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 drinking riding 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:

horse equine thoroughbred running galloping speeding drinking gulping guzzling riding racing flying eating grazing munching

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.