Summary: This source specifically looks at immigrants of Latino heritage and their adjustments to ESL programs. The article highlights some of the things that cause student disadvantages in immigrant situations such as lack of access to kindergarten and other learning programs. Also, the importance of family involvement and immigration related stressors for families and students.  Parent pre immigration status and characteristics also affect the student and their learning environment. Statistics of immigrant students are briefly discussed such as graduation rates, policies and the impact immigration has on our workforce in the US.

Evaluation: This article evaluates the difficulties immigrant students and their families encounter. The points focus on immigration status of parents and the negative and somewhat positive impact those circumstances have on students. Parent involvement in education is a huge part of success and is discussed thoroughly in this article. Even from an early age students are at a disadvantage in most cases compared to US born students and the care and instruction they receive. This article while lengthy suggest many different perspectives on ELL parents and students based on facts from research. The article also suggest options for increasing involvement and cohesion for students and families and the aspect of ever changing situations for ELL families.

Reflection:

This article was extremely helpful in comprehending the struggles ELL families and students face while transitioning to the US. Specifically the article focuses on school, family, parent  and community relationships for successful  integration into society in many aspects. Often simple tasks are taken for granted like going to the grocery store, this would be a hard task if you could not read or speak in English. The article also had a lot of research based facts and information that the author state will change over the years as immigration rates increase and change schools and communities. Most importantly the article was exceptional in providing ideas and opportunities to involve parents in their students learning, school and community along with themselves.  Overall, this article would be beneficial for educators and community members alike to be able to comprehend the stressors and triggers for ELL students and families in their everyday adaptation to our culture. 

This article describes how important it is for educators to connect with the families of English language learner (ELL) students and build strong relationships with them.  The articles discusses eight ways that teachers can build these relationships with the ELL families.  The teachers can be creative communicators in finding the best manner to communicate, whether with phone, e-mail, or using an interpreter.  Another way teachers can build relationships is by finding ways to meet the parents in a setting they feel most comfortable in.  It is helpful for the teacher to obtain a sense of the students’ home situations because it can help the teacher to get to know their students better. Teachers can also build relationships with parents by sharing student success stories with the parents to keep them involved in the student’s progress in the classroom.

This sources brings light to the misperceptions that ELL parents do not care about their children’s education since they do not participate in school events. It provides evidence of the other factors that contribute to the reason these parents are not actively participating in school events.  It also includes a variety of situations in which the teacher can connect with the parents of ELL students.  The article goes into detail about specific examples for ways the teacher can get to know the ELL’s families.  The article provides several additional resources educators can use to discover more ways to get know the families of ELL students.  

This source provides applicable examples any teacher is capable of using in the classroom to engage with the ELL families.  It highlights creative and out-of-the box ideas to use that would make the parents feel most comfortable and accepted in the classroom.  Not only are these techniques useful for teachers to use to communicate with ELL families, but these techniques can be applied for the families of any student.  It also helps educators become aware of the challenges ELL families face and how to best bridge the gap to build the positive relationship with each family.  This source should be recommended to others because of the usefulness and array of strategies discussed.

Chen, C. T., Kyle, D. W., & McIntyre, E. (2008). Helping teachers work effectively with English language learners and their families. School Community Journal, 18(1), 7–20. Retrieved from https://proxy-calu.klnpa.org/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy-calu.klnpa.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=508061288&site=eds-live&scope=site

Throughout the United States, many teachers feel unprepared to work with English Language learners and their families; however, many educators want their students to be successful, so they are turning to professional development programs, such as the Sheltered Instruction and Family Involvement project, or SIFI. The goal of SIFI is to provide teachers with research and evidence that demonstrate the impact that family involvement has on students’ academic achievements. This program looks at the family involvement plans that are already in place, if any, and alters them in order to increase and improve the techniques. There were many obstacles along the way, such as lack of transportation or conflicting schedules with the parents, minimal support from the school district, limited time possessed by teachers, language barriers when translators are not available, and more. Despite these challenges, the experience helped the educators to feel more comfortable collaborating with the ELLs and their parents. Most of those strategies will not only help the ELL students, but all of the students as well. Some strategies included planning language objectives and standards with the lessons and sharing these lesson plans with the family; learning to use families’ backgrounds, cultures, and strengths within the classroom; valuing home visits; building trust and maintaining contact outside of parent-teacher conferences and report cards; positive phone calls; and more. Relationships with family members will help teachers to understand their students better, build a safe as well as engaging learning environment/community, and differentiate the instruction more effectively.

