Inviting Engagement

U.S. classrooms are growing more diverse — ethnically, culturally and linguistically. In response, teachers and educational advocates are employing new strategies, and adapting tried-and-true strategies, to better serve diverse parent populations.

In May 2005, Hyundai Motor Company opened a $1 billion automotive assembly and manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Ala., bringing with it thousands of jobs and a new community of Korean-speaking school children and their families. Elementary school teacher Diane Holtam talks about how she welcomes such linguistically and culturally diverse parents into her classroom.

Look for:

What efforts does Diane make to ensure that all parents feel welcome?

How does she use parent resources to augment student learning?

Go Deeper:
In an interview with Teaching Tolerance, Dr. Alvin Poussaint [1], a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Media Center for Children at the Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston, explores ways teachers can overcome cultural barriers to connect with parents and increase student learning.

Reflect On:

How does my approach to parents and families encourage or discourage their continued participation in the classroom? Are there cross-cultural communication or language considerations?

How can I use my students' families and cultural backgrounds to enrich the classroom and instruction?

Ready Resources:

Make the effort to learn simple communication in another language with translation websites like Babelfish [2], Google Translation [3] and World Lingo [4].

How to Show Respect for All Families [5] (PDF), excerpted from Teaching Tolerance's free Starting Small kit