Learning language
is a family affair
Family
involvement is key to the acquisition of early literacy skills, but
what about families who don't speak English in the home?
Parents
can emphasize communication in any language, says Maria Sera, Ph.D.,
professor at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development.
The most important thing is for parents to actively engage their child
in conversation, beginning at birth, and to read to the child regularly.
If this happens in another language, the child is still learning essential
building blocks of literacy, such as connecting sounds to meaning, Sera
said.
As
a child reaches school age, it is important for parents to remain very
involved with their child's development. Without English skills, parents
are not able to help with homework, read along with the child in schoolbooks
or story books, quiz students in spelling and other activities that
many of us take for granted with our own children.
Many
community-based resources have sprung up to meet this need. By providing
whole families with programs, they not only help young children prepare
for school, but also enable the adults and older children to learn how
to function better in American society.
One
example is the Women's Association of Hmong and Lao (WAHL), a St. Paul-based
program that serves the Hmong community. WAHL works with the Minnesota
Department of Education's Early Childhood Family Education(ECFE) program
to develop and provide services that include parenting classes, preschool,
English as a Second Language and others. At the Mt. Airy Community Center
in St. Paul, there are Head Start, ECFE and other programs operating
almost around the clock, and many are geared toward helping Hmong families
understand the American culture and become literate in English.
"There
are many services, but too many families don't know what is available,"
said WAHL's site coordinator Mouafu Mouanoutoua. "By coming to
classes, they learn not only about cultural differences but about other
available resources." For example, at the morning ECFE preschool,
parents spend the first half-hour in class with the children, participating
together in the activities. On a typical day, this would include lots
of songs, stories and games that are conducted in English, with key
words and concepts also presented in the Hmong language. After 30 minutes,
parents go to another classroom for lessons in everything from shopping
in American supermarkets to proper nutrition and hygiene for newborns
and toddlers.
Because
the Hmong culture and its traditions are so unlike American culture,
the needs of Hmong parents extend beyond learning a new language. In
addition to ESL classes and workshops on daily living skills (like negotiating
the public transportation system), Hmong parents can learn parenting
skills relevant to life in America. For example, Hmong parents are striving
to learn new ways to set limits with their children, including their
teens, said Mouanoutoua.
But
back in the morning class, the children are focused on learning language
skills. The teacher at ECFE has laid out a dozen donated books for the
parents and children to choose from, and they can take any one home
to keep. For some, it may be the first book they've ever owned, but
the hope is that it will create a hunger in both the child and the parents
for many more.
