say “hola” when they walked
into class. Even if that was the only Spanish word the teacher knew, it
helped them feel welcome and helped them persevere in the struggle to
survive academically. Attitude, both student and teacher, is hard to measure
but is invaluable and a positive teacher attitude can help the students to
hold onto theirs.”
Glori H. Smith Timpview High School Provo, Utah
AGENDA
Cultural Issues
Six Themes of Parent Engagement and ideas for
schools
Walk-About and Reflect on posters
Create your ideal plan of action
Share out
“On the Way to School” Video
PRE-PLANNING SHEET
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Which ideas would best fit your ELL Population?
Are there any ideas you could implement next month?
Next Year?
What are your steps for getting started?
Who will be your partners in this effort?
If you can only focus on one area which will be the
most plausible in your school community?
NOTES FOR FUTURE
IDEAS
Cultural Perceptions: Oral and Written Discourse
English

.
Navajo
>
V
<
^
Slovak
Japanese
Spanish
TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR OWN
CULTURE FIRST!
All of these play a part in your own cultural makeup:
 Religion
 Environment/Region of U.S.
 Socioeconomics
 Family Background/heritage
Be conscious of any ethnocentric attitudes you may have.
AMERICAN CULTURAL
VALUES
People are seen as separate individuals (not group
members )with individual needs
Americans believe that, regardless of past or present,
the future will be better, and happier
Americans believe that formality is a show of arrogance
and superiority
AMERICAN VALUES CONTINUED
•
•
•
•
One can only trust people who “look you in the
eye” and “tell it like it is”
Americans believe that competition brings out
the best in people
Americans are achievement oriented often at
the expense of interpersonal relationships
Practicality is usually a most important
consideration when decisions are to be made
CULTURE SHOCK CYCLE
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
Deep Respect for Teachers
Education vs. educacion:
The group vs. the individual-behavior vs. academics
How do other
cultures view us?
CULTURE TRADITIONS AND BELIEFS
Korean
– notes in red ink – sign of death
Asians
– teacher is authority
- show of respect
- believe in corporal punishment
- color yellow – sign of death
CULTURE TRADITIONS AND BELIEFS
Jamaica
- to challenge a teacher is disrespectable
Chinese
- green hat – sign of infidelity
Those from educational systems outside the
United States often consider informal, noisy
classrooms as places of play, not learning
U.S. V/S OTHER CULTURE PERCEPTIONS
India visitor:
“Americans seem to be in a perpetual hurry. Just watch the way they walk down
the street. They never allow themselves the leisure to enjoy life; there are too
many things to do.”
U.S. V/S OTHER CULTURE PERCEPTIONS
Kenya Visitor:
“Americans appear to us rather distant. They are not really as close to other
people – even fellow Americans – as Americans overseas tend to portray….It is
like building a wall. Unless you ask an American a question, he will not even look
at you. Individualism is very high.”
U.S. V/S OTHER CULTURE PERCEPTIONS
Philippines Visitor:
“In the United States, I have observed that the mother is the dominant parent in
most families.”
U.S. V/S OTHER CULTURE PERCEPTIONS
Kenya Visitor:
“In American schools, the children are restless, inattentive, and rebellious and
the teachers have poor class discipline.”
U.S. V/S OTHER CULTURE PERCEPTIONS
Australia Visitor:
“I am impressed by the fact that American teachers never seem to stop going to
school themselves.”
U.S. V/S OTHER CULTURE PERCEPTIONS
Iran Visitor
“The first time my professor told me: “I don’t know the answer – I will have to look it
up,’ I was shocked. I asked myself, “Why is he teaching me?’ In my country a
professor would give a wrong answer rather than admit ignorance.”
U.S. V/S OTHER CULTURE PERCEPTIONS
Philippines Visitor:
“In the United States, I have observed that the mother is the dominant parent in
most families.”
U.S. V/S OTHER CULTURE PERCEPTIONS
Afghanistan Visitor:
“I was so much surprised by the many people in American who were under special
diet to lose their weight. In our society we are in search of food in order to gain
weight.”
PARENT INVOLVEMENT VS. PARENT ENGAGEMENT
Involvement = School and government mandates
Engagement= Begins with parents’ ideas
“Parents are a team waiting to be mobilized.”
-Larry Ferlazzo
EXPECTATIONS OF PARENTAL
INVOLVEMENT
Parents in Mexico are invited to school with the expectation of monetary
support or in-kind support: painting the school, cleaning the school yard,
hosting a Mother’s day celebration, providing food for a fiesta, etc.
Parents in Mexico are not part of the governing boards of schools nor are
they asked for their opinion towards school success. Therefore, parents
leave education to the experts the teachers.
Unlike our legal mandates ( parent teacher conferences) parent
involvement is not required or even encouraged.
SIX THEMES
1. Connecting with ELL Families
2. Communicating Important Information
3. Parent Participation
4. Parents as Leaders
5. Community Partnerships
6. Creating an Action Plan
CONNECTING WITH ELL FAMILIES
Learn about your ELL Population
What countries your families come from
How many were born in the U.S.
What languages do they speak and how many?
If families who speak the same languages such as Spanish come from different
countries or different regions within the same country?
The educational background of families and the school system of their countries.
