Lessons Learned from Immigrant Families

A true eye-opener!

I loved her tips. She has mentioned suggestions I have noticed teaching or interacting with immigrant students. You need pictures to help them identify objections that they are not familiar with.

Chan's blog is very insightful! It opened my eyes to some of the challenges foreign students and their families may face. When I volunteered in an ESL classroom for a semester, I watched as my mentor teacher welcomed new students. One day, we had a new student from China. My mentor teacher paired the new student up with another student whose first language is Chinese so that she was able to get any questions answered that she needed. Not only did she have someone there who could direct her around the school and answer questions, she also had a lunch buddy and a locker buddy. I think that pairing up could even be helpful with parents as well as students.
My mentor teacher regularly strived to incorporate American education concepts into the ESL classroom to better prepare them for other subject courses. Therefore, she had me teach a lesson using Venn Diagrams. While I went over the directions, many of the students stared at me blankly, and I realized they may not have used a Venn Diagram in their foreign classrooms. When I explained the purpose of the three circles and how they could use them to compare and contrast, I received better results. But, I had to take a step back and explain to students (or at least the newest students) before they were able to correctly complete the assignment. After reading Chan's article, I am reminded that as a teacher I have to place myself in the shoes of my students and drop all of my assumptions. I must pay close attention to parent's responses in order to better help them. Furthermore, sometimes I will have to slow down and take a step back to consider what I may need to revisit whether in meetings with parents or classroom procedures.

This blog was extremely eye-opening for me. To think of all the basic day-to-day routines that a new-comer to America would be unfamiliar with is overwhelming! It makes me realize just how many assumptions I have made as a teacher. In reflecting back on this past school year, I can’t help but think about the massive amount of notes, papers, and homework assignments that went home over the course of the year. For a family who does not speak English, this is all useless information. Young-Chan Han gave some great advice for how to work around this. Besides having information translated, I can also send home pictures and examples to help these families understand. I also really valued her suggestion to be proactive by visiting places that immigrant families gather. This goes along with the point made in Samway & McKeon’s book, Myths and Realities, to “…become knowledgeable about the communities from which students come in order that they may have more success as teachers and so that students may have more success as learners” (Samway & McKeon 163). Thank you for this insight into life as an immigrant family.

Possibly the best advice I was given as a new teacher was make no assumptions. This is especially true with working with immigrant families from different cultures and those families that speak languages other than English. The scenarios in this blog demonstrate that nothing should be taken for granted and as teachers we always need to be prepared to work with diverse groups of students and their families. Along with never making assumptions, it is always important to ask the second question. Teachers need to interact (preferably in person) with families and seek out needs and desires. However, you will never know if you do not ask and many times immigrant families are uncomfortable or embarrassed to ask for help. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure students and their families are ready for school and understand expectations and requirements. Also from reading this blog it becomes apparent that as a teacher I should be overly prepared to explain the structure of my classroom and the school. It is never okay to allow a student to stand outside in the winter because his family does not know about school delays. I wonder what would have happened if it had been a snow day?! It is better to be safe than sorry and always provide clear, detailed explanations when working with families. Lastly the blog brings up the need to truly get to know students and their families. At my school we tend to order pizza and pop for most family events. This blog points out how many immigrants are unfamiliar with this dish and therefore could find eating pizza undesirable. Checking out the cultures of families in the school along with parent surveys could help teachers better prepare meals for school events. Many immigrant families also have trouble reading and completing complicated school forms. Also some families at my school who are not immigrants still have trouble reading and filling out forms for their children. This common school issue validates the need for teachers and administrators to get to know their student population and come prepared to meet the needs of students from various cultures. I like the idea of having family information nights where parents can attain additional information and ask teachers/administrators questions regarding school routines. This event could also open lines of communication with several families and allow teachers to also get to know their students and families better.

