Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.9.3/8.9.0.Beta5/980425bjb) with SMTP id XAA17571; Wed, 3 May 2000 23:50:45 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 23:50:45 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.20000503212550.00941a80@mail.dnvr.uswest.net> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Jessie Bullock <jessie@black-diamond.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:2899] RE: ESL family literacy program X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.2.0.58 Status: O Content-Length: 8288 Lines: 165 Hi, I really appreciate your email. It doesn't make me feel so alone in the challenges I face. I definitely would be interested in coming to visit your program. Mornings are busy for me, but maybe I can make it up there one afternoon. School is out for us on June 14, so since we don't run a summer program...I'm free then. Do you have a summer program? In my case, I am the only paid staff member besides a part-time babysitter. She takes care of the children who are not school age. She is 18 years old and has no early childhood ed experience. I inherited her when I started my position in January. I don't have any bilingual assistance available for parent time. That is why it is so challenging for me. The high intermediate and advanced students don't have a problem understanding the basic theme and most of the discussion questions I bring up, but the low intermediate and beginning students do. I don't have many resources to use for my parent time discussions and none in Spanish. Our PACT time goes pretty much how yours does. It is difficult with parents who have children in grades 1-5. Most of them just sit while the child is doing seat work. The kindergarten teacher is great about working with me on PACT. How much time do the parents spend in the classroom per week? How often do you do parent time discussions? For what amount of time? I have not had the NCFL training, but I have read a few of their publications. I am scheduled to go to Louisville, KY in August for a week of training. I think the training will be useful, but if I am not given the resources I need to run the program I don't know how much good the training will do. I really need someone bilingual to be available for the parent time and to help the parents understand the teachers sometimes during PACT. I do appreciate your response. I hope to visit your program soon. Jessie Bullock At 02:19 PM 5/3/00 -0400, you wrote: >Jessie, I'm just down the road from you in Boulder with the Boulder Family >Independence Initiative. We have been problem-solving in some of the areas >you discussed, with second language learners (mainly Spanish-speaking) in >parent time, as well as having PACT time in classrooms. Let me say first >that if you haven't had implementation training from the National Center for >Family Literacy (NCFL), do so.(Call 502-584-0172.) It will give you a sense >of the whole program and how to integrate and structure the components. It >will also stress the purposes of the components, so if you need to customize >your components to suit your families, you'll still know how to maintain the >integrity of the program. Also, since you are working with second language >learners, you may want to join the nifl-esl list serve. It's a valuable >source of ESL instructional and resource information. > >Our program is formed from a coalition of agencies, so we have access to >paid teachers as well as well trained tutors. I do know of successful >programs that utilize only trained tutors. In parent time we have used >bilingual staff to facilitate discussions. We are continually trying to >refine our parent time, so I am not implying that we have found all the >answers. One site serves only Spanish speaking parents, so discussion is >held mainly in Spanish. At another site, students are at various levels of >speaking English, the teacher is English speaking, but another staff member >is bilingual so she translates or holds separate discussions as necessary. >Since some parents at both sites are beginning English speakers, utilizing >the native language of students is the best way to communicate. Title I pays >a significant portion of bilingual staff's salary. There has been some >national discussion on this list serve that some programs are English- only >and it seems to work for them. That's not the case with what we see with >beginning English speakers. If you are unable to fund bilingual staff, >parents who are versed in Parent Time discussions may be able to translate >or lead groups. > >PACT time in grades 1-5 is another area that deserves attention. PACT time >was originally developed based on a preschool model of play centers. >Classrooms are very different. NCFL has a grant from Toyota to develop a >model, so make sure you are on their mailing list. Again, we don't have all >the answers, but we are implementing various strategies to make it work. >PACT time in Kindergarten works fine since most are based on centers. >Generally, in elementary school, teachers are under so much pressure with >Standards Assessments and the Colorado K-3 Basic Literacy Act, that they >haven't figured out how parents can be useful with their children in class >and we havent yet trained teachers how they can be supportive. (Family >literacy is just another piece of the puzzle for them.) Parents have >generally just observed their children working in class, and review what was >seen in Parent Time. We are building in a home visit component to develop a >more traditional PACT time but also will be training parents in the various >literacy programs and interventions that our district has implemented: First >Steps, 6-Traits, Dual Language Bilingual, CLIP, SOAR, etc. That way they >will be familiar with instruction IF we can schedule parents in during the >literacy block. We also will have a family literacy staff person designated >to be a teacher liaison to work out problems with parents in class, i.e., >child is English speaking, parent is monlingual Spanish, child is in English >speaking classroom. > >Good luck with your program and come and visit if you can find the time. We >have morning and afternoon programs. > > > > > ---------- > > From: Jessie Bullock > > Reply To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov > > Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2000 10:55 PM > > To: Multiple recipients of list > > Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:2894] ESL family literacy program > > > > Hi, > > > > I work with an organization in Denver, CO that has a family literacy > > program in two different elementary schools. The program participants are > > > > parents of children who attend the elementary schools. The adult > > education > > component is English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. I am fairly new > > to family literacy. Prior to this I worked only in adult ESL programs > > that > > had no parent time, PACT, or early childhood education components. > > > > I have been searching for organizations/ programs that operate a family > > literacy program with a non-native English speaking population. Our > > program operates three days per week for 2 1/2 hours per day at one of the > > > > schools and the other school operates two days per week for 2 1/2 hour per > > > > day. Each parent goes to PACT in his/her child's classroom for 25-30 > > minutes per week per child. We have parent time discussions for the first > > > > half hour each morning. Is this type of structure common? > > > > How are others structuring their family literacy programs? Does anyone > > experience challenges facilitating parent time discussions with a > > non-native English speaking population? Does anyone have challenges > > working with the classroom teachers in the schools? How is PACT time > > handled in your program? Do you have paid instructors for the ESL classes > > > > or do you use volunteers? > > > > I know that is a lot of questions to be asking, but I am looking for > > feedback from individuals in other organizations/agencies in hopes that it > > > > will give me some ideas. I am interested from hearing from anyone who has > > > > input into any of the questions I have asked. I hope that others on the > > list will benefit from this as well. > > > > Jessie Bullock > > Family Literacy > > Denver, CO > > > > jessie@black-diamond.com > > www.black-diamond.com > > ----------------- > > The pupil who is never required > > to do what he cannot do, never > > does what he can do. > > -- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), > > British philosopher, economist > > > > jessie@black-diamond.com www.black-diamond.com ----------------- The pupil who is never required to do what he cannot do, never does what he can do. -- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), British philosopher, economist
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