She made a slightly different version of this activity with the parents of the primary students, in which the parents wrote a desire for their child on a strip of paper, after which all the documents were connected together to make a chain of wishes. This activity gives parents the opportunity to think about the success of their own child.
As with any group, there may sometimes be a lack of communication between immigrant parents and their children. According to Francis, the most residents she has received is from students who may not have heard these explicit messages about future success from their parents before.
“Parents do not ask enough what their opinion is when it comes to their child’s education,” Francis said.
Name cultural norms in order to identify and overcome the wrong perceptions
Engaging with parents and families of students from immigrants and learners in English can be difficult to do without the right understanding of other cultural family practices, Francis said.
Some parents and students may come from a culture in which parents are expected not to get involved or interfere with school practices, Suarez-Oorosko said. This is a complete contrast to the culture of education in the United States, which expects parents to participate strongly in school activities.
For the parent Maria, the transition to navigation at a school in the US was very difficult. At first, Maria and her children had a hard time finding classrooms, but they worked very hard to adapt to their new environment.
In Mexico, Maria managed to help her children with her home tasks, but she could not arrive after her arrival because he did not understand the language. She still makes sure that her children feel supported in their new environment and helps where she can with their tasks, despite the language barrier.
Now, a year later, she was able to contact Francis and other teachers who greeted her and her family with open arms.
“Things are not impossible,” Maria said.
Maria is pleased with the size of the support her family received from the school, and she participated in Francis’s family nights.
Maria also saw the positive impact of a welcoming and communicative community on her children. They continue to deepen their understanding and engagement at school, their levels of confidence have increased and they are more gorgeous, she said.
Meet with parents regularly, outside BTSN
Family dinners for students from newcomers and their parents happen once a quarter at the Francis School. She and the other organizers break the parents into small groups so that they can have a deeper conversation with each other, and the parents who missed previous nights for engagement receive personalized information to capture them to speed. These events are intended to provide parents and students with guidance on students’ expectations in the US school system such as attendance, behavior and grades.
However, the commitment of parents in age groups varies. When Francis worked at elementary school level, she would regularly have 70 to 80 parents to appear on any engagement night; At the level of the high school, this commitment is much less, she said.
Fighting low expectations
In her 35 -year experience in this field, the biggest challenge she has seen is that teachers have low students’ expectations because they believe that parents have low expectations for their children.
“Seeing in black and white that many of these parents actually have high aspirations for their children, it would probably be quite refreshing,” said Suarez-Oroso. One of the common motivations for parents to immigrate to the United States is to provide a better life and education for their children and it is important for teachers to hear it, it continued.
While some parents can regularly share their Wishes and vision for their childrenSuarez-Oroso said other parents have a limited time because they “deal with the practical realities of survival.”
Beat bread with the corresponding food
In order to engage with the parents at the cultural level, Francis creates an event for Potluck during the holidays. Parents are invited to bring a home -made dish to enjoy other parents and teachers. Not only is it a way for parents to share their own cultural traditions and kitchens, but it also shows the teachers how much they are evaluated for their work, Francis said.
Low elevator games like Lotería are a funny way to engage parents during engagement nights, Francis said. Games like these offer teachers to interact with their parents without having to discuss school topics.
Meeting the parents where they are
Francis has worked with school advisers to find a fascinating strategies for events, including going to a community, holding an event in the library or even on weekends. It is important to “(find) ways for parents to know that we want to unite,” Francis said.
Schools should be ready to meet parents halfway if they want to build meaningful relationships. Suarez-Oros suggested that options be offered to increase meetings and events and said it was important to share positive information about the parents’ student.
Tools for Communication and Communication
Parents’ engagement is important to the whole population, but for parents who can come from different cultural origin, engagement may seem different. Francis and her colleagues use Parents – A communication platform that translates messages from over 100 languages - to communicate with families who speak primary languages other than English at home. She also calls her parents personally before an engagement event to encourage them to participate.
“When I became a teacher, my goal was to make sure we were breaking these assumptions that (immigrant) parents were, if not more, they were interested in making sure their children were becoming successful,” Francis said.