I found this blog by Young-Chan Han to be intriguing, because it revealed quite a few issues that new immigrant families may face when acclimating to our school culture. I was most surprised to see that sometimes our seemingly good-will offers, such as to buy pizza to welcome a group of people, can leave families in distress! I also realized that, as a teaching professional in a linguistically diverse district, I had experienced some of these situations firsthand with families in my classroom. The most relatable points I read in this post were the homework assignment and free and reduced meal vignettes. When I read these posts, I instantly recalled a student I had this past year. He was a bilingual, but his mother could not understand English well at all. I did not know this, however, until it came time for science fair. I sent home the assignment outline, but the student did not bring in his work on time for three check point periods. Concerned, I called home to ask his parents if he was setting up his experiment. After a couple minutes, his mother timidly asked if I could speak Spanish with her, because she told me her English “wasn’t good.” Since I am bilingual in English and Spanish, I was able to converse with her and tell her about the assignment in detail. I then made sure to send home forms in Spanish and English to his household. It was exciting to see that our communication worked, when not only did this student catch up on the work he missed, but also nothing else was late after that. I was therefore prepared later on that year when I sent home notes from an intervention meeting. I noticed that all of the notes for this student, along with his official intervention forms, were in English. I therefore made sure to call home the day the note went home, to explain the note and forms to the mother. This conversation greatly helped, and she was able to administer the at-home program with her son, after I explained the steps to her. This experience showed me, as mentioned in the blog, the importance of taking time with immigrant families and communicating with them in their native language. The book Myths and Realities: Second Edition by Samway and McKeon, emphasizes this importance of fostering communication with ELL communities. “An absence of interpretation and translation services adversely affects parental participation in children’s education” (2007, p. 170). It is therefore vitally important to find ways to communicate with our ELL communities both on a linguistic and cultural medium. In order to promote maximum success in the classroom, we need to make sure that parents understand our personal and school objectives, and that they have ample opportunities to share their concerns and ask questions as appropriate.
Upon further reflection of this post, I had a final question. Are there different school acclimation issues that different types of immigrants tend to encounter? As a point of clarification, some immigrants come here willingly and planned, while other are sadly run out of their countries and arrive as refugees. Besides fostering communication and understanding, I wonder if there are other measures we should take to aide a refugee family aside from those we would take with a typical immigrant family.

All of these scenarios are really helpful and I think that Young-Chan Han has some great examples of how to handle these situations. I particularly like the scenario about the school supplies because I am able to relate to it a little bit. Last semester I did a study abroad in Spain and I was taking all of my classes completely in Spanish. The first week was extremely overwhelming. The first day the teacher told us a list of supplies that we were going to be needed for an in class project we would be working on during the next class. When I had come in next time with my supplies I realized that I must have misunderstood him because I had not bought the same things that the rest of the students in my class had. I think that Young-Chan Han’s idea of showing visuals is extremely helpful. In my situation this would have cleared up a lot of confusion and I think that in a lot of similar situations this can be a useful tool. I completely agree that sometimes we forget about the basics and the simple things because they are second nature to us, but to a newcomer these things are not automatic. As an educator it is important to keep that in mind so that we can aide students and families to the best of our abilities.

I really enjoyed this article. Presenting the information with scenario first and then the lesson learned really helped me to make a connection with the information. I was able to really understand where and how a break down of communication and understanding can happen when working with immigrant families. I have realized not to make assumptions about what people know, take the time to explain important information, provide visuals if possible, and that there maybe times when personal assistance might be needed. I think this article also shows that as educators we need to take the time to learn about the culture of our immigrant families. The more we know about their culture, the more we will be able to help them transition in to American culture and encourage them to be apart of the school community. Although I currently only have students that speak English in my classroom, I believe that many of these ideas can be used in my classroom and school. I think that some of my parents may not understand some of the policies, rules, paper work, and programs that are offered at my school. Therefore it would be nice if we offered monthly meeting for our parents as well.

