Breaking the Barrier: Assessing Parent and Teacher Language Barriers

Ashley Scheidel Fall Social Studies Intern Conference

A little bit about my school...

Westwood Middle School (Grand Rapids Public Schools) Priority school, title 1 Demographics 46% Hispanic 24% African American 22% White 8% Other 6th, 7th, and 8th grade 2 full time security guards on staff 80 suspensions in the month of November

A few anecdotes..
My experience at parent teacher conferences Student not translating correctly? Parents surviving throughs students? Im Helpless! What about the siblings? Like butter spread over too much bread

Something to think about...

Raise your hand if you use idioms on a daily basis (Im as hungry as a horse!) Take 3 minutes to write down as many idioms as you can think of

A little humor...

http://www.screencast.com/t/3qaut4SRcqt

SIOP Comprehensible Input

Me at conferences...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K11o19YNvk

CI is much more than showing a picture and hoping they get it..

Jigsaw

With your group, read SIOP comprehensible input article by using the QR code on the handout. Pull out 3 key things from your assigned page with your group.

How to use SIOP Comprehensible input

Enunciating words Speaking slow/giving them time creating a numbered list on the board to follow Paraphrasing Repetition

Use cognates Simple sentence structure Oral and Written examples A finished product for students to see Not talking with your back to them

How to use with parents?

Numbered list of homework that needed to still be handed in or a numbered list of Repetition Bringing models of other students work or their own students to show the parents rather than explain Use hands to talk, for example signaling numbers on hands when talking about grades