This resource seems reliable because it references data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as the U.S. Census Bureau. This article also includes a lot of research, and it explains the way in which it was conducted with surveys as well as pre-tests and post-tests. The resource also mentioned the SIFI project, and included the research that program uses to express the impact of student achievement as a result of family involvement. It also includes many perspectives, ideas, and concerns from various educators. The resource is broken down into different sections, such as the abstract/introduction, demographics, professional development programs, project emphasis on family involvement, methods and data collection, practices and teachers’ views, changes in perspectives, contacting families, impact on instruction, issues and challenges, overcoming those obstacles, and a conclusion with references.

I chose this resource because it mentions many obstacles and challenges that future teachers are concerned about with regards to ELL family involvement; for that reason, I would recommend this article to others. For instance, some of my classmates mentioned conflicting schedules, and the article addresses ways to overcome that issue, such as sending home a survey in order to determine the most opportune time to host events as well as varying those times in order to accommodate more families. This article includes many more scenarios where teachers learn to overcome the challenges, and I think it is very interesting because it includes a lot of direct quotes from educators in the field, which is beneficial to hear multiple perspectives and viewpoints. This resource addresses ways to increase communication, involvement, and academic success for English Language learners, but these ideas also will positively impact the other students in the classroom, too. This resource would be beneficial for others to read because it highlights various strategies to improve your involvement plans, while also addressing concerns. It is important that educators are confident in their abilities to work with their students’ first teachers: their family.

 

Summary: This article investigates the effect parents have on their child’s schooling, but more specifically English Language Learners (ELLs). It briefs the reader on research that was conducted around 239 parents from 28 different cultural backgrounds of ELL children. This research uses the basis of Epstein’s framework of parental involvement, but challenges some types of involvement based on a parent’s linguistic proficiency and cultural beliefs. This article outlines the procedure and results to five guiding research questions. Overall, the results show that language barriers, lack of knowledge in the U.S. education system, and not wanting to interfere with a teacher doing his/her job are the main reasons for ELL parents not becoming more involved in their child’s schooling. It is also found that monitoring, communicating with their child about school, and reading with their child were the most common ways ELL parents were involved with their child’s schooling. This article outlines the statistics of each guiding question. This research brief shows areas in which parental involvement can be improved, and helps educate teachers on the limitations that exist, so that they can strive to get parents more involved in their child’s education.

 

Evaluation: This source uses research-based statistics to show why ELL parents are not as involved in their child’s schooling, compared to native English speakers. This article describes the procedure in which the research was conducted, and all of the guiding questions that are being looked into. When talking about the results, it breaks down how each type of statistic was found, and talks about the formulas that were used. It is broken down into several sections, such as abstract, research procedure, and results to make it easy for the reader to follow and understand. Overall, this article is a reliable source of information, and is a good reference for teachers.

 

Reflection: This source helps teachers understand why ELL parents are not as involved in their child’s education. It mentions struggles that almost every non-native English speaking family struggles with. I chose this resource because it gives strong evidence and statistics to support claims to why family involvement is vital in an ELL student’s schooling. This article suggests ways based on research in which teachers can help parents become more comfortable. This will lead to further student success, inside and outside of school. I would recommend this article to any teacher, so overall they are more comfortable working with ELL students and their families, and understand the struggles they face in getting involved.