The ideas presented in this blog were truly eye-opening for me. I can only imagine how I would feel trying to attend a school or participate within a community in a foreign country without first feeling comfortable speaking the dominant language. It drew my attention to the need for members of the community (especially teachers) to be truly receptive of language learners. It seems incredible, but overlooking the smallest of details really can lead to big consequences. I appreciate the way your contributions call attention to things such as making sure school events accommodate families from all cultures (pizza example), paying attention to the fact that many families may not have access to the same luxuries that we take for granted (car seat example), and the idea that taking just a few minutes to write up a letter for parents (inclusive of pictures, and perhaps in different languages) can make all the difference. As I am just about to begin my teaching internship year, I haven’t had much experience in teaching (let alone teaching those who speak other languages or come from families with different cultural backgrounds than myself), and I’m sure some of the points addressed here would be things I would easily overlook. It's graet to have access to these tips ahead of time,as they should help me on my way to forming more workable connections with students and their families during my future career in education.

I found it very interesting to read the lessons by Young-Chan Han. As I have never had a classroom of my own, I never thought about what assumptions teachers will automatically make when teaching a classroom with ELLs in it. I will keep in mind her ideas about being considerate and to avoid assumptions and send home help as much as possible when I do have my own classroom though. I worked with some ELL students during an after school program last year in which I had a student tell me that her teacher had passed right over some assignments with her just because she couldn't understand how to do them. I think it is sad that number of "professionals" out there that will hand a problem over to the next teacher to handle instead of dealing with it themselves. I also think that this type of blog is a great idea and a wonderful source for new teachers or even teachers who are new and struggling with ELL students. It would be great to see some new additions to the list in a type of interactive form that would allow others to add directly to the list with lessons they have learned. I will definitely have to check back with this when I graduate and get a classroom of my own!

Reading Young-Chan Han's blog, it brought to light how often I go through the day in the form of a routine instead of anticipating what might happen. By anticipating these glitches it would help those families that are not familiar with the basics or may not have the self advocacy to ask for help. What I have learned is that when you run into a problem it likely was not your last step but rater the one before. Like with Piper Nitchman's post, the child's tardy assignments were not the issue, rather the communication barrier. I found it wonderful how she took the time to call ahead before mail was sent home to be sure that the message was clear. From Young-Chan Han I especially enjoyed reading about the pizza issue. Not only are these families being exposed to a new diet, but as kids, many of them are picky eaters anyway. I think a more accessible option like a taco bar could be a better choice. With options of stuffers and rice a taco bar does not necessarily need to mean people are making tacos. Play to their creative strong suites

As I read the list of lessons posted in this article by Young-Chan Han, I felt a twinge of familiarity that made me smile. Working in a school with a majority of my student being immigrants, I have faced or heard about similar stories. Especially in my first year teaching, at time I made assumptions about my students knowledge of pop culture, or their parents' understanding of school expectations. There were things I took for granted they knew, and because they smiled and nodded, I assumed I was correct. Later, I often learned they had no idea what I was talking about.

Over the four years I've been working at the school, I've gotten the chance to learn more about my students, get to know some of their families and broaden my understanding of issues that arise for them that I might not think about.

Transportation to and from school or to and from events is a major struggle for some of my students. Often, as teachers of juniors and seniors, there are some students we end up picking up because it is the only way they can reliably get to school or to (mandatory) events. At times, we've even driven entire families home from events so they won't have to wait for a bus.

Most of my students' parents want them to go to college. However, they have very little understanding of the system here and how it works. It can be very overwhelming and intimidating. This year, I taught seniors, and as senior moderators, another teacher and myself helped students fill out college applications, scholarship applications, the FAFSA, took them to placement exams, and helped them get registered for fall classes. These tough 18 year olds were really terrified of walking onto a college campus and trying to figure out what to do. The people at the college were very intimidating in their manor, and without us their advocating for their needs, the student may have given up. Their parents do care about their education and they want them to go to college, but many of them only went to school until 7th grade, and their English is a work in progress, and the process is so confusing -- even for me.

This year, I also learned about some of the day to day issues my undocumented students deal with that I hadn't really been aware of until this year. Undocumented citizens in Michigan can no longer get a driver's license. Therefore, my students are often unlicensed drivers who end up in court often paying large fines for driving without a license and facing the risk of being deported. Along with being unable to get financial aid for college, being undocumented and without a license stands in the way of getting good employment. One can buy a fake social security card for about 120 dollars, however, if an employer decides to check it out, you risk getting deported. One student told me, he always carries his contact case in his pocket in case he gets deported, he'll be able to take his contacts in and out. He also told me he has never been to a dentist but that he has a little metal hook thing to clean his teeth with (I'm assuming its the dental tool dentists typically use?) These are only some of the things that make life extra difficult for some of my students and their families.

