Parent Engagement in Early Literacy in Native Language
We teach (Hispanic and Somali) parents how to teach their children to read and write in their Native/Home/Primary Language (Spanish or Somali) with an emphasis on:
- Phonics
- Phonemic Awareness
- Syllabication
- Decoding
- Fluency
- Vocabulary
- Comprehension
Parents learn the skills and strategies of effective teaching and become their children’s Native/Home/Primary Language teachers.
In both cultures, the primary point of contact and the role of education falls on the mothers, yet in both cultures the literacy rate of females is lower than males. In our 15 years experience, we have seen illiteracy rates as high as 12% for Hispanic and 40% for Somali mothers. It is an unrealistic expectation to ask some of these parents to support their children in their education when they themselves can’t read and write. They simply do not know how to help.
Our literacy programs eliminates the obstacle of illiteracy among parents because the parents learn to read and write in their Native/Home/Primary language along side with their children. Additionally, they learn teaching skills, techniques and strategies to develop and help their children become fluent readers and great writers.
Upon learning these skills, parents are able to then support their children in the English Language Development because they now understand the basics of early literacy – Phonics, Phonemic Awareness, Syllabication, and Decoding. Students upon learning to read in their Native/Home/Primary language (which is easier than English) and increasing their fluency in decoding through syllabication are then able to transfer those skills to reading in English and become fluent English readers by 3rd grade.