In the UK around a million or more primary school children speak English as an additional language, with over 600,000 children of secondary school age also being classified as EAL children.
Many children who speak English as an additional language will have parents who are classed as EAL parents, although some children with EAL parents are, themselves, fluent in English.
As it stands, we know that children who have EAL do struggle to achieve as much as they could because support and resources like foreign language voice overs, teacher training and other measures are not in place as much as they should be. However, an area commonly overlooked when it comes to EAL families is with parents who do not speak English as their first language.
They can often feel estranged from their child’s educational journey, and may struggle to support their child with all kinds of relevant needs like homework support, and with basic needs like attendance and getting to school on time. Communication can be such a barrier, that the very basics may not be achieved because EAL parents are simply not able to access the support and resources they need to help their child fully succeed in school.
If children are to be property supported by their EAL parents in their learning, those parents need to be engaged and these tips will help you to move closer to achieving that:
Get Communication In Place
There are multiple avenues of communication to be used to ensure EAL parents have every possible opportunity to understand the educational programmes their child is engaged in. Here are some examples of ways to effectively communicate with EAL parents:
- Parents evenings with interpreters present
- Ensure that any letters or leaflets, emails or texts on important topics are sent out in the appropriate languages and that they are accurately translated
- Actively promote drop-in sessions parents can attend
- Ensure all cultural and religious celebrations are embraced and celebrated at school
- Actively promote ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes and information about them
- Actively encourage parents who have attended ESOL classes to come to meetings and coffee mornings where EAL parents new to the school can attend
Embrace Multilingualism
Schools who actively want to engage EAL parents should embrace multilingualism and the use of a native language at home. This can be done in multiple ways including:
- Making connections with local schools who provide religious, cultural or lingual support to children attending mainstream schools and letting EAL parents know about those links
- Actively embracing and promoting the learning of different languages within the school, and engaging parents in that process with special readings and other occasions where they can teach learners some of their native language
- Encouraging the use of native language in homework support and learning, supplemented by specific homework resources with voiceovers and subtitling
- Ensuring that websites, resources and anything that EAL parents need to access is translated into multiple languages, taking on feedback for additional languages that are needed
- Having parents meetings and drop-ins to discuss the importance of the use of native languages
- Allowing teachers to access language learning courses to gain a basic understanding of common languages used by EAL parents and students in the school
Teacher Training
It is imperative that teachers are fully trained in helping both EAL children and EAL parents in the school. Whereas a framework may exist to ensure that EAL parents are engaged, if teachers do not have the relevant training and support to follow through with those intentions and plans, that framework will be rendered useless. Teachers should also have support from their peers and higher management to help navigate specific challenges that arise with this specific topic.
Signage
It is so important that EAL parents feel welcome in school and that they are able to navigate the school itself right from day one. You can do this in lots of ways, including:
- Ensuring that maps and invites are clearly available in different languages when they are sent out before term begins
- Inviting EAL parents in for welcome meetings to look around the school and to gain knowledge of linked resources we mentioned above
- Adding signage in different languages around the school, including welcome signs
- Ensuring that different departments, rooms and areas are clearly marked in different languages, as well as in clear labels that can be identified regardless of the student or parents native language
- Utilise visual videos and signage using subtitles, voiceovers and translated text so that parents can easily understand the message
How Will You Engage EAL Parents In Your School?
The above are just some ideas of how you can engage EAL parents in your school. It will always be a work in progress, but by using resources, and paid language services, you can ensure all EAL parents and their children have the best possible experience of your educational facility.
