the home-school connection for bilingual students
TRANSCRIPT
The Home-School Connection for Bilingual Students
Supporting E.L. Students’ Home Languages
English is EVERYWHERE! School, television, stores, music, sports, after-school activities…Your native language is in your home, and possibly within a small community.
Your home language is a treasure worth protecting.
• Research indicates that a multilingual brain is nimbler, quicker, better able to deal with ambiguities, resolve conflicts and even resist Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia longer.
• You are the only adults your children can depend on to give them their home language.
• 80% of ELL students are born in the USA.• Your children need to communicate with
friends and relatives that may not speak English well.
These are images that are familiar to most people in many
cultures:
If your child has a surface
understanding of their home language,
they will grasp the following words in
English:
horse
running
drinkingriding
eating
If your child possesses a deep, rich, experiential understanding of their home language, their
vocabulary is more quickly and easily expanded in the
academic English of education:
horseequinethoroughbred
runninggallopingspeeding
drinkinggulpingguzzling
ridingracingflying
eatinggrazingmunching
How can you help your child to build and maintain your home and heart
language?
Tell traditional stories and read to your child in
your home language. Fully developed first language skills build stronger learners.
Provide books for your child written in your
language to build literacy skills.
Growth in the technology industry is
supportive of multilingualism, and
provides many opportunities for home
language use. Computers are available at the public library, and
your E.L. teacher has access to iPads that may
be used by students.
SKYPE is a free
application allowing your child to have face-to-face
language interaction with friends and family
across town, or across the
world.
and instant messaging provide practice in
reading and writing your home language, building
stronger connections for
learning.
Texting features on cell phones also
encourage reading and writing exercise in
your home language, and allow students to
build relationships within their cultural
community.
Protect and Nurture your family’s home and heart language
for the benefit of your child’s
education and future.