Summary:  

Interpreters play a valuable role in the education of ELLs as assistants to both students and parents. An interpreter is involved in any sort of specialized instruction, modifications, and adaptations made for the student.  It is a great responsibility to be an interpreter for ELLs and families because the interpreter is obligated to represent what the ELL and family speaks or writes in true form without additions, substitutions, subtractions, or other alterations to the language. Also, there is great complexity to the work of a translator as they are required to interact with the student by providing language support for unfamiliar or difficult words, delivering instruction as the teacher intends, and participating in the assessment of ELLs. An interpreter must not only learn words in the native language of a student but also how those words create meaning and function; this is the difficulty many people do not recognize for interpreters, as languages can vary based on regional dialect and similarity to other languages. The article also describes the process of how Angela, an ELL with the native language of Vietnamese, is given specific instruction and strategies in partnership with the interpreter, general education teacher, and parents. 

Source Evaluation: 

I believe this source is very useful in helping teachers recognize the collaborative efforts required between all professionals involved in the learning of an ELL. This article specifically deals more with the function, capabilities, and role of an interpreter for ELLs and ELL families. Included are examples of how an interpreter assists parents by informing them of how their child is educated, how the child is supported and monitored, and clarifies policies for parents. It is also a source that could be referenced by current interpreters and ELL specialists who may have difficulty or are seeking development of their approaches to supporting ELLs. There are real concerns and issues presented in the article that are paired with practical procedures which are evident in ELL education and ELL parent communication today. 

Reflection:

This is a source that has helped me to see how valuable it is for interpreters and ELL specialists to provide quality services to ELLs. It is an on-going challenge to offer these services to ELLs that will meet their academic, social, and interpersonal needs, so it is important for specialists to fulfill their requirements with excellence as dependable resources for ELLs. I now recognize the multi-faceted role of an interpreter as a leader for language and communication in places where educational jargon and English are unable to clearly express information. There should always be a clear conveying of what is taking place in the classroom for ELL parents and I want to make sure I embed time and resources into my instruction that can be useful for all parents and students. Since many ELL parents have misconceptions of how their children are educated, I believe it is important for teachers to consider how they can overcome misconceptions and consistently keep parents informed. 

Summary: This article focuses on the many benefits students have from parental involvement in their schooling. Being “involved” is more than just the in school part, it is also at home as well with helping out with homework and discussing what they’ve learned that day. However, many Hispanic parents are not as involved in schools as much as they should be. This is for a variety of reasons. The main reason is that many parents may not feel that they have the social skills necessary to do such a thing, and with the majority of school faculty speaking English, it can be a very uncomfortable situation for an ELL parent.Teachers must be aware of diverse families in order to make all parents feel comfortable.  The article then begins to explain a study that proved that parental involvement was a factor in increased grades for students. 

Evaluation: This article is a great resource for future teachers like myself to read because it highlights the importance of ELL parental involvement and discusses how teachers can help with making all families feel welcomed. It contains a lot of surprising statistics regarding the difference in involvement between ELL families and English speaking families. This article emphasizes some existing barriers between ELL parents and schools and suggests ways to overcome them. Also, the article contains a very interesting study that followed students over a few years and measured their level of parental involvement with their grades and concluded that there is a relationship between them. I would definitely recommend this article to everyone, but especially teachers who may be excluding ELL families without knowing they are doing it. This article contains a mix of emotional details about ELL families and also contains many factual statistics about the real facts. 

Reflection: This article was really interesting and touching to me because it made me understand how it feels to be an ELL parent. Most of them want to be involved in their child’s schooling but the many barriers such as language and education level makes it too hard for them. I will keep this article in mind when I have my own classroom and I will work on including every parent to the best of my ability. This article opened my eyes to the challenges that ELL parents face. Something as simple as a parent-teacher conference can be a huge challenge for an ELL parent and many will not even put themselves in those situations because they are afraid or feel useless. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this article and the study included in it. 

