Promoting a Language Proficient Society: What You Can Do

 WHAT CAN PARENTS DO?

*Expose your children to people from varied language and cultural backgrounds.

* Participate in events where language and cultural diversity are celebrated.

* If you speak a language other than English, use it with your children.

* Speak positively to your children about the value of learning another language.

* Provide videos, music, and books in other languages.

* Send your children to summer language camps. For older children, consider programs in which they can study languages abroad.

* Explore having an exchange student from another country in your home.

* Investigate opportunities for formal language study for your children, beginning as early as preschool and extending through their high school years.

* Reinforce existing language programs by expressing support for them to local, state, and national representatives.

* If your child is participating in a language program, talk to the teacher about what you can do at home to reinforce the learning that takes place in the classroom.

* Speak with parents and administrators about options for using community resources to promote language and cultural awareness among students.

* Use resources from school and local libraries and from the Internet to enhance foreign language lessons.

* Travel abroad to expand or update your knowledge of the language and culture.

Taken from ERIC Educational Reports by Kathleen M. Marcos, Joy Kneeft Peyton