PARENTS OF ELLs

Introduction Parents play an important role during their children’s education as well as a powerful role to fulfill the hopes and demands of their community. It is imperative to put into practice programs from the school that leads to parents’ involvement for success in their children’s education. It is to empower their communities and work with schools to enhance effective communication for high academic achievement of their children in society today. (Fuentes, 2009). The main goal is to involve parents with school and organize and promote learning communities. That is, an integration process that will give parents the opportunity to interact and learn from one another’s culture so that their learning experience and involvement benefits their children’s mother tongue and the English language. Besides, the creation of learning communities with parental involvement at schools helps to enrich and empower cultural values. In this sense, learning is the most important goal to achieve beyond social and cultural class differences. (Gonzalez and Gabel, 2017). Learning communities with parental involvement can also help to create a harmonious environment due to their active participation with the activities promoted by the school such as Cooperative learning Groups (CLG). Consequently, parents of ELLs will support their children to work in a collaborative way with their peers; in addition, parents will also take an active role in their children’s education. Green (2005) states that classroom environments are constantly changing and so is the population of ELLs. That is, the necessities of developing language competence and high education standards in society today are essential. In addition, Green (2005) also points out about the imperative need to connect home and school where parents of ELLs play a crucial role in their children’s education and language learning. He also explains that, by means of technology-use such as cell phones, tablets or PCs, it is possible to achieve the home-school connection. In this way, they can be notified about integration activities and learning community organizations for them to engage in actively and empower their children’s education and language learning process. The main goal of parents of ELLs stakeholder is to provide training for parents to use technology as a means to support their children to develop the English language communicative competence. Goal: Parents of ELL will compare and contrast effective communication in an unknown language using a podcast generator. Objective 1: Parents will develop awareness of communication gaps between English and Spanish using WIKI, WAKA WOKU learning strategy and Cooperative Language Groups (CLG). Objective 2: Parents will create English language learning communities with other parents and activities that promote integration learning communities. Activities: Objective 1: Parents will develop awareness of communication gaps between English and Spanish using WIKI, WAKA WOKU learning strategy and Cooperative Language Groups (CLG). Activity 1: Instructors introduce themselves and explain what this training is about, its main goals and expected outcomes by using a Power Point Presentation. Instructor establishes the principles of this training: Every individual is unique and although different, all we deserve respect and acceptation the way each is. Instructors invite the audience to watch a short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbOuIWe8BaA Parents watch the video and are asked to pick up ideas and filling in the chart by answering the following questions: • What is the main message in this video? • How do I feel identified with it? • What is the connection of this video in real life? Instructors will guide the analysis by means of inviting to each group to answer the questions and share their points of views in Spanish and/or English WIKI, WAKA, WOKU. (F2) learning strategy. Parents are asked to answer section 1 in the WIKI section of their worksheets: What do I know about Language? Instructors ask participants to watch the video and to pick up women attitudes description and women feelings, as they perceive them and to describe how this situation ended, explaining why? http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/saints-and-strangers/videos/making-friends/ Instructor organizes the audience in CLG (Cooperative Learning Groups). Parents are asked to think and write a message for letting know to a population about dangerous situation, as a result of a Hurricane alert, earthquake warning, or any other natural disasters. Then, parents are asked to communicate with other groups about the situation, but they are asked to say the message using a weird and unknown language. After this, instructors ask the participants to discuss and write how they felt for not being understood or for not understanding. Instructor guides the plenary in the way the audience can conclude how important language understanding is and how important is to take into account other adjacent elements in the language use. Can you explain why? Pop balloon activity. Instructor invites parent to be organized in a large circle. All parents are asked to pass the balloon, as the music goes on, when music stops, the balloon holder must pop it and to take the inside paper. After reading it he/she has to explain why. Example: Why do most of the people in China like red color? why do people in Italy best consume wheat flour food? and so on. Working in groups, parents read over popular sayings and discuss the culture implications in real life. In a plenary, parents will deliver their interpretations http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/culture-quotes/ What did you say? This activity consists of organizing parents in groups. They will be asked to name a secretary, messenger, and reviewers in each group. The messenger of each group must go to the wall where the text is stuck on the wall and must come as fast as they come to tell the secretary the words. The reviewers should review the text coherence. The winner will be the group who has the most of the text. In order to who the winner is, instructor must review and compare the text production in each group and the original text. Parents are asked to write in second section of WIKI, WAKA, WOKU worksheet taking into account the following questions: • What did I learn? • What did I discover? “This is me” & “This must be me” Chart