Family Literacy

Inquiry Project final report, part two

Sherry Fiaux, Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative

Findings

The data I collected gave me insight as to why some activities worked well and why some did not. I also looked at the data to target students who did not respond to family activities and take a closer look at why they were not engaged. The interviews helped me come to a better understanding of how these activities can fit into the classroom, and what studentsą attitudes were about family literacy. Finally, I came to a conclusion about the strengths and weaknesses of family literacy activities in the classes that I manage and how I can move forward with this information in mind.

Interviews

The interviews gave me the studentsą perspectives of family literacy activities: what they liked, what they didnąt and why. I have listed below some of their responses that I felt informed me and helped me in lesson planning.

  • Children viewed the activities and being able to do "fun stuff" with their parents.
  • Many children said they łlike being physically close˛ to their parents and they like helping them.
  • When asked how often they would like to work with the adults, the children responded, łevery class.˛
  • The activities that they liked best were: bingos, games, role-playing, reading to adults, and art activities. They also said they like "teaching adults."

    • I was not surprised by the selection of activities that children found interesting, but I was surprised by the fact that they really wanted to work with the adults "every day" because it was "fun."

    The adults said:
  • They like to have the kids learn with them.
  • They like to have their children teach them.
  • Many adults said, "I learn a lot from them."

    • I had anticipated these responses from adults who had children in the program; however, I was not expecting adults without children in the program to say that "they learn a lot from the children."

    Observations

    Although many of the observations I have stated below might seem quite obvious, the process of observing, for me, was necessary because it gave me the evidence I needed to reflect on what I was seeing and speculate on the reasons behind the actions I was observing. Here's what I came up with:

  • Adults tended to tune out and begin having side conversations if they could not hear what the children were saying; however, if the children were able to project their voices well, adults were well engaged.
  • Adults also tended to tune out if they did not have a part to play like writing, listening, reading, or speaking.
  • Children were less interested in activities that required a lot of writing. They liked speaking, reading, and kinesthetic activities.
  • When children were asked to take the role of teacher, they were very animated, focused, and took the job quite seriously.
  • Adults had the biggest smiles on their faces when their children presented something to the group that they had created, such as a book, collage, etc.
  • Children were excited and eager to participate when they could relate to the topic, such as eating junk food.
  • All activities worked best when I prepared each group separately by practicing, explaining, etc. and afterwards joining the two groups together.
  • Role-plays with children and adults worked best when the role-plays were short and simple: a few lines for each role rather than a long dialogue. Children didnąt like having to read their part; short dialogues allowed them to memorize or improvise on their part. They like the talking more than the reading when it came to role-plays.
  • Small group activities worked best with an adult to child ratio of about 4:1. If the group was too large, the children could not project their voices loud enough for the adults to hear well. Many children were too shy to work alone with a lot of adults.
  • Children