Dear Ellie,I am a first-year middle school teacher. I teach seventh and eighth grade Social Studies. In about a month we will have parent/teacher conferences and I want to make a good impression while conveying useful information. The thing I am a little worried about is talking to the parents of my EL students. I have eleven students I see at some point in the school day that are English Learners. My mentor told me that a lot of their parents do not come, which is a little disappointing because I would really like to have the chance to talk to them. Is it somewhat universal that the turnout is not very good for parents of ELs? Do you know anything I can do to help encourage them?
Sincerely,
Reaching Out
Hope Middle School
New Hope, PA
RO,
It is possible that you may have a lower turnout for parents of ELs at your parent/teacher conferences, and there are several reasons for that. The good news is...yes, there are things you can do to help! (In some schools, I might add, the turnout is even greater for parents of ELs.)
Among the possible reasons for a poor turnout are:
- inability to read communication from the school (such as the invitation to the P/T conferences) that is sent out in English
- feeling they will not be able to communicate effectively, so it will not be worthwhile
- work schedules
- lack of understanding of mainstream culture and public school system
- cultural differences
And some suggested solutions:
- send home an invitation in the family's first language and let them know you will arrange for an interpreter when you meet (schools should have lists of translators/interpreters for all the different languagesrepresented)
- give them meeting options outside of the fixed conference schedules if there is a work conflict
- put them in touch with bilingual school staff
- educate them about the school: hours, curriculum, rules, parent rights, etc.
- learn some of the more common languages. At the very least, practice some greetings and common school vocabulary
- encourage your school to have a back-to-school night for EL parents in which portions are presented in the heritage languages
- show them around the school
- remember that they may feel intimidated, or it may be rude in their culture to even question a teacher, so do anything you can to show them you want to establish a mutually respectful relationship
- invite them to volunteer or chaperone field trips
- ask an administrator to consider spending some in-service time talking about these strategies to the entire staff
I hope this helps! The fact that you took the time to ask this questions shows you are a caring teacher with a bright future.
Linguistically Yours,
Ellie
References
How to Reach Out to Parents of ELLs, Retrieved from
Parent/Teacher Conferences Photo. Retrieved from
