English Language Acquisition (ELA) instruction is ever increasing in the United States (US).  California, Texas, New York, Florida, and New Jersey are the top five states where English Learners (ELs) and immigrant families reside.  With over 10 percent of US students being ELs, nearly every teacher has encountered an EL student throughout their teaching career.  EL students face certain challenges that native English speakers do not encounter. That is why it is important to encourage parental involvement with EL students and their families.  How can we involve Spanish-speaking parents to support their students with English skills when their own English skills might be limited? School programs for parents with straightforward instruction for a new skill set in a new language can be helpful.  Here are three tips for teaching ELA and involving parents.

Family Phonics

An effective way for involving parents in the ELA experiences of their children is for schools to host parent clubs at school to teach them English phonics sounds for correct pronunciation.  Parents can also practice basic vocabulary words for short vowels, long vowels, rhyming words, and combined sounds. The Family Phonics workbook sets from Lectura Books offer these types of basic vocabulary exercises.  Additionally, the phonics workbooks offer Spanish support to navigate the process easier and quicker than without the support.

Bilingual Books

Bilingual books can be used to increase parental involvement when teaching ELA.  Bilingual books can help parents read in Spanish and then review vocabulary from the book in English.  Lectura Books offers an array of award-winning bilingual books for EL students of all ages.  Bilingual books from Lectura Books have vocabulary built into the back of the book for easy review.

Leveled Reading

Leveled Reading is a popular strategy for teaching ELA and increasing parental engagement.  This strategy involves pairing EL children and parents with books that best match their reading skills in English.  As time goes on, teachers assign increasingly harder and more complex books. Sending home easy leveled readers in Spanish and English is beneficial to students who are learning to read.  Lectura Books offers sets of Leveled Readers in English, Spanish, and Bilingual formats.  This series contains four levels with a total of 24 book titles. Lectura Books leveled reading series features vocabulary development and writing prompts showcasing nonfiction and multicultural fiction.