ESL Families

[dcrespin]

I hope everyone is having success with their programs.

My thought/questions is about families and learning English. I have a number of students (118) in our program and most are at the beginning level with little or none of the basics. This extend to their families. Because of this I design my lessons for our program to include family activities. An example might be when the adults are learning about driving and traffic sign, a class room assisstant works with the children on sign shape and colors. The parent/adult and child are them brought together and they practice what they have learned so that they may practice at home or, in this case, in the car when they are traveling.

Does anyone else work lesson for families into their program? What seems to be the need for families? Finally, what has been succesfull for your programs?

[Tdol]

What sort of institution are you working in? It sounds like a very sound idea, but you appear to have access to both generations- could it work where one generation is learning and the other is outside the institution?

[dcrespin]

I am with the Literacy Center in the Mesa County Public Library District system. We are located in Mesa County, Colorado serving the Grand Junction, Fruita, Gateway, Collburn, and Debeque areas.

Most of the families are all beginning English Readers/speakers. The children range from birth to 8 years old. The lesson are designed to have both groups learn a specific lesson. They get together in class and practice what has been taught. The idea is to get them to work together at home and establish a pattern of Family literacy at home. Reading, writing, speaking and listening to improve the skills of the entire family. A parent needs to understand the langauage that the child uses in todays school system, entertainment, and social gatherings.

I feel that the family unit plays a strong role in adults learning English and the adults can be a role model for the children in that they see the efforts their parents are putting into learning the language.

[Tdol]

It strikes me as an excellent idea, especially for newcomers. I teach academic English, so it wouldn't be appropriate, but I used to teach newcomers to the UK and such a service would, I feel, have been very beneficial as it draws them together in their learning.