1. Read and write in the home language
The most important support you can give at home is to help your child continue to develop his or her home language(s). There are a few reasons for this:
- Your child is not getting that language at school, so home is the only place where he or she is working on the home language.
- Research clearly shows that having strong literacy (reading and writing) skills in the home language helps your child develop literacy skills in English because the same skills and strategies transfer across languages.
- Your child has stopped his or her education in the home language at a young age - it is essential that he/she continues to develop home language literacy skills to an adult level - you don't want your child to grow up to be an adult with home language literacy skills at a young child's level! Your future adult needs to be able to read and write at an age-appropriate level throughout her life.
2. Read and talk in your home language about the topics your child is learning about in school
Your child is learning challenging academic content at school - science, math, social studies, etc. In order to better understand this academic content, it would help your child a lot to build background knowledge about it in the home language. By learning some background about this topic in the home language, he or she is able to understand and think about the concepts at a higher level, without being limited by English language skills. Then, when he comes to school, he'll be better able to understand when he learns it in English.
3. Provide books, magazines, or internet resources in your home language about the academic topics your child is learning
Students often have research to do at home or at school. If possible, provide your child with materials to do the research in the home language. Send the materials in to class with your child so he or she can use them at school, too! This is not going to slow down your child's English learning - in fact, quite the opposite! Your child will understand more by using the home language as a tool for learning!
4. Be patient
Language learning is a long process and each learner develops at their own pace. It takes many years to develop the academic language skills necessary to reach grade-level proficiency. Let your child know that it is not a race!
If you are looking for ways to practice English at home, check out the LINKS page. You might also be interested in downloading the free sampler BrainPOP ESL app for your iPad or iPhone. Your child also knows how to access the BrainPOP ESL website on any computer using our school's login information.