She made a slightly different version of this activity with the parents of primary school students, in which the parents each talked about their child on a strip of paper, then all the papers were linked together to make a chain of wishes. This activity offers parents the opportunity to reflect on the success of their own child.
As with any group, there can sometimes be a lack of communication between immigrant parents and their children. According to Francis, the greatest feedback she received was students, who may not have heard these explicit messages of future success of their parents before.
“Parents are not sufficiently informed what their opinion is concerned with their child’s studies,” said Francis.
Name cultural standards to identify and overcome erroneous perceptions
Committing to parents and families of immigrant students and learners in English can be difficult to do without appropriate understanding other cultural family practices, said Francis.
Some new parents and students could come from a culture where parents do not imply or interfere with school practices, said Suárez-Orozco. It is a striking contrast to the culture of American education, which expects parents to be strongly involved in school activities.
For Mother María, the transition to sail in a school in the United States was very difficult. At the beginning, María and her children had trouble locating the classrooms, but they worked very hard to adapt to their new framework.
In Mexico, María was able to help her children in their homework, but couldn’t have been shortly after arriving because she does not understand the language. She always ensures that her children feel supported in their new environment, and she helps where she can with their assignments, despite the linguistic barrier.
Now, a year later, she was able to connect with Francis and other teachers who welcomed her and her family with open arms.
“Things are not impossible,” said María.
María is satisfied with the quantity of support that her family received from school and she participated in the family engagement evenings from Francis.
María also saw the positive impact of a welcoming and communicative community on her children. They continue to deepen their understanding and commitment to school, their levels of trust have increased and they come back happier, she said.
Regularly meet parents, apart from BTSN
The nights of family engagement for new arrivals and their parents occur once a quarter to the Francis school. She and the other organizers divide parents into small groups so that they can have deeper conversations with each other and the parents who have missed the nights of previous engagement receive personalized information to catch them. These events are intended to provide parents and students with advice on the expectations of students in the American school system such as attendance, behavior and grades.
However, parents’ commitment between age groups varies. When Francis worked at the primary school level, she would regularly have 70 to 80 parents who show up each evening of engagement; At the secondary level, this commitment is much lower, she said.
Fight low expectations
During her 35 years of experience in this field, the biggest challenge she has seen is that teachers have low expectations for students 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 would probably be quite refreshing,” said Suárez-Orozco. One of the common motivations for parents to immigrate to the United States is to provide life and better education to their children, and it is important that teachers hear this, she continued.
While some parents could regularly share their wishes and vision of their childrenSuárez-Orozco said other parents have a limited time because they “deal with practical realities of survival”.
Break bread with relevant foods
In order to engage with parents at the cultural level, Francis organizes a sharing event during the holidays. Parents are invited to bring a homemade dish so that other parents and teachers can enjoy it. Not only is it a way for parents to share their own traditions and cultural kitchens, but it also shows teachers how appreciated they are for their work, said Francis.
Low elevator games like Lotería are a fun way to hire parents during engagement evenings, said Francis. Games like these offer teachers the opportunity to interact with parents without having to discuss school subjects.
Meet parents where they are
Francis worked with school advisers to find more flexible commitment events strategies, in particular by going to a community, by organizing an event to the library or even on weekends. It is important to “find) means for parents to know that we want to team up,” said Francis.
Schools must be willing to meet parents halfway if they want to establish significant ties. Suárez-Orozco suggested providing zoom options for meetings and events, and said it was important to share positive information about a parent’s student.
Communication and communication tools
Parents’ commitment is important for all populations, but for parents who may come from different cultural horizons, commitment may be different. Francis and his colleagues use Parents what —A communication platform that translates messages from more than 100 languages - to communicate with families who talk about primary languages other than English at home. She also personally calls parents before an engagement event to encourage them to participate.
“When I became a teacher, my goal was to make sure that we break these hypotheses that parents (immigrants) are, if not more, are interested in ensuring that their children succeed,” said Francis.
