Help for Hispanic Parents
Q. The
language barrier must be very difficult for Spanish-speaking parents who
immigrate to this country and want to enroll their children in our schools. How
can we make schools a less intimidating place, and serve their needs, so that
they can support their children's learning better?
A creative and effective way is to
set up a Community Learning Center within the school, dedicated to helping the
parents gain job skills and life skills while interacting on a daily basis with
school staff members and other parents, making them feel more a part of their
community.
It's paying off, as the CCA
Alliance, founded in Houston in 2002, now has helped establish over 100 centers
in schools with larger Hispanic populations.
The centers are places of computer
learning in Spanish and English for parents to come and get job skills. The
life skills component helps them see how to be more involved with their
children's educations. Results: more school volunteering by Hispanic parents,
better homework monitoring, better behavior for their children in school, and a
win-win situation for Hispanic parents and school staffers.
Homework: See
the website, www.ccaalliance.org