Parent or family engagement has been identified as one of the most crucial aspects influencing student achievement in schools (e.g., Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Educators working in well-implemented dual language and immersion (DLI) programs ensure that families are informed and engaged and play integral roles in their children’s education (Howard et al., 2018). Yet DLI programs need well-developed materials to educate families to ensure that they are able to play key roles in their children’s learning. To this end, we developed a DLI family education program specifically for two-way bilingual immersion programs, which can be modified for one-way and indigenous programs. Modules and interactive activities designed for face-to-face workshops for parents and families span four key topics: DLI Basics, Bilingualism & Biliteracy, The Challenges of DLI, and College & Career Opportunities. In this session, we will showcase samples of the materials and share program participant perspectives. We will also unveil a website (with materials in English, Spanish, and Hmong) that provides all the materials for the DLI family education workshops as well as additional support and information for DLI parents and parent educators.
Presenters
Maureen Curran-Dorsano is a retired French immersion teacher from Edina Public Schools. She worked for four years as the Coordinator of the Dual Language and Immersion Family Education project described in this session.
Diane (Dee) Tedick is a Professor in the Second Language Education program. She works with dual language and immersion (DLI) programs locally, nationally, and internationally. She coordinates the graduate certificate program in DLI and the M.Ed. in Language Immersion Education and is Principal Investigator on the USDE grant that supported the family education project described in this session.
This presentation is cosponsored by the Second Language Education Program in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. …...more
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