Quote: "...the reading of books became the center of the strategies parents could be given to support their children's literacy" (Pahl, 55)
Comment: I heartily agree that simply by reading books in the home, children's literacy will increase tremendously. My own experience and skill came from reading books with my parents, and being read to throughout my childhood. Exposing children to the language of books and the elements of print will give them a familiarity and they will be more comfortable in a school setting and reading for school.
Question: If parents are not native English speakers, how can teachers involve them in supporting a student's English literacy?
Laura, I really appreciated your comment. Your question really made me wonder how I was going to involve non-native English speaking parents with their children's learning of English. As I thought about this, I came up with the idea of sending home both a Spanish and English version of the text. Then the parents would be able to read it in Spanish and understand what is being said in English. Then their child would read the text in English and try to explain it to their parents. The parents would know what was being talked about in the text and could help their child if they were struggling with understanding it. This is merely an idea! Thanks again for the comment!
ReplyDeleteJanet that is a great idea! This would be a tough situation and I think as future teachers we will run into this type of situation often. Another idea is to invite the parents to come volunteer in the classroom and while they are in the classroom, they can work with their students to see what they are learning which can hopefully help them support their children when they are at home.
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