Because the Spanish speaking immigrant population is so large at my school, I feel like we have been working to get better and better at communicating with parents. We do send home letters in Spanish and English, we have translators at conferences, and our digital dialer calls in both languages. We have parent information meetings often and workshops on financial aid and other things. In my experience, if I approach parents with a spirit of welcoming and don't make assumptions, even if there is a language barrier, we do okay. They can tell I care about their kid and vice versa, and with a translator's help at times, we can communicate. I still hear teachers make assumptions about the parents when they don't show up to stuff, and I do think it is important that we refrain from judgement and understand that we don't know what is happening in their lives, and their may be more than we understand.

Many of the lessons learned by Young-Chan Han resonate with my own personal experiences living abroad. I concur that, if there is anything you can do for these families or students, on their behalf, rather than requiring them to do it, DO IT! When my husband and I moved to the Dominican Republic, we were so overwhelmed with all the culturally specific rules and norms, even though I am a fluent Spanish speaker! Each little thing that my husband’s employer prepared for us ahead of time or provided for us was a huge relief, and helped us feel a little less stressed about adjusting to a new culture. Similarly, I agree with Young-Chan Han’s suggestion in the example about the school supply list to find a community agency that gives away backpacks filled with school supplies for needy families, or collect them yourselves. In my opinion, this is a better option than providing the supply list with visuals. For people unfamiliar with U.S. ways, it would be far more helpful to provide the necessary school supplies for the students, rather than requiring the families to figure out how to obtain a school supply list, where to find it and then find a way to buy the supplies (where to buy them and how to get there).
Young-Chan Han’s lesson learned about making no assumptions also reminds me of an experience my husband and I had while living in the Dominican Republic. She hits it right on the head by advising, “Rather than make assumptions, provide information, no matter how basic the rules may seem to us.” When my husband and I moved into our apartment in the D.R. we soon found that we had no hot water! While a cold shower in the scorching heat was okay sometimes, our two-year-old wasn’t a fan of the ice bath. We couldn’t understand how it had gone unnoticed that this apartment didn’t have working hot water. The maintenance man was surprised when we told him of the problem. When he came to check out the problem – after we spent several days jumping in and out of ice cold water in attempts to bathe – he explained the “suicide shower” system that was common there. The shower had an electric showerhead that heated the hot water as it came up through the pipe; the shower head was activated by flipping on a switch located in the shower area. Coming from our American background, we had noticed the light switch by the shower and thought, “Wow, why did they do that? How dangerous!” and made sure to never touch it.
I am slightly ashamed to admit that, even though I have been the newcomer living in another country and have learned these lessons myself, I have not done a very good job of remembering them back in the classroom. When I get into teacher mode, I tend to get too focused on the learning objectives and all the to-do’s, and don’t pay enough attention to the personal needs of my families. I appreciate Young-Chan Han’s article because it reminds me to focus first on the students – and their families, too – before diving into tasks, so I can better ensure that everyone gets off to a comfortable, successful start.

I’m really glad that Young-Chan Han brought up a lot of main issues that surround immigrant students and their families. In particular, “make no assumptions” was interesting because we tend to assume a lot about what immigrants know versus what they actually know. One of the ESL teachers that I have spoken to told me that one year she had to make a lot of adjustments because a majority of her ELL students were Muslim. When it came to having teacher-parent conferences, no matter their language proficiency, she had to acknowledge the fact that some Muslim men will not shake hands with women so she would wait for them to extend for her first. Another adjustment she had to make was to be sure to sit the girls separate from boys because for some parents it was against their religion to have their daughter sitting next to a boy at such a young age. The most important piece of advice she gave me was not to make assumptions and do your homework because not only will you be showing immigrant families respect and understanding but also creating a working relationship where they feel comfortable enough to ask questions or express any concerns they might be having. In terms of dealing with Muslim immigrants, it is extremely important to show respect and understanding given the current “national sentiment" about Islam. Another issue that I’ve seen too often tutoring ESL students is their homework which was usually too hard and incomprehensible. Homework assignments should be customized to a student’s proficiency level in order for the student to comprehend and complete the task. Other learned lessons that were expressed by Young-Chan Han I was not familiar with such as community agencies that give away backpacks full of school supplies and other programs that help out with free or reduced cost extra-curriculum activities, meals, vision screening, etc. I would like to find out more about these programs and services and have them available for my future students. Great blog, great lessons.

