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Parent Community Myth : It 's Impossible For Us

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Parent Community Myth #2
Myth: It’s impossible for us to involve parents of ELL students more as most of our teachers are monolingual English speakers. It is not impossible for schools to involve the parents of their ELL students, they must demonstrate to the parents and students that they are valued members of the school community. There has been considerable amounts of research on the importance and benefits of working closely with the parents of ELL students and how income and social class are strong predictors of how families relate to schools. For example, low income or non-English speaking parents may leave big decisions regarding school up to the teachers because of their expertise and the parents potential lack of. In a study …show more content…

She says this because parents don’t need to have a fancy education or provide their child with endless enrichment activities, all they need to do is talk. Where ELL parents might struggle with this is in a language gap. They will be able to converse with their child in their native language but might struggle with speaking to them in English. If the parents struggle with their English, they won’t be able to help with homework or reading assignments and might begin to feel they can’t help their child in this setting. By schools providing things like parent classes to help with English proficiency or continued education, schools can help bridge the gap between the student’s home and school lives and allow parents to be more involved. All parents are helpful and important in the child’s education. As Murphy Paul brought up, parents play a much bigger role in their child’s education than they think. By empowering the parents of ELL students, they are going to be much more likely to help their child succeed. Colorín Colorado brings up many ideas on how parents can contribute to their child education both in the home and at school. They start by explaining how parents can be involved in homework and school activities even if they don’t speak English. Things like reading wordless picture books and telling stories about their culture can

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