activity. Teachers are organized in groups. They will write in wall papers first half a description how they behave towards their children school and academic necessities. Second wall paper half must be filled in by writing a strategy that can lead them to solve the situation. Parents finally write on the third section of WIKI, WAKA, WOKU metacognitive strategy. Instructor takes a critical thinking discussion and propitiates parents’ analysis in regard to parents’ involvement positive impact in kids’ life. About language and acculturation, attitude toward school and the communication with their kids. Writing brief text. (Report) (Culture rubrics). Activity 2: Parents will work in CLG. Parents will investigate about the Origin culture of ELLs and choose a typical story of their culture. There should be a representative story of each student’s origin. Parents will take turns to tell ELLs a story. In this activity, parents of ELLs will do as follows: a) Decorate the room where the student will be told the story. b) Create a relaxed atmosphere. c) Label the things in the room as much as possible. d) Parents will tell the story to ELLs. Previously to this, parents will give a worksheet to ELLs (WIKI, WAKA, WOKU worksheet). e) f) Parents will introduce themselves and tell ELLs the story topic. g) Parents will present a PPT with images related to the story, but not any word should be said. At this stage, ELLs are asked to fill in the WIKI, WAKA, WOKU first column worksheet. h) Parents will tell ELLs the story to other ELLs attending storytelling recommendations at: rmberk.kz/journals/3097/93005.pdf#page=166 Parents will tell ELLs the story, but breaking the story off and intentionally interrupting the story to ask ELLs to answer the second column on WIKI, WAKA, WOKU worksheet. Resources: You Tube Videos, Power Point Presentation, WIKI WAKA WOKU worksheet Personnel involved: Parents of ELLs and an external agency in charge of conduct the training. Evaluation activities: The following questions are considered: What is language?, What is language role in kids’ life?, parents of ELLs make a list of key words that define linguistic awareness and its implication of Language Learning, Is school just the only place our kids are educated?, and how important is to keep communication with our kids? Why? Parents and administrators must create a word cloud by accessing to the following page: https://www.wordclouds.com/. Then they have to download their cloud and to post it (short image) in the following site: http://www.spaaze.com/board/4118775f7ee342598512c04da7197398 Then, parents of ELLs post a brief description of it, WIKI; WAKA, WOKU worksheet (F2), Video worksheet, written message rubric, and written report rubric, critique rubric, text rubric, WIKI, WAKA, WOKU worksheet, “This must be me” worksheet, written report rubric, WIKI, WAKA, WOKU worksheet, and PPT. Outcomes: Parents will work in small groups to discuss the answers of the worksheet questions. (F1) WIKI, WAKA, WOKU worksheet. (F2) Video worksheet. (F3), Worksheet (F4) WIKI, WAKA, WOKU worksheet from section 2. Timeline: A total of 8 hours on September 2018. Objective 2: Parents will create English language learning communities with other parents and activities that promote integration learning communities. Activities: Activity 1: Parents will be organized in CLG for creating a chat club (CHC). Parents will open a Virtual Classroom (VC) in www.edoome.com that will be the communication platform for the CHC by using their iPads. They will join the CHC. Using their iPads, parents will create a schedule for all CLG participation in the CHC and post it in the VC previously created. Each CGL of parents will organize an activity per each week in which they include attractive topics for ELLs. Each of the CHC session will include, at least, the following: a) Topic environment development that can be pictures, sounds, costumes, etc. b) Labels for objects in the classroom. c) Vocabulary games for activities to promote discussion topics. d) Parents will post a selected article in the virtual classroom in the homework sections in order for other partners to read it previously before they attend their CHC session. e) Parents will create a quiz for all the CLG that they will answer at the end of each session in their iPads or cell phones. Parents will select a date for it. The CLG that is leading the session will provide the audience with the program and post the session topic and invitation in the VC, indicating place, date and topics to be reviewed in the session. Parents will pick up session evidences such as videos, pictures, and podcasts. Parents leading the session will post a report and session evidences in the VC by creating a PPT. Activity 2: Using their iPads, parents of ELLs will create a Skype account. They will review www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-2yNBfVSxE Parents of ELLs will be organized in CLG. Once parents of ELLs have created the Skype account, they will organize their schedule for Skype sessions. Each CGL will post their session in the VC and include for the Skype session the following: a) Parents of ELLs will read the article that they previously uploaded in the VC in the files section. b) Outline or program per each Skype session to be uploaded in the VC file. c) Parents of ELLs will upload the worksheet at the end of the session in the VC folder. Parents of ELLs will develop the Skype session by following the schedule. Parents of ELLs will be focused on the discussion topic, but in all the moments, they will match the topic to the ELLs learning processes. They will pick up important facts for ELLs learning processes and write them in a worksheet that will be uploaded on the VC file. Parents of ELLs will post their session’s opinions and conclusions in the VC by uploading a PPT. d) Parents post the quiz in the VC. Resources: Chat Club, Virtual Classroom, IPads, Videos, Podcasts, Pictures, PPT, Skype account, quiz, and worksheet, Personnel involved: Parents of ELLs and an external agency in charge of conduct the training. Evaluation activities: reading the article posted by parents of ELLs, worksheet posted in the VC files, opinions and conclusions of the session in the VC in a PPT by parents of ELLs. Outcomes: Creation of Skype accounts by parents of ELLs, worksheets responses posted in the VC, quiz responses, and PPT post in the VC. Timeline: A total of 8 hours on October 2018.