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 OAA03150; Tue, 9 May 2000 14:48:08 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 14:48:08 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <2.2.32.20000509184258.0070d77c@mail.teleport.com> 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: Sylvan Rainwater <sylrain@teleport.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:2915] Re: ESL family literacy program X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (32) Status: O Content-Length: 2303 Lines: 43 At 12:55 AM 5/3/2000 -0400, Jessie Bullock wrote: <SNIP> We have parent time discussions for the first >half hour each morning. Is this type of structure common? > I'm not sure what is common. We have Parent Time once a week for an hour every Friday. We began the year with a structured video curriculum, Padres Activos (Active Parenting), with quite a bit of presentation and some discussion time. We then went to a Parents Anonymous video series that has short video clips and then much more discussion time. In between, we've had speakers come in about dental health, domestic violence, and other topics of interest. We do these discussions in the native language, which in our case is Spanish. We have several bilingual staff members. It does seem difficult to have meaningful discussions about something as personal as parenting in a second language, especially for the low-level learners. We found this year that beginning with a more structured curriculum and then going to a more discussion-based format worked well, since it takes time to develop the trust necessary for frank discussions. We are primarily pre-school based, but we do have one parent with a kindergartener and 2nd grader. The kindergartners are a challenge, because their school day doesn't last for the whole time of our program. We actually use a bus to pick up one child and bring him here to participate with the last of large motor time with the Head Start class and then daily PACT time and lunch. When you have mixed pre-school and some school-age children in the program, it's difficult to figure out how to do some sort of consistent integrated PACT time. We've had home visitors accompany parents to the school to be in class with children and talk with the teachers occasionally, but often that parent wants to leave our program early rather than staying for lunch, since her children aren't here. We convinced her to stay one day a week for PACT and lunch, for purposes of being part of the group and playing with children whose mothers may be with another child or otherwise unavailable. This seems to have worked fairly well. Best of luck to you in developing your new program. Sylvan Rainwater . Portland, OR USA . sylrain@teleport.com --------------------------------------------------------------
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