As I read the blog, the story of Carlos’ first day of school reminded me of an experience I had this year with a family from Romania. During the first month of school, a student in my class was repeatedly arriving late to school, and would come through my back door (which was a direct door to outside the building). His dad would bring him to the back door, and either walk right in the classroom or knock at the door. We have specific guidelines at our school that states students who arrive late must check in at the office, make a lunch choice, and obtain a late pass to take to class. This rule was not communicated to this family, and when I explained the procedures to the father, he said that he understood but later when talking with him, it was clear he did not fully understand what to do. I wanted his family to feel welcome in our school and fully understand the procedures, just as other families did. After a few more weeks of the boy arriving late, I offered to show the father exactly what steps to take when arriving late. I wrote down the times of the two different bells (first bell at 8:40, late bell at 8:45) and I also walked him through the steps of checking in at the office and then walking down the hall to my room, placing the late pass in the basket, etc.
After that day, the boy and his father knew the procedures when arriving late to school, and actually were not late as often because they understood what the two bells meant.
These scenarios demonstrate that not all families understand the school rules or procedures and just reading a school handbook is not an option for many ELL families. As teachers we cannot assume that families are familiar with routine school procedures or feel comfortable receiving information via newsletters. That is why I offer parents communication about class news through newsletters (hard copy or through email), phone calls, notes home, website, etc. I’ve also had parents check in with me after school each day, and we quickly talk in person about their child’s day, important events, etc. because they prefer the face-to-face communication. With our district being as diverse as it is, I’m surprised we do not offer school handbooks, lunch menus, etc. in multiple languages. Another parent found it helpful to receive hard copies of newsletters, homework, sight words, etc., because she would take them home and translate them for herself, so she could understand it and then be better equipped to support her child. As educators, we should find what form of communication each family prefers and feels comfortable with. When parents have a clear understanding of their child’s curriculum, school guidelines, and procedures, they are equipped to support their child’s learning and feel comfortable within the school.

Young-Chan Han brings up a very significant point that as educators we must take the time to learn about our students’ cultures and more importantly communicate all details and policies to our immigrant families. We had a student in this past school year that got a paper cut. Our school policy is that we have to make a call home anytime a student gets a cut no matter how small. The calls become routine and usually go something like “I was just calling to let you know that Sam got a paper cut today when we were tearing paper for a project. He has a Band-Aid and is back working on the project. We’ll see you at pick up time. Have a good day.” and that’s the end of it. Yet, this particular student was new to our school and when I called stating that she was just fine they responded “oh…we’ll be there in 5 minutes” and hung up. I was a little baffled, but sure enough they were at the school looking frazzled and extremely worried three minutes later. No one had told them our policy about calling for any injury, so when I called home they thought that something must have been terribly wrong and since they didn’t understand the term ‘paper cut’ they rushed over. Young-Chan Han has it exactly right when she states that we must “be proactive” and help our families understand even the minor routines. It would have been much easier to explain our phone call policy prior to an incident, than to try and explain over the phone once they were in a panic. I completely agree that we should never take anything for granted and should always be proactive in explaining policies and routines.

