 |
 |
'Family learning' I was reminded of several years ago when I taught a parents' ESOL class at beginner level in an inner city nursery school and the creche was in the same room. So we made the most of it by turning into family learning, ( I used to teach in an infant school myself) focussing with the students on sections from a video made by the nursery, about the beginnings of literacy at home and at school, and then carrying out the featured activities ( such as a collage of food labels 'I can read' ) with the parents and their children from the creche and the nursery, finishing off with singing together! One of the creche workers made a book of Our Songs and the nursery put our collages etc on display where the nursery children pointed out what they could read! But how could it fit nowadays into ESOL provision which requires graded accreditation for funding? Could it 'fit in' with the exam topics, the curriculum or the learning materials? Re Family learning and homework: Parents from all backgrounds and experience can be made to feel inadequate by the expectations of some schools / children that they will be able to help with homework and that the children will learn from it. One of my E3 students questions the amount of teaching and learning that is apparently 'left to parents'; when her 5 yr old son does badly in his spelling tests SHE is criticised unjustly for not 'teaching him his spellings'. She attends a course somewhere ( Central library Bradford?) on parents helping young children: I believe Sure Start and nurseries are doing good work with the younger age group and their parents. Many primaries do provide ‘information sessions’ for parents about children's learning. But I think the real issue is how to help (ESOL) parents of older children. Perhaps some input from schools to the ESOL class would be useful for students as parents and as language learners? Visitors from KS2 and KS3 to the class to talk about parents' evenings? A school's homework policy/expectation? The language used to describe achievement and effort etc? With language support from the tutor, it would be comprehensible input on a relevant topic. And at the same time raising awareness in the schools of parents’ perceptions , misunderstandings etc. And is homework appropriate, and explained clearly in the first place so that children can realistically be expected to do it themselves or are they expected to get help from their parents? Homework battles can affect family relationships and attitudes to learning, and sadly, there are children who can get no help at all with homework for many reasons and children whose homework is virtually done for them. I'll get off my soap box! Isabel Arnold> Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 23:09:01 +0100> From: [log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Family learning> To: [log in to unmask]> > Hello all> I'm forwarding this message from Bob Hodgson of Bradford College. Bob worked with us on the ESOL Effective Practice Project, and has info (and a request) about a new class he's starting up. You can contact him at [log in to unmask]> Thanks for this, Bob. I now have three (not so) little ones - and the teenager's homework is already a struggle for me!> James> > ________________________________> > From: Robert Hodgson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]> Sent: Mon 02/06/2008 13:44> To: James Simpson> Subject: FW: Family learning> > > > Hello James, Please relay this request to members of the group.> > As a result of speaking to immigrant parents in my ESOL classes I have become more and more aware of the difficulties they face in understanding what their children are learning at school. Some have even been told by their children that their presence at such events as parents' evenings are an embarrassment as they cannot converse with the teacher.> I regularly introduce relevant vocabularly and explanations of such subjects as geography, science, maths, mixed in with the education module of citizenship and this has helped some parents to do exercises at home with their children. I also ask them to bring to class samples of their child's school work to discuss with the other parents. > I recently expressed an interest in running a family learning class with ESOL parent students and their children, especially with the 3 to 5 age group. These children are already adapting to school life in the college creche and local nurseries and I suspect this may be a good stage at which to start such classes. > I would like to hear from anyone who has experience, good or bad, of this type of class and, at the suggestion of my manager, to observe a class for a week.> > Thank you.> Bob Hodgson, Bradford College> > So I would be grateful if you could put this one on the noticeboard and will of course let you know what the outcome is. No doubt you will soon be experiencing the joys of parents' evenings so will appreciate how trying it could be if you couldn't understand what the teachers are saying about your little one!! And how trying it is for him if you cannot help with homework!!> Thanks, Bob> > ***********************************> ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds.> To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html> A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at:> http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm> To contact the list owner, send an email to> [log in to unmask] _________________________________________________________________ Great deals on almost anything at eBay.co.uk. Search, bid, find and win on eBay today! http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/msnnkmgl0010000004ukm/direct/01/ *********************************** ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds. To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm To contact the list owner, send an email to [log in to unmask]