Stop by our school library and you might see parents of English Language Learners (ELLs) shelving books, selecting bilingual texts for their kids, or participating in an after-school story hour. These involved parents ensure that students come ready to learn, understand school expectations, and support the school through a host of activities from classroom volunteering to fundraising. Research indicates that a high level of parental involvement correlates with higher academic achievement, and benefits children socially (Guerra and Nelson 2013; Marschall 2006; Benson and Martin 2003). It is thus worrying to notice that our ELL parent community is often missing from many of our schools.

The Plympton School in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a K-5 school where just over half the students come from a home where the first language is not English. Over 35% of our students live in poverty, and families struggle with issues ranging from trauma to undocumented status; volunteering in the classroom or baking for the bake sale is not always the top concern for these families.

As school librarian, I actively work to reach out to ELL families and welcome them into our building in a number of formal and informal ways. As the school’s cultural and educational hub, the library is in a unique position to accommodate ELL families and help create a schoolwide culture of support.

A Welcoming Space

Collection Development Matters:

Books send a message. I’ve developed collections of books in the languages most commonly used in our ELL community, and I make sure that these books can be found effortlessly in an easily-seen bookcase at the front of the library. Students and their parents know that these are for family use, and I encourage parents to come and check out books to share with their children. This sends the important message that I value their culture and that the school supports reading to children in their home languages.

Foreign language books are great, but frequent displays of books that reflect multicultural issues, information books about specific countries, fiction that highlights diverse characters or multicultural folk tales also indicate that the library program supports the entire school community. Of course, in order to develop a collection that supports ELL families, it is important to continually add a wide range of books to match the needs and interests of your community. Books should be purchased in a range of reading levels, and heavily illustrated or wordless books can be useful for families with limited English proficiency. Having these books tells ELL parents that I am aware of their stories and value them. In order to build your collection and make connections with ELL families, it helps to develop an awareness of their history. Once ELL parents learned that I knew details about their history, I gained their trust in a new way and many more became regular library visitors.

Finally, the librarian who connects with ELL families is in an excellent position to help spread the message that, as research indicates, reading to children in the family’s native language is important (Huennekens and Xu 2010; Lewis, et al 2016). Parents begin to see that reading aloud in their native language can help their child understand how a book works, and provides a springboard to good conversations that expand their children’s horizons. Because we have a large Guatemalan population, I buy early readers in Spanish to encourage my bilingual students to read independently in their native language. I want my bilingual students to be bilingual speakers and readers, and parents appreciate this.

Library as a Cultural Center:

The cultural aspect of the library also means that the library can be a place to display educational materials about students’ home cultures, as well as artifacts students and teachers bring in from their homes or travel experiences. Each month our library features an interview with a student from a different culture. The interview, a student photograph, and items the student chooses to share are displayed on the bulletin board directly next to the library entrance. The library is also a place where teachers and students can display cultural artifacts and photographs from interesting trips.

Formal Family Outreach

While literacy events promote formal family involvement with the school, they also allow the librarian to make informal connections with families. As a specialist who knows all the children in a family and who follows each child for multiple years, the librarian can connect with parents and serve as a bridge between families and teachers.

In a special effort to reach our ELL families, I’ve become active in our school multicultural committee and reach out often to our ELL teachers. When the ELL teachers realized I strongly support their students, that I see value to supporting family literacy, and that I have a space and resources to do this, we began to work together. My ELL staff uses the library for evening conversational English classes and parent education. I’ve helped provide childcare and homework help, and gathered resources for these events. Using iMovie, we created a video tour of our school in Spanish. An ELL teacher wrote a script with an immigrant mother. I then filmed the tour, edited it, and uploaded it on the school website. I made sure that the script included a big welcome from the library. These efforts help build our school’s welcoming culture and help demonstrate to ELL families that the library is a place where they are welcome.

Open House Community Fair:

It can be difficult to get parents to visit the library during Open House nights. To encourage purposeful traffic through the library, my library hosts a community fair. Through our multicultural committee, I reach out to the groups that “mainstream” parents know about, but ELL families may not: the PTO, the public library, the local recreation department, Boys’ and Girls’ Club, YMCA, scouting groups, a local bank savings program for children, and our after school program. During Open House night, we also find bilingual fifth grade students to act as “ambassador translators” for the night. Signage in multiple languages is put around the building inviting parents to come by and sign their child up for everything from a library card to swimming lessons. Of course, school library materials are also on display so parents can browse and borrow. This initial event signals that the library is welcoming and wants to connect ELL families to our school culture. Having student ambassadors lessens the anxiety for non-English speaking parents, and we’ve found that adding snacks and music can also increase traffic and instill a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.

After School Literacy Events:

I’ve worked with our Title I and ELL teachers to offer after school drop-in story hours, literacy nights, and other formal events to bring parents to school. These, too, work best when translators are present and children accompany parents. Having a snack or craft also helps. These events provide a chance to model and underscore the value of reading. Literacy events also provide a chance to get books directly into the hands of parents and show them that they are welcome to come in and borrow books. While we’ve experimented with events that highlight one specific culture, we have also looked at cultural variations in common experiences such as what happens when you lose a tooth, celebrate a birthday, or visit grandparents. Parents love sharing how their culture differs from the mainstream U.S. culture and appreciate that we introduce this idea. I’ve also offered summer storytimes at the public library as a way to get families to see that our programs work in concert and complement one another.