While reading the section “Free and Reduced Meal Forms” it reminded me of a situation that happened at my school at the end of this year. We had a new student who would only be there for two weeks. When it came time to go to lunch he approached me and asked if he would get to eat lunch today. When I responded that he would get to, he asked how he would be able to because he didn’t have money. He had actually come from a different school where he got free lunch and didn’t realize at our school he would as well. Since it was the last couple of weeks of school, somehow it was overlooked that he would still need the forms and need to know about the free lunch. I am sure this is something that happens much more often that it should. It is important that we take a step back at times and remember that not everyone has always been doing things “our way”. There are so many little things that we do on a daily basis, just going through the steps, that we have to keep in mind not everyone has taken the same steps as us!

"Be patient, be sensitive, and be proactive" - simple but vital actions to effective communication with immigrant families or English Language Learners. The tasks that seem minimal or easy to us can often be challenging for families who are not familiar with our customs, procedures, and programs. For example, in my experience as a 5th grade teacher, a first-year Korean student didn't understand the concept behind project-based and group assignments because she was used to more independent tasks that were more teacher-driven than student-driven. Simple ideas such as using previous student samples as visuals and even talking at a slower speed can be effective ways to bridge communication. A book called Myths and Realities, by Katharine Samway and Denise McKeon, highly suggests utilizing translators and interpreters to go over programs and services as well as during open houses or parent/teacher conferences (170-171). Also, printing newsletters or posting information on school websites in the immigrant families' languages is beneficial. Furthermore, most of these services are required by law (No Child Left Behind of 2001 and Title VI of the Civil Rights act of 1964). This book also shows research conducted by the Advocates for Children of New York and the New York Immigration Coalition in 2004 that reveals the lack of these translation/interpretation programs adversely effects the participation of children's parents in their education (170). There is nothing more important than being aware of students' and parents' needs and taking every step to ensure communication and understanding is taking place!

The overall conclusion and emphasis on the need for educators to be sensitive is a tip that I think translates through all of the experiences that the author shares in this blog post. Educators, and for that matter anyone working with immigrants, should always make it a practice to be sensitive and avoid making assumptions about cultural understandings that often times do not transfer. For example, two of my good graduate student friends are from Korea and Kenya. Both of them are shocked by the high amounts of dairy we consume in Michigan. Instead of regularly consuming cheese and milk products, they consume high amounts of rice. This has impacted our weekly get togethers. As such, the two of them typically plan the main course of a meal and I will bring drinks or cups. Doing so makes them and their children feel much more at home, and I am able to sample wonderful food from around the world.

Further, the author of the blog makes another great point that educators should make it a priority to learn about their student's cultures, languages, and histories. In my own class that I teach, I attempt to put this into practice. As such, students spend the semester writing about communities that they belong to which in turn provides a more complete understanding of the multitude of experiences, cultures and backgrounds that my students are from. Further, it is a wonderful opportunity to bring the "extracurriculum" (Gere, 1994) into the classroom. Classroom practices can be rooted in American practices and often exclude those who come into the classroom with different experiences. But by bringing in the "extracurriculum" (those home cultures and experiences typically excluded from school culture) students expand their own understanding of cultures and teachers are placed in a better position to understand the variety of values and cultures their students (and parents of the students) practice. Doing so then avoids making assumptions that do a disservice to immigrant students and families.

Han shares an interesting perspective on what life must be like for new immigrant families to the United States. I felt that her main point was to ensure that new immigrant families are made aware of the most “basic information”—information that people who live in the U.S. take for granted (e.g., car seats for new-born babies, riding the school bus, etc.). It made me think about my mom and her parents, who came to the U.S. in the early 1960s before there was much help for new immigrants. I asked her what help (if any) she remembers receiving when she first arrived in Detroit. Her response: “Not much.” But the difference was that my grandparents chose Detroit because of its strong Polish community, which meant that they could easily communicate with people. In fact, it was so easy to survive in Detroit speaking only Polish that my grandparents learned very little English in the 50 years they lived here. However, many immigrants today are not so lucky and many find themselves trying to survive in English-speaking communities. Educators, who are in a special position to ease the transition of immigrant families by helping their children, need to remember Han’s conclusions: Be patient, be sensitive (I had never even thought about the food issue before!), and be proactive. The actions or inactions that educators make can be life-changing—let’s make sure we are a force of positive change!

