Reaching out to the families of our ELL Students can be very challenging. Many times parents shy away from school events because they are unable to communicate with teachers and staff. This language barrier also makes it harder for teachers to build relationships with parents who speak little to no English.
Here in Michigan we have funds called Title III funds which schools are given from the state to service our ELL populations after school. Part of these funds are used towards "parent nights" which provide parents an opportunity to get involved and informs parents on what is happening at their child's school.
Recently, we had an ELL Family Information Night. Since a large portion of our ELL's are Spanish speaking, we hosted the meeting in Spanish. This makes our families very happy since they are able to receive important information in their native tongue.
At the meeting, we provided families with information on things happening at the school and upcoming events. Light refreshments were served and we raffled off items such as poinsettias and gift cards. Parents love raffles! Its fun to win something.
Our turn out was decent. One take away we have from our most recent parent night is...survey families and get to know them. We found that many could not attend because there was an important event at the local church which many of our families attend. Had we known this, we would have scheduled the event on a different evening. For future events, we will now print out the calendar of events at the local church and talk to parents ahead of time to find out what is happening in their communities. This will help us better understand our families and help us build a relationship with them. Its important to take the time to get to know our students and families.
Our Costco Trip
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