THE VERY FIRST STEP

The very first thing that I decided to do is meet the families and talk about the new educational environment of their kids and the ways that they would help their kids in this journal! After trying many times I could get an appointment with one of the kid's mom for a home visit. Home visits are a powerful way to determine your expectations from the family. You get to see the environment that the ESL student comes from. You get to see if the student has a supportive family and a quiet place to do his homework. After my second home visit, I did know that these kids weren't going to get much support from their parents. Most parents had to work for 7 days a week with long hours and bad work conditions. So they weren't going to be coming to school to talk to me about their kid, they weren't going to be able to volunteer or join the PTO, most of them weren't going to be able to read the letters that I send home, they weren't goint to buy school spirit t-shirts or participate field trips unless they are free. If I plan an outdoor activity, extra tutorial or a picnic, they weren't going to participate unless I pick them up from their home, and drop them off too. So it is important to meet the family, see the home environment that ESL kids come from before you set your expectations for the students and the families. after the first step - meeting with the family and see the home environment- I came up with an action plan that I will be telling in my next post.