As I read this blog, I kept thinking about the families in the district I work at. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but I know that there are very, very few minority and/or immigrant families. Even so, several of the lessons learned in the blog applied to families in my school district in similar ways. For example, one lesson learned was making programs available to parents. Many times, parents are unable to attend school functions because of their work schedule or lack of access to information. This past year, I had a very low turnout for parent teacher conferences. Although I don’t know exactly the reason, it could be due to lack of contact with the school, parents’ illiteracy, or parents had to work evenings. While this is different than the blog because most of the parents in my school speak English, it still puts them at a disadvantage and can’t be as involved. I believe parent involvement is SO important for a child’s success, no matter what language they speak! I have heard parents comment several times about how they weren’t informed of or couldn’t make it to a school function. This blog made me realize that it is even more important for families who don’t speak English as their first language. I really want to make it a priority in the fall to reach out to parents and find various ways to bring awareness of school programs and functions to families.
I am posting a link to an article about parent involvement. I really believe that no matter what language parents speak, it is so important to have them involved! The article gives a number of suggestions on how to get parents involved. While it doesn’t speak directly to immigrant families, most of the suggestions can easily be adapted to helping parents who speak other languages. For example, the article suggests recruiting parent volunteers. This benefits the parents because they learn more about the school and their child’s education. The teacher benefits because he or she can learn more about the families in the community and know how to best work with them. Another suggestion is communication. The article does mention the possible need for translating information. Communication benefits the parents because they are more aware of what is going on at the school and it benefits teachers because they can rely on support from home. No matter what language families at school speak, this article has some great suggestions that complement the blog!
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/27704/

Young-Chan Han uses simple but powerful examples of assumptions made by American schools when dealing with immigrant families. As I read them, I wondered about what assumptions I have made with my students and their families in the past. In particular, I wonder about my ELL student this past year. Since I teach in a district with very few ELL students, I have never been informed about ways to deal with such students and their families. Upon reflecting, I realize that I never met with the parents of my ELL student and wonder if they felt as confused as the families mentioned in Han's blog. I also wonder if my school district has made the attempt to reach out to this family in the ways Han mentions, or if, they too, made assumptions about what immigrant parents understand. If there are any support systems in place for this family, I certainly wasn't made aware of them. Although my student has lived here all of her life, I believe that no English is spoken at home. She is quite fluent in English, but I did notice many times when she seemed to struggle with understanding basic instructions and concepts. After reading this blog, I plan to investigate resources available in my district, and, if I have this student again next year, I will try some of Han's suggestions in making communication more effective and respectful.

I found this blog by Young-Chan Han to be a very eye opening read. I guess as someone who was born in the United States, I don't even think about even the smallest of details when it comes to every day life. I know from my personal experiences that most other countries don't have school buses. In my school district, until recently, most kids walked to school, but they still understood the concept of a school bus. When I tell my students that some countries don't have school buses and even those that walk to school can't believe it. The section about the school supplies was interesting. Don't other cultures use paper and pencils as well? I know elementary school teachers often require each student to have their own crayons and scissors, but you would think they might be able to supply those families who aren't familiar with how our schools are run. Then it raises the question, do US schools require too much "frill" for their students? I know for my class, I require them to have a folder and pencil, not much, but other classes require notebooks and binders and this and that. Is all this really necessary to learn? I know awhile back too, one school put a ban on backpacks or they had to be see through because of school violence. I can only imagine how confusing that would have been for a non English speaking family. Once they finally figure out what school supplies are needed, someone goes and throws them a curve ball. This blog is a good reminder to me that we have to go back to basics as educators, for ESL students and non ESL students. The simplest of tasks for us might be the most confusing for others.

