Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I chose was the National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org.

"The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children" ("About NAEYC | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC," n.d.).

What Parents Have to Teach Us About Their Dual Language Children

http://www.naeyc.org/yc/article/What-Parents-Have-to-Teach-Us-About-Their-Dual-Language-Children

This article talks about a 2 year case study on families that speak one or more languages in the home. They focused on four areas:

1. Home language context: Who speaks what language to whom and when 
2. Family language and behavior observations: What families hear and see at home
3. Language and literacy practices in the home 
4. Family concerns, assumptions, and questions about language learning 

We as educators try to connect home-school by sending home daily sheets, making phone calls or emails, or generating a weekly and/or monthly newsletters. As a way to help teachers understand home life, the preschool expanded home–school communication by adding parent focus groups, a home language survey, individual interviews, and family workshops on bilingualism and home–school projects (NAEYC, n.d.). These are all great ways for the teacher to get to know the child and their family. I would like to use several of this ideas in my center. I especially like family workshops in bilingualism and home-school projects. Both will get parents together so they are able to share their backgrounds with other parents as well as the staff and have fun while doing so. 

Resources

About NAEYC | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/content/about-naeyc

NAEYC. (n.d.). What Parents Have to Teach Us About Their Dual Language Children | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC YC | Young Children Journal. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/yc/article/What-Parents-Have-to-Teach-Us-About-Their-Dual-Language-Children