Parental Involvement Of The Bilingual School

More young americans nowadays are being raised in homes speaking non-English, but these students are falling behind in schools where there is not a bilingual program available. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in schools without a bilingual education program, 71% of English speakers are at or above the basic requirements for fourth grade reading while merely 30% of non-English speakers reach this level. 35% of English and 8% of non-English speakers reach proficient reading levels while only 9% of English and 1% of non-English speakers perform at advanced levels. It’s evident that the availability of a bilingual program is crucial to the success of an individual who needs the resources that can be given to them through the use of bilingual education. The percentages of the non-English speaking students previously mentioned could undoubtedly be comparable to those percentages of the English speaking students if the education they were being provided with was cohesive to their comfortability, and the material being taught was in a language they could better understand.

Cultural Diversity has lead schools to promote dual language and bilingual programs for ELL students. However, raising bilingual children according to Marsha Rosenberg is not something that simply happens. Parents must carefully consider how they will raise their children in their new culture. Unfortunately, many parents often forget that neglecting their primary language in the process of raising their children will only hurt them in the long run. However, what they fail to understand is that our current society insists on developing diverse learners, who can speak two or more languages and are diverse (Gensee, n.d). Therefore, in order to raise bilingual students they parents must provide the children with rich experiences at home as well as in a variety of settings (Broekhuizen, n.d.). Furthermore, families need to maintain a close family unity and sense of belonging when dealing with the bilingual issue at home.

Around 1959, bilingual education took flight in the United States. Starting in Miami and quickly making its way San Francisco, bilingual education soon led to the Bilingual Education Act, which promoted “No Child Left Behind”. Only twenty years later, the act acquired the attention of high schools around the country. Nonetheless, bilingual education is not always taken to be the cure-all for acclimating immigrants to the United States. In his article “Aria: A Memoir of Bilingual Childhood”, Richard Rodriguez argues that students should not take part in bilingual education by explaining how it takes away individuality and a sense of family through the use of ethos, diction, and imagery; Rodriguez also uses parallelism and ethos to point out how a bilingual childhood can help students feel connected to society.

It is important in the United States to have a competitive workforce, and a great way to do that is to have a society of learners that can communicate with people of other cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Although there are efforts for teaching school children other languages, most programs are primitive at best, left to be forgotten before the skills reach the point of relevancy. Dual language programs should be established in the US wherever feasible to give parents, at the very least, the choice to expand the minds of their children. Recent years have seen the inclusion of voluntary language immersion programs in places such as Athens, Georgia, in which students are taught from Kindergarten in two languages. These are steps in the right

Many people still debate the benefits of bilingual education. Even if the program were supported, there would be no way to insure that it has successfully achieved its goal. “The problem with this method (bilingual education) is that there is no objective way to measure whether a child has learned enough English to be placed in class where academic instruction is entirely in English. As a result, some children have been kept in native language classes for six years” (Hayakawa 577). Not only is there no way to measure if a student is ready to be out of the program, those students who were stuck in the program for several years infers the feeling of being out-casted. Children complain of systematically being segregated from their English-speaking peers being put in to the bilingual

Bilingual Education where Supporters feel that students miss a great deal by not being taught in their family’s language. That children that retain their family’s language will retain a sense of individuality. Their ethnic heritage & cultural ties. Helping Students acquire the skills of a classroom crucial for public success. Rodriguez also discusses the use of teaching and using a single language.

According to Lily Galanis-Olaez (494), she examines Latinos involvements in their Children school have difficult of involving themselves in their children’s education process because the schools do not help them in effective way. She writes that “parents of Latina/o children, who have different cultural linguistic background, find it difficult of involve themselves in the child’s schooling when vehicles do not exist to encourage their participation” (Lily, 2015, p.494).

When these non-English-speaking children arrive at their local school for the first time, they will unfairly be expected to perform at the same level academically as their English-speaking peers, and this will be a big challenge for them because they will have a hard time understanding what their teachers are teaching and what their textbooks are saying. In addition, learning the English language is especially important for young English language learners who have recently immigrated to the United States because they have an additional and serious responsibility beyond just adding a new language; once they do begin to pick up the language, they will more than likely have to take on the role of translator for their parents and will become the sole line of communication between their non-English speaking parents and the school’s teachers, guidance counselors and administrators.