Sibling and Mentor Readers:

A reading tutor at my school pointed out that students who need literacy support often don’t have strong home support. This led us to create a program where students in grades K-2, who receive remedial reading instruction and have younger siblings, are invited to participate in a sibling reader program. Students in this program get a kit each week that contains an information text and a story written for a preschooler. They also have a journal that they use to log what they read to their sibling. After the students finish reading five pairs of books together, they receive a paperback book to keep forever. Many of the students who participate in this program are ELLs. When their younger siblings reach our kindergarten, it is satisfying to hear that they remember being read to and enjoyed it. Students who do not have a younger sibling can read to a younger student, cousin, or neighbor.

Immigrant Expertise:

Inviting immigrant family members to share their stories with students and staff can be a powerful way to empower ELL families and build understanding in the school community. As part of our fourth-grade course on U.S. culture and geography, we do a research project on immigration and explore how immigrants benefit from coming to the U.S., and how Americans benefit from the cultural gifts they bring to us. We begin this project by asking immigrant family members to come to the school library and talk to students. Students work in small teams to interview our immigrant experts. Teachers always report that the opportunity to talk directly to immigrant families sparks remarkable conversations about bravery, opportunity, and perseverance. Students from places such as Guatemala, Uganda, and El Salvador have been recognized for the difficulties their families overcame to come here. Seeing students become respectful and proud of our schools’ diverse cultural make up is not just satisfying, it builds a culture of welcome that brings families to school.

Technology Outreach:

Having a page on your school library website translated into dominant languages is a great start in using technology to connect with families. However, it’s just a start. The librarian can team up with ELL staff and instructional technology specialists for targeted workshops on how to navigate the school website, including subscription databases and eBook collections. These resources can be lifesavers for impoverished families. I always show families the translation tools on websites and databases to great appreciation. Finally, many ELL families come from backgrounds without strong technology experience. Any workshops on using technology, or even opening up the library to allow families to use library technology will draw parents in. Since students are often likely to be more technologically adept than parents, having students accompany parents helps with language issues, and parents get to see their children becoming technologically proficient.

Volunteering:

Inviting ELL parents to volunteer in my program has been a huge win-win for my school library. I always attend our kindergarten welcome event and make a plea for all parents to volunteer, and make a point that speaking English is not necessary. I also allow parents to bring toddlers. While I have hit a few snags, I find that overall, ELL parents make terrific volunteers. I’ve now developed a good pipeline, and have had excellent luck getting existing bilingual parents to help newcomers learn the ropes. I’ve found that ELL parents are often eager to get involved in schools and appreciate having a place to come and help. It is wonderful to watch ELL parents gain an understanding of U.S. educational expectations and culture through their experiences in the library, and I know that they share their new understandings with their community. I’ve also found that when I’ve really needed help, my ELL parents are the first to bring a friend along to volunteer. I now have several ELL parents volunteering in the library, and they are wonderful ambassadors for the program.

Access to Books

Students need access to books to succeed, and while building responsibility around using shared materials is important, I am aware that book access is vital, even when things are sometimes lost. I make sure that students are clear on how the library works, and I send home bookmarks in multiple languages explaining our borrowing policies. I also understand that while our public library is terrific and nearby, parents may still have issues getting here. I am always happy to let parents borrow books from the school library, and have been surprised at how grateful they are for this opportunity. I also allow students who demonstrate responsible borrowing behavior to bring books home over the summer vacation.

Reaching out to ELL families is gratifying. They are delighted to be part of the school community and appreciate being included. More importantly, ELL students gain academically when their parents are involved and understand the expectations and norms in our schools. Using the library to bring ELL families into the school makes sense and is sure to gain the notice of administrators. It is another important way to demonstrate the value of a strong library program.

Works Cited

Benson, Forrest, and Sean Martin. “Organizing Successful Parent Involvement in Urban Schools.” Child Study Journal 33, no. 3 (September 2003): 187.

Guerra, Patricia L., and Sarah W.Nelson. “Latino Parent Involvement: Seeing What Has Always Been There.” Journal of School Leadership 23 no. 3 (May 2013): 424.

Huennekens, Mary Ellen, and Yaoying Xu. “Effects of a Cross-Linguistic Storybook Intervention on the Second Language Development of Two Preschool English Language Learners.” Early Childhood Education Journal 38, no. 1 (June 2010): 19-26.

Lewis, Kandia, and Sandilos Lia E., et al. “Relations among the Home Language and Literacy Environment and Children’s Language Abilities: A Study of Head Start Dual Language Learners and Their Mothers.” Early Education Development 27, no. 4 (2016): 478-494.

Marschall, Melissa. “Parent Involvement and Educational Outcomes for Latino Students.” Review of Policy Research 23, no. 5 (September 2006): 1053.