One main point which really stayed with me from this article is that it is essential to be patient, sensitive and proactive not only with the children in the classroom but with the adults (i.e. family members), as well. This is demonstrated throughout the article such as when Han explains, “The ESOL teachers realized that this [FARMs forms] would be a challenge for their families and designated two days during the first week of school to assist families with filling out forms…” (Han 2010). Helping our students and providing our families with the best services means that we need to assist not only the children in the family but the family as a whole. I have not had the opportunity to work with very many ELL families yet in my career, however, last year during my student teaching internship I had a student join the first-grade class in January. My mentor teacher and I made sure to invite the child and family to come into the classroom after school one day during her first week. We showed the family the classroom and gave examples of materials that would be needed (i.e. art shirt, head phones). Then we made sure that after showing them what was needed and giving them a tour of the classroom, that the parents had time to take notes and write down supplies needed in their native language. This experience of getting to meet the family, form a connection, and provide them with the visuals of what would be needed was really beneficial. I was glad that my mentor teacher suggested that we do this and I will continue to do this in the future with my own classes to make sure that the parents feel more confident and have a better understanding of what is needed and what is happening in the classroom.

Throughout the article, Han also expressed that assumptions should not be made just because the activity seems typical or routine to someone who is used to the culture. To a Michigan-born individual raised in a suburban neighborhood, I found it very normal to walk down the street at 8:20 every morning and wait on the corner for the school bus to show up to take me to elementary school. On the days when I had a slow start and missed the bus, I knew that I needed to head back home to find a car ride to school. When I traveled to Germany in high school, I stayed with a host-family and went to school with my host-sister several times. She explained that we were going to take the bus to school. I made the assumption that it would be similar to my school bus experiences. We walked for about ¾ of a mile to get to the public bus stop when we realized that the bus had already left; I thought we would turn around and head back home. My host-sister however said that we could catch another bus on another street not too far away. We continued looking to catch a bus to school several times before we actually got to a stop on time. Looking back at this situation makes me wonder what I’d have done if I had been alone in this situation. It was my natural instinct to walk back home because I was able to do that when I was running late for school in my hometown. I did not think or even realize that there might be another bus to catch to get to school. While this is just a very small example of my own misconceptions and assumptions about bus-riding, it has helped me to take on a perspective of how even something as seemingly small as getting to school can be different and confusing for someone who is not used to the policies and cultural norms.

I was very intrigued by this blog. I found that Young-Chan Han provided several assumptions that we make as American teachers that we do not tend to think about when placed in a classroom. I believe we assume that immigrants know simple everyday tasks that we take for granted and do not take the time to teach them. I really like how she pointed out examples of where professionals took time out of their own day to help out ELL families. For example, when families were confused about filling out forms for the start of a new school year, “the ESOL teachers realized that this would be a challenge for their families and designated two days during the first week of school to assist families with filling out forms to ensure that all children receive timely services (Han, 2010).” I think it is important that school families stick together and help out everyone and anyone that needs it. The first day of school can be intimidating enough for even the regular, middle class, Caucasian students. Imagine not knowing that school could be delayed two hours or that you could be let home early and not have a ride. I think that students have a lot to remember and be responsible for and it is our job as educators to make their days at school as worry-free as possible.
I have an experience that I was faced with during my long-term teaching position in first grade. I had a Lebanese student that was always unsure of how he was getting home. He was newly accustomed to how school worked and was just figuring out how to ride a bus. On top of that, his parents were recently divorced and some days his mother would pick him up and some days his father would. This would be nerve-racking to a six year old boy especially when he also had to deal with learning English, academics, social life, what to get for lunch, etc. His least concern should be how he is getting home from school. I took the initiative to make a plan for him. I made a document on the computer that had a picture of a woman, a man and a school bus. Next to each picture was a blank. I laminated the page and cut out three words, mom, dad and bus. Each day he was responsible to communicate with his mom or dad and find out how he was getting home. Then he would Velcro whichever way he was getting home next to the appropriate picture. I had laminated the pieces of paper that said mom, dad, and bus and put Velcro on the back so he could just stick them down and remove them each day. This caused less anxiety for both my student and I. He was always aware of how he was getting home from school starting the day I made him the plan and on throughout the rest of the school year. It is something simple that regular students take for granted and that we as educators assume that every student should know how to get home. It is important like Han said that we are sensitive, patient and proactive with immigrant students and families. I would also like to add the word understanding. If we can try to understand where they are coming from and try to include them and help them in anyway we can than we as educators are making that many more lives at ease.