I have a co-worker that is very effective when communicating
with families of the children she works with. She is able to effectively
communicate with families that speak two other languages other than English as
she is fluent in two other languages. For those that speak another language
other than the three that she is fluent, she makes sure that she spends time to
send home documents that are in the home language and tries to find someone to
translate with the family during any conferences. While I may not speak a
second language, I am trying to follow her example of always sending home
documents that are in the language spoken at home. While I can almost always
complete this for Spanish, it is when there is a different language that I have
more difficulty. I would like to be a better communicator with families that
speak a different language as my own since it is so important that they are
welcomed and informed in all of the things that are happening with their child
and in the school.
Robin,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and you brought up a great point. We sometimes forget that all families we come in contact with don't speak English. It is important to inform them about classroom activities, their child's health or homework in their home language. Having a co-worker that speaks multiple languages is a plus for the learning center. They can communicate with possible parents that are interested in the center and the parents will feel better knowing that someone understands them. It should be mandatory that all centers have at least 2 people that speak another language on staff.