Summary –

Schools who are both experienced and inexperienced with ELL students and their families are lacking the resources and opportunities to offer the best environment for your students. Learning about their culture and traditions and integrating them into the school will create a welcoming environment and help build personal connections with ELL families. It is also extremely important to make information readily available and accessible for everyone. This can ensure that parents remain involved and informed in their students’ school lives. Encouraging parents to get involved in school programs and other roles will create a welcoming environment for ELL students and show them that you care and are making an effort. Whether you have a large or small population, implementing just a few of the strategies from this article can help engage ELL families.

 

Evaluation –

This article is a good source for educators to be able to make the extra effort to engage the ELL families in their community. The article provides a multitude of strategies that could be integrated in a school district in order to cater to the ELL community in their school. Along with providing specific strategies, the article also offers ideas, ways, and examples of how to implement them which can help educators to actually put these strategies into effect. This source is something that could be shown or taught to all educators and leaders in schools with any amount of ELL students. This article would help spread awareness and understanding of the issues and solutions to the issues that ELL parents face with school involvement.

 

Reflection –

I would recommend this article to others because it is a good resource to encourage involvement and to show educators how they can put these strategies to use. The lack of involvement from ELL parents only increases the separation between ELL students and students who have English as their native language. This also makes it harder for ELL students to adjust so the strategies provided in this article provide a bridge that allows students to have a nurturing and encouraging learning environment. I would recommend this article to others because I feel that it is essential for strategies like these to be used in schools regardless of their ELL student population. So often we see a lack of diversity and culture in our school districts and this is something that needs to change despite the fact that a school could have 3, 30, or 300 ELL students. Strategies like the ones in this article could help change this and involve the entire community rather than a select few.

 

This resource discusses tips for teachers to help ease the stress of parent-teacher conferences for bilingual families. It talks about that parent-teacher conferences can be very stressful for bilingual families because they as the parents or guardians may not have very much education themselves and feel uncomfortable in an educational environment. It is important for the teacher to try to make the families aware of what the conference will involve by making personal contact and that attending the conference does not mean their student is in trouble. The teacher must also address any language barriers that there may be during the meeting such as arranging for an interpreter. 

 

I think this resource is helpful for teachers who might not have had to hold parent-teacher conferences with bilingual families before. The resource goes very in-depth about finding an interpreter, training one if necessary, setting up a schedule for interpreters, etc. which is all information I would have not been aware of before reading this article. It also discusses what to do during the conference itself, which as someone who has never completed a parent-teacher conference before, let alone with a bilingual family, this was very informative. I also like that it included to send a thank you note home after the conference as that will keep the relationship between the teacher and family open. 

 

I would recommend this resource to others because parent-teacher conferences can be very stressful for a first time teacher regardless of the situation, let alone having to have a conference with someone who may not speak the same language. I think even veteran teachers could benefit from this article because it gives very detailed steps as to what to do before the conference, during the conference and after. The article may give veteran teachers a refresher or even new ideas that they can do to ease the families’ concerns. I will definitely be using parts of this resource just for information regarding parent-teacher conferences in the future, and would use all the information if I have a bilingual family. 

 

Summary: This article provided an investigation on English Language Learners and the impact of parent involvement. The article viewed immigrant students as “not educated and have poor English language skills.” Meeting the needs of students involve maintaining a very strong connection to the parent and teacher. The main purpose of the study was to research the connection between families and communities of ELL’s.  

 

Evaluation: The communication between the parent and teacher should happen frequently. The parents have the decision in what we teach. It is up to us, as teachers, to decide how we want to teach it. The parents know their students, in some cases, better than the teacher does. Teachers should work with all faculty to help those students. 

 

Reflection: I would recommend this article because it is a good resource to encourage involvement with ELL’s and their parents. This article shows educators and how they can put strategies to use. The strategies provide a bridge that allows teachers to have more time suiting the ELL’s learning needs. ELL parents want us to include time into our instruction. If we utilize learning strategies and keep communication between ELL parents and teacher’s active, then we as teachers can provide a fantastic learning environment.