Teach English in Huacong Zhen - Bazhong Shi

Introduction Parents cannot be an indispensable element when it comes to learning English as a second language. Normally, every child spends more personal time at home than at a learning centre and the primary people at home are family with the heads being the parents, father and mother. Not every home may have a biological father and mother but then there is some form of parents in every home. The definition of a parent by the Merriam-Webster dictionary online (2019) brings this out more clearly. Definition 1 says a parent is one that begets or brings forth offspring (more biological this definition) and then definition 2 says a parent is a person who brings up and cares for another (in this a foster parent). The Cambridge Dictionary (2019) by the Cambridge University Press (accessible via https://esl.yourdictionary.com/about-esl/how-parents-help-their-esl-children-learn-english.html) condenses the definition of a parent by Merriam-Webster as being a person who gives birth to or raises a child. So how does the parent really get involved? Research has it that children will easily mimic or copy their parents than they would another person. Parents are role models for their children and they are likely to want to do what their parents do. It happens that parents may not necessarily instruct their kids to do things such as learning English or reading but then once the kids see the parents they admire so much reading and attempting to learn the English language they definitely become vulnerable to learning English language and reading as well. LoveToKnow Corp (2018) writing in YourDictionary (@yourdictionary.com) paints this picture much better by saying “Parents must first understand and believe in the importance of English language skills. Children are adept at picking up on parental attitudes. If children realize the adults in their lives don't think learning English is important, they will be less likely to approach the subject with a positive attitude”. They could not be any less true with this. Parents and teachers should work hand in hand to teach English to children. Dr Stephanie Knight (2018) advises teachers to make every effort to connect with their English learners and in doing so to connect with their families letting them know you and you knowing them, getting them to understand your goals for your class and knowing their expectations of the class. Involving parents could include teaching parents how to help their children read and make use of what they learn at every class. This could be done through parents meetings and workshops designed for this purpose. An interesting experience is that parents appear to want to see immediate progress without even being involved. Some parents will keep switching English learning centres for their kids because they conclude if their children cannot immediately begin to communicate with the teacher or another English speaker, then the child is not being taught forgetting fluency or basic communication is not achieved in a week with an hour a week of English lessons. It is also critical that as the teachers try to reach out to the parents, that the parents also try to reach out to the teachers to get to know the progress of the children and what could be done further by them, even to ask to have copies of materials being used in class to assist children at home. Some parents shy away from this because then they conclude they will be unable to communicate the teachers. But they could employ the use of translators to help communicate with teachers. Many translation Apps avail today. As earlier indicated, reading forms a basis of acquiring language and parents should demonstrate their love for and reading and encourage their children to read out loud to them as necessary. It does not matter what the background or personal English abilities of children or learners are, parents can be a critical element for their children’s success by making a dedicated effort to promote English language learning. The English language is also learned through songs and parents can also play English songs that teach certain target word and structures at home regularly and by so doing children unintentionally get to learn. DVDs/CDs and other online English game sources could be used to complement the teaching done regularly at the English centre. Conclusion In my experience as an ESL teacher, I find that the kids who have excelled or who make tremendous progress are those kids whose parents are involved in their learning process, show interest in learning the language too and would work with their kids to learn the language.