Q. How can I communicate with parents who speak a language other than English.
Recommendation: Show parents how their children learn, invite other people to translate/interpret, make sure the parents are paying attention while talking.
Activities:
• Invite parents to the classroom to see their child’s work. Then, you can have a chance to talk with them about their child’s learning. Do speak slowly during communication. Record your conversation if parents feel comfortable.
• List the major points that you would like to share with the parents. Then, you can ask your co-workers to translate these points into parents’ native language prior to the meeting with parents.
• Invite a co-worker who may know the parents and can be a translator during your conversation.
• To get parents’ attention, the conversation should be brief and to the point. Plan and practice what you want your message to be no matter what questions the parents may ask. AVOID using educational jargon (e.g., ESL or EL), as parents might not know what they stand for.

1. One-way Communication:
Q. What is one-way communication and how to use it for better communication with parents?
Recommendation: Use learning portfolio, report students’ learning progress, use school-to-home notebooks and use report card.
Activities:
• Student’s learning portfolio: Contain students’ work and assignments. Include a cover sheet (preferably in parent’s native language) listing your positive comments and suggestions that you want to share. Invite parents to response. Schedule a face-to-face meeting when necessary.
• Send parents a communication folder containing their child’s work bi-weekly or monthly for review and comment. Include a cover sheet (preferably in parent’s native language) listing major points in the folder that you want to share.
• School-to-home notebooks: Balance good and bad news. Use titles (such as Mr., Mrs., Ms.) to show respect. Invite parents to respond. Schedule a face-to-face meeting when necessary.
• Report card. Provide information about student strengths and learning style, specific goals for students to work on. Invite parents to respond. Schedule a face-to-face meeting when necessary.

Q. What is two-way communication and how to use it for better communication with parents?
Recommendation: communicate with parents through phone call, organize parent-teacher conference and make use of record in communication.
Activities:
•Phone call. Share with parents about their child’s extracurricular activities and school performance. Don’t forget to recognize students’ good performance. Keep calls brief and leave messages if necessary.
• Parent-teacher conference: Select appropriate time and location, start with a friendly comment and inform of student’s progress and positive aspects of performance. Make sure to summarize and plan recommendation.
• Recorder: Record information that you want to share with parents. Keep it short and brief. Also, ask parents to record their feedback through the recorder.