Mini Module 8:
Connecting Home and School
Early language and literacy development begins at birth, and is
closely linked to a child's earliest experiences. The interactions
that young children have with books, paper and crayons, their daily
world environment, and the adults in their lives are the building
blocks they will use to construct language and literacy. This relatively
new understanding of how children develop language and literacy
complements the current research supporting the critical role of
early experiences has in shaping brain development.
Dr. Catherine Snow, Ph.D., of the Harvard Graduate School of Education
conducts extensive research on the subject of language and literacy
development. Her research has helped her identify the importance
for children to have language-rich environments both at home and
in school.
A language-rich environment is one in which adults engage with
their child in extended conversations about topics of interest to
the child. Adults can help children build their language skills
by using new words and extending conversations, through providing
a bit more information or including meaningful questions. The best
conversations happen naturally, regularly and build on a child’s
prior knowledge.
When parents are involved in their child’s education they
are better able to bridge learning between school and home. They
learn useful information about the school culture that helps them
to better prepare their children to succeed. Regular conversations
can help both teachers and parents to build a more complete picture
of what children already know and identify which skills to include
in lesson planning or offer at home.
Children whose family and teacher communicate comfortably feel
valued, have enhanced self esteem and do better in school overall.
Parent involvement in school can also prevent miscommunications
and misinterpretations. Families whose primary language is other
than English can be a rich resource for teachers. They are knowledgeable
experts about their community and culture and are often a great
resource in their home language. By supporting a child’s first
language teachers and parents can help children to learn the structure
of both languages helping them become skilled in both languages.
This also helps the child maintain strong relationships with their
extended family and elders, which is critical to their sense of
her identity value for his or her culture and heritage contributing
to a positive self-concept.
Dr. Jeanne R. Paratore is a faculty member in and coordinator of
the Literacy, Language, and Cultural Studies Program in the Department
of Developmental Studies and Counseling at Boston University. She
is passionate about the importance of building strong connections
between school and home and their role in supporting early language
and literacy development. Dr. Paratore’s review of the research
has identified some key information that can help teachers better
understand differences in children from families whose home culture
or language is other than English. She has found that in the mainstream
culture language and literacy experiences often mirror those very
commonly used in school. However, in families who are newer to our
country or who are of a culture different from the mainstream, their
language and literacy experiences differ considerably from those
practiced at school. She hastens to state that this does not mean
that children are literacy deprived or impoverished. In fact the
research has often found that many families have rich oral traditions,
play with their children and often include them in adult-like conversations.
These children are in fact exposed regularly to very literacy-rich
environments; they are simply very different from those they experience
at school. These skills are frequently not mapped nor do they match
what teachers expected to document as a usual part of their school
curriculum, creating an incongruence between what children do at
home and what is expected in school. This lack of correspondence
can ultimately contribute to school failure.
What then, are educators and parents to do? By being involved in
school, parents learn the language necessary for success. These
factors influence the ways they understand their roles in helping
their children succeed in school.
Some suggestions to support parents reading with their children:
- Get your children to talk! Children learn by talking and asking
questions.
- Help your child understand the story. If they don’t understand,
try to explain what is happening in your own words.
- Relate the book to your life. Ask you child to relate the book
to his/her life as well.
- Wait for answers. After you ask a question, give your children
time to answer.
- Choose books carefully. To help your child the most it is important
to choose books that are not too easy and not too difficult.
Choose books that:
- Relate to the child’s interests.
- Reflect on the child’s own experience.
- Contain pictures that provide clues to words or meaning.
- Contain repetitive words or text patterns.
- Illustrate familiar concepts of themes.
- Have been read at school.
Now take this short true/false quiz on the material you
just read:
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