by John Myers

Created on: September 02, 2008

A solid relationship between the school and the home is essential for the educational development of children. Parents play a vital role in helping their child to learn the skills necessary to succeed in school. Teachers and schools have an obligation to reach out to parents in the community in order to open and maintain a continuous dialogue to elicit an effective collaboration between the school and the home.

Teachers of English Language Learners (ELL's) are in a unique situation concerning the home-school relationship. In most cases, these parents speak a language other than English, thereby creating a barrier to developing a collaborative relationship for the benefit of these children. As with the mainstream population, there are strategies that can be employed by school staff to help communicate with ESL parents effectively in order to build a collaborative relationship.

Many school districts in English speaking countries have set plans for effectively dealing with families of ELL's. In this essay, we will take a look at several approaches used by such districts as an example of how to create working relationships with these families of other linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

"The academic and linguistic growth of students is significantly increased when parents see themselves, and are seen by school staff, as co-educators of their children along with the school. Schools should therefore actively seek to establish a collaborative relationship with minority parents that encourages them to participate with the school in promoting their children's academic progress." Jim Cummins, a renowned scholar on second language learning, claims that parental involvement is essential to an English Language Learner's progress in their education.

Cummins argues that for an effective partnership to take place, schools primarily need to provide a welcoming environment, rather than an intimidating one, seemingly common for these parents. School faculty and teachers have both the potential and the responsibility of challenging discrimination and advocating for these families and their place in the school community. These individuals, through projects and activities, must take the initiative to challenge the underlying "societal power structure" that exist in many of today's schools.
One way of breaking down these barriers is for the ESL teacher to be an advocate for these students and their families. Communicating with and involving mainstream teachers, faculty and other

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