 Hello! Welcome to the Handbook for Administrators of French Immersion Program Series. My name is Fred Kreiner. Welcome to Topic 7, Supporting Parents. Topic 7 will explore the kind of support an administrator can provide to parents who have chosen to enroll their children in the French Immersion Program. In the Handbook, consult Chapter 6, Section G. One of the reasons often cited for the success of French Immersion Programs is the strong role parents have played in establishing and supporting those programs and their children who are in those programs. In this topic we will look at concerns that parents may have, addressing those concerns or how you can alleviate those concerns, strategies for getting parents involved, and providing parents with support. French Immersion parents who have little or no background and or proficiency in the language, and by the way that is the majority of parents of French Immersion students, often have the following concerns. How will I help monitor my child's progress? How will I help with homework? Will I be welcomed in the classroom? Will I be able to volunteer at the school, even though I can't speak French? Will my child learn to read and write well in English? Will being in French Immersion affect my child's entrance into post-secondary institutions? And what about the transferability of language? The following suggestions from experienced administrators of French Immersion Programs may help you address the concerns that your parents have, talk to them about and help them understand the program, understand the curriculum and the teaching strategies that are used to bring that curriculum to the students, see how they can help with homework, visualize what volunteering might look like, and understand provincial assessments for their French Immersion child. But above all, it is important that you develop a comprehensive communication plan. Homeschool communication is a key ingredient of all successful school programs, and open communication is just as important in a French Immersion program since few parents understand and are aware of all aspects of how French Immersion works. Alberta Education has created curriculum handbooks and we encourage you to share those with parents. These handbooks include specific information on the Immersion program and French Language Arts, and they are available for all grade levels from kindergarten right through to grade 12. Encourage teachers to use these handbooks to prepare parent sessions on understanding the curriculum. Send home curriculum newsletters from the teachers, including examples of activities parents can initiate to support and complement classroom learning. Include user-friendly curriculum statements in their report cards. Ensure that your teachers are supportive, understand, and can respond to parent concerns. Yes, You Can Help is a very important resource to share with parents. It is produced by Alberta Education and Canadian Parents for French Alberta Branch. This booklet was originally written by two French Immersion parents and offers a multitude of suggestions on how to support students. There are over 140 pages of information, advice, resources, and inspiration for parents of French Immersion from kindergarten right through to grade 12. Some schools provide parents with a copy of Yes, You Can Help when their child enters kindergarten. It is also available online at the Alberta Education site. Encourage your parents to use this book as a resource at home. You can include excerpts from Yes, You Can Help in your school newsletters. You can offer information sessions for parents, such as panel presentations, that include an administrator, a teacher, a student, and a parent. You can hold parent discussion forums around the various chapters of Yes, You Can Help. Encourage parents to share their immersion parenting experiences, challenges, and strategies with each other. And encourage parents to visit a French Immersion classroom to see firsthand how easily the students adapt to the immersion environment and learn the language. These visits are especially helpful prior to registration in either the early or late immersion programs. Because most immersion parents are not proficient in French, French immersion teachers need to understand that parents cannot be expected to help with French language skills, such as reading and editing, or to help with homework. It is important that the skills needed to do the homework have been thoroughly taught in school and that homework really is only a practice session that students can do independently. School homework policies should be explained in the school handbook and shared with parents. Many parents wish to be able to help at school, and parental involvement definitely benefits students' learning. Some parents with proficiency in French can be encouraged to assist students with reading and other language activities suited to the parents' level of French proficiency. Parents with little or no proficiency in French can be encouraged to help with classroom activities that require little oral communication in French. They could also supervise on field trips with the understanding that their role is as an observer in French language learning situations. Parents can also work in the classroom on bulletin boards or displaying student work. It is important as an administrator to provide immersion parents with information on achievement tests and diploma exams, as you would parents of English program students. It is important to explain their purpose, their relevance to the program, and how the results are used. You may also offer additional information for immersion parents. Tell them that achievement tests are written in the language in which the particular subject is taught and that immersion students have the choice of writing their diploma exams in either English or French. Traditionally English language students in a French immersion program will write their provincial achievement tests in French. However, given the opportunity to write the same exam in English they will likely score a higher mark because they will be dealing with questions that are written in their first language. It is important also that you provide information on the results of these provincial assessments. Immersion parents need reassurance that immersion students' results compare favorably with those of English program students in all subjects areas including English language arts. Because French immersion is a program of choice most parents of French immersion students tend to be interested in their children's education and are very eager to be involved. At the same time the very nature of the program makes parental involvement seem more difficult than for most English programs. Here's some strategies for involving French immersion parents. Provide workshops for your parents on a variety of related topics such as study skills or French course for parents. You can model a French immersion class for parents during parent teacher evenings. You could provide opportunities for parents to observe and to be involved in their child's classroom. Encourage parents to volunteer in the school. Being in the school exposes them to curriculum and teaching helping to improve their understanding of what happens in school on a daily basis. Ensure parents are well informed as their children move through the grades and provide them with information with regards to French classes for adults as many parents would like to improve their own French language skills. It is also very important that your staff is aware of how they can support parents. Invite experienced immersion parents as speakers at evening meetings. You can also invite students to entertain at community events or invite older students and graduates to speak at meetings so that students can learn what to expect as they change from elementary to middle or junior high and from junior high or middle to senior high schools. It's important to ensure ongoing support and information perhaps through the local Canadian parents for French chapter. Providing parents with a collection of resources on French immersion, second language learning, etc. could also be helpful. A small parent library in the office area would make those resources readily available to parents. It is important that a school council of a dual track or multi-track school includes parents that are representative from all programs offered in the school. Failures to do so might create the situation where a single group will advantage one program over another in the school and that could cause you difficulty down the road. Homeschool communication is absolutely essential to a successful program. Try to use a wide variety of strategies to ensure that that homeschool communication is multifaceted and gets your message across about what's happening within your French immersion program. It is your role to ensure that parents feel welcome in the school, that parents have information about the French immersion program and that they can contribute to their children's learning through everyday activities, that homeschool communication is a key ingredient to reassuring parents that their children are learning well in the French immersion program, that good communication exists between the school and the home environment, and that parents are aware of all of the support that is available to them. One of those key support factors is Canadian parents for French. Check out what's happening and you should be aware of any local chapter that you have in your area or visit the CPF Alberta website. This group provides a lot of support for parents and has done so for many years. That's it for topic 7, Supporting Parents. This has been done through a collaboration of the Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia, the Alberta Teachers Association, and the Conseil Français of the ATA. It was made possible by the French grants from Alberta Education.