Recommendations for working with families
Recommendations for working with families
Actively involve parents and families in the early learning
program and setting. Parents and families should
be actively involved in the learning and development of their children. Teachers
should actively seek parental involvement and pursue establishing a partnership
with children s families. When possible, teachers should visit the child's
community (for example, shops, churches, and playgrounds); read and learn
about the community through the use of books, pictures, observations, and
conversations with community members; and visit the home and meet with other
family members.
Parents and families should be invited to share, participate, and engage in
activities with their children. Parent involvement can be accomplished in
a number of ways, including asking parents to share stories, songs, drawings,
and experiences of their linguistic and cultural background and asking parents
to serve as monitors or field trip organizers. Families and parents should
be invited to share activities that are developmentally appropriate and meaningful
within their culture. These opportunities demonstrate to the parent what their
child is learning; increase the knowledge, information, and understanding
of all children regarding people of different cultures and linguistic backgrounds;
and establish a meaningful relationship with the parent. The early childhood
educator should ensure that parents are informed and engaged with their child
in meaningful activities that promote linkages between the home and the early
care setting.
Encourage and assist all parents in becoming knowledgeable
about the cognitive value for children of knowing more than one language,
and provide them with strategies to support, maintain, and preserve home-language
learning.In an early childhood setting and atmosphere in which home language
is preserved, acknowledged, and respected, all parents can learn the value
of home-language development and the strength it provides children as they
add to their existing knowledge and understanding. Parents and teachers can
learn how to become advocates regarding the long-term benefits that result
from bilingualism.
Parents and teachers recognize the acquisition of English as an intellectual
accomplishment, an opportunity for economic growth and development, and a
means for achieving academic success. There are even times when parents
may wish for the ability, or have been mistakenly encouraged, to speak to
their children only in English, a language of which the parents themselves
may not have command. The educator should understand the effects that speaking
only in English can have upon the child, the family, and the child s learning.
The teacher must be able to explain that speaking to the child only in English
can often result in communications being significantly hindered and verbal
interactions being limited and unnatural between the parent and the child.
In using limited English, parents may communicate to children using simple
phrases and commands (for example, "Sit down" or "Stop");
modeling grammatically incorrect phrases (for example, "We no go store");
or demonstrating other incorrect usages of language that are common when persons
acquire a second language. From these limited and incorrect verbal interactions,
the amount of language the child is hearing is reduced, and the child s vocabulary
growth is restricted, contributing to an overall decrease in verbal expression.
When parents do not master the second language yet use the second language
to communicate with their child, there is an increased likelihood that the
child will not hear complex ideas or abstract thoughts important skills needed
for cognitive and language development. The teacher must explain that language
is developed through natural language interactions. These natural interactions
occur within the day-to-day setting, through radio and television, when using
public transportation, and in play with children whose dominant language is
English. The parent and the teacher must work collaboratively to achieve the
goal of children's learning English.
Through the home language and culture, families transmit
to their children a sense of identity, an understanding of how to relate to
other people, and a sense of belonging. When parents and children cannot
communicate with one another, family and community destabilization can occur.
Children who are proficient in their home language are able to maintain a
connectedness to their histories, their stories, and the day-to-day events
shared by parents, grandparents, and other family members who may speak only
the home language. Without the ability to communicate, parents are not able
to socialize their children, share beliefs and value systems, and directly
influence, coach, and model with their children.
Recognize that parents and families must rely on care-givers and educators
to honor and support their children in the cultural values and norms of the
home.
Parents depend on high-quality early childhood programs to assist them with
their children's development and learning. Early childhood programs should
make provisions to communicate with families in their home language and to
provide parent teacher encounters that both welcome and accommodate families.
Partnerships between the home and the early childhood setting must be developed
to ensure that practices of the home and expectations of the program are complementary.
Linguistic and cultural continuity between the home and the early childhood
program supports children's social and emotional development. By working together,
parents and teachers have the opportunity to influence the understanding of
language and culture and to encourage multicultural learning and acceptance
in a positive way.
For further information, please click on the link below:
Responding to
Linguistic and Cultural Diversity
Recommendations for Effective Early Childhood Education
NAEYC Position Statement