If any ELLs are migrants, refugees, students with interrupted formal education.
INTEGRATE CULTURAL TRADITIONS
Scheduling around important cultural or religious holidays
Invite parents to share food, activities, and music at school events and in the
classroom
Offer food that reflects the cultural influences of your families on the school cafeteria
menu
Encourage students to share traditions in school assemblies, talent shows, potlucks,
and fairs
CREATE A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT
Keep your ELLs “visible”
Signs in multiple languages
Maps and flags
Bilingual greeter
Parent lounge
PIRC Walkthrough
Other??
MAKE A PERSONAL CONNECTION
Home visits
Create a welcome DVD in multiple languages
Create an ambassador program in which students and parents are trained to give tours
Form small focus groups with ELL parents and an interpreter
Ask the parents: How they define their role in their child’s education
What their concerns priorities and hopes are
What kind of events they would like to attend
Obstacles that discourage them from participating
Events where being part of a larger group might make them feel more comfortable.
Take their input seriously and should not be included to rubber stamp school decisions
SHOW THAT YOU VALUE FAMILIES NATIVE
LANGUAGES
Encourage native language use at home
Provide training to all staff on the importance of maintaining students’ native
language and ways in which they can support students’ bilingual development
Allow students to process in their first language
COMMUNICATING IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Use parent phone trees
Ask parents how they prefer to receive communication
Ask parents which language they prefer
Inform parents they can bring an interpreter
MAKE THE ENROLLMENT PROCESS MANAGEABLE
Obstacles to overcome:
There is no interpreter available
Parents are unaware of services for which they qualify
They don’t understand bussing
They are confused about their rights and their children’s rights
They are reluctant to show any form of identification
School system very different from U.S. system
Mobility
A situation without any schooling
ELL PARENTS NEED TO KNOW THE BASICS
Enrollment procedures
School schedule
Child’s schedule
Attendance policiejs
Bussing and transportation
How breakfast and lunch work
Free and reduced options
Holidays and school closures
Weather delays
Procedures for alterting the school to their child’s medical conditions
MAKE THE ENROLLMENT ACCESSIBLE ALL YEAR
LONG
Train staff in how to make the process welcoming all year long
Make sure all information is available all year long
Ask parents who enrolled their children after the beginning of the previous school
years what their experience was like and what could have been improved.
PARENT PARTICIPATION
Encourage parents to:
Provide a place where children can do homework
Check that it is completed
Ask children what they learned each day
Ask teachers questions
Keep in regular contact about child’s progress
Learn more about homework help programs
Read and tell stories in their native language.
LOOK FOR WAYS THAT PARENTS CAN PARTICIPATE
AND VOLUNTEER
Draw upon their skills and hobbies
Invite parents to speak with their child’s class about their native country, a hobby or
their job
Encourage parents to volunteer in the classroom, main office, lunchroom, or library
during events or field trips
Start simple such as preparing items for an activity
Bring ELL and non ELL families together through student performances, student
culture night, storytelling, workshops, or exhibits
CONSIDER ALTERNATIVE SCHEDULES , LOCATIONS,
AND KINDS OF EVENTS
Visit your students’ neighborhoods
Collaborate with apartment complex managers
Plan events in the community
Give parents a few options for meeting times based on teacher availability
Consider contacting parents’ employers about parent schedules or holding
conferences close to parents’ workplaces
ENCOURAGE ELL PARENTS TO TAKE ON LEADERSHIP
Consider developing a branch of the PTA for your ELL parents, organized by language.
Sit in on a meeting in another language!
As your ELL parents become more familiar with the school policies and environment,
bring them together with the larger PTA
Encourage parents to attend and speak up at school board meetings with an
interpreter if needed.
BUILD PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
Consider offering local organizations free space in your school as a way to encourage
them to bring their services closer to your families
Invite members from the community to inform parents about their services such as a
local librarian, a nurse or firefighter
Ask your families which organizations they think would make good partners for the
school community
Ask which issues concern them
Explain to parents that identification will not be checked and they do not need proof
of legal residency for a library card.
LOOK FOR THE FUNDING
Toyota- funded 256 family literacy sites in 50 states.
Reading is Fundamental
FirstBook
Verizon
Dollar General
Target
Minority, Latino and at-ristk students with focus on family literacy, parent outreach,
Science and math initiatives
OTHER IDEAS FROM ENGAGING THE FAMILIES OF
ELLS
•
Calendar of events in their language- St. Louis Public Schools
•
Nursery rhymes and american children’s books -h. s. students make up activities for elementary kids and get
service credits
•
American Culture Night
•
Go Green night
•
Safety Dads
•
Staff friendliness modules- www.advocateforchildren.org
•
Mystery Shoppers
•
Wordless picture books for parents to tell stories in the native language
•
School Garden-plants that reflect different countries with flags from around the world
•
International game night, craft night, dance night
•
Soccer match
•
Café
DO A “WALKABOUT”
In groups of three, “walkabout” from
poster to poster, reflecting on and
discussing the questions.
Take notes to use in your “action plan”
CREATING A PLAN OF ACTION
Build an A.R.C.
AWARENESS
RESPECT
COMMUNICATION
Parents
Staff
Students