Teach Primary Issue 18.6

64 | www.teachwire.net dropping off their children, and avoiding interaction with school staff. Thus missing out on the chance to develop those all-important relationships that are at the heart of every successful education journey. Sharing and connecting So, what can we do? Accept that communication is simply impossible with some families? Of course not! But the way to form connections may often not be obvious, especially when language and culture are barriers. In the primary context, regularly inviting parents into schools to share their child’s work or get involved H aving worked in many schools that had a large number of pupils with English as an additional language, one thing I feel deeply passionate about is the importance of raising engagement with the parents, carers and family members of EAL learners – especially those with low levels of English, or who may come from cultural backgrounds with very different expectations of how school staff should interact with parents. Culture shock It’s always worth reminding ourselves, that the parents and carers of international new arrivals are often undergoing a similar transition to their child. In a possibly unknown culture, operating outside their native language, and sometimes with few or no members of a community who speak the same language around them, the grown-ups need support, too. Families like these have a significantly larger transition to make. Unfortunately, whilst many schools have provision for engaging fluent English- speaking parents, they can struggle to connect with those from minority language backgrounds. From my experience, these parents can often be observed quickly leaving the playground after in experiences with their child provides significant opportunities to further nurture engagement. Bringing family members into school in this way is especially powerful for younger pupils, who are more dependent on their parents. The children tend to be full of enthusiasm for the idea of demonstrating what they’ve been learning; unlike secondary learners, who are working towards having more independence from their parents. Inviting family members into school to work with children can have many benefits. First, it provides an opportunity for pupils to share their school experiences (and all the wonderful things they are doing during the day) with ‘their’ adults, who may not understand how UK schools work. This will also give you a useful insight into how different families work together, and how you can support them further. EAL parents and children will naturally use their home language to communicate about the event or occasion they’re attending, breaking down language barriers and providing a comfortable setting. Children often feel pride in translating their achievements for family members. School events can also offer the chance to praise the use of pupils’ home languages, and help ensure they have continued importance for the children and their families. Sometimes parents and children don’t value their home language until it’s too late. Stopping using the home language can NEW ARRIVALS Caroline Scott offers effective ways schools can bridge language and cultural barriers to parental engagement