Bilingualism and home language can be encouraged by the educator to ensure that the student learns successfully. As an ELL student it can be a challenge to learn a new language, this is why educators should allow students to use their first language to promote a meaningful connection with the second language that is being learned. At home it is quite evident that ELL students communicate using their primary language, therefore at school it is a complete turnaround. Educators, at this point can promote literacy skills in which the native language is used, but then transferred into skills that are valuable to learn English. The home language use in effect influences English learning in maintenance of cognitive aspects in bilingualism by the ELL students (Academic Writing Tips, 2011). For example, encouraging collaboration and peer groups of students of the same academic level, but of various cultures, will promote the student to use their language sparingly, but also become familiar with the second language. ELL students have to have the confidence and courage to learn a second language and develop the literacy skills that are involved in learning, this is when parental and community resources should be available to incorporate English acquisition skills.

Also sensitivity to cultural differences can support the goal of communicating with multicultural families. When communicating to bilingual and multiethnic families it would be optimal for me to have the materials, whether its notes, phone calls or newsletters translated into their native language. Since many parents are guarded when they receive a note or phone call from their child’s teacher, I will implement a plan to send home letters of commendation and support to enhance the communication with the student’s family. No matter what type of communication is used letting parents know immediately if there are any concerns will aid in working together to prevent potential problems.

It is important as a teacher to make sure that they communicate with English Language Learners parents. ELL parents may have a difficult time becoming involved in their student’s academics because they might not know the English language as well. As a teacher, I will want to help the ELL parents as much as possible. I will inform the parents that I am here to help them in any way possible. And that I have found some very helpful community resources that aid in English acquisition and serve immigrant families that may be able to help them out. There might be a lot of questions that the ELL parents might have that as a teacher I will not know the answer, this is when the community resource can help them out. It was mentioned that when someone

“Parents force schools to speak English--only”, it sparks the audience's’ attention by the title alone. Focuses on schools managing their parents’ expectations for their children to get into a good college and get a good education. Discusses how people and or parents of the students who sought the need for a common language to be taught through all the schools in the state of California. Additionally, it discussed and elaborated how that many of the teaches that taught the bilingual programs, were not certified for the job. Therefore, the end of the bilingual programs in schools, brought change to the California school system, that even reflects in the present day about education in

The following five ways are, “1.Connect with ELL students’ families, 2. Ensure the effective communication of important school information, 3.Tailor your approach to the family’s cultural traditions, 4. Get parents involved in school activities, and 5. Formulate a plan to encourage parental engagement” ("Five Ways to Engage Parents of ELL Students", 2013) Now let’s break down each step so we can fully understand if these steps are efficient. Number 1: Connect with ELL students’ families- Build a partnership by learning about parent’s cultural traditions and mutual respect. Number 2-Ensure the effective communication of important school information- Make sure to present all school’s schedules and important school information in their native language. By doing this you are making sure the correct information is being passed along. Number 3: Tailor your approach to the family’s cultural traditions- Make sure the cultural norms are embraced. That way both viewpoints are valid and will contribute to the success in their child’s education. Number 4: Get parents involved in school activities- By getting the parents involved you are relaying a message of the importance their personal role in the child’s education. Number 5: Formulate a plan to encourage parental engagement- “Education is everyone’s business, not just that of educators. Encouraging the contributions of ELL families is one more way to help schools work for the betterment of the entire community” ("Five Ways to Engage Parents of ELL Students",

This situation also supports the statement of Lyon(1996) that children become bilingual across the world in many communities and this can play a major part in the families into which they are born, and in their later lives at school. Bilingualism occurs within complex, multi-layered context, but from the child’s point of view the family is where it all begins.

In this literature review I will be discussing studies that are in favor, not in favor, and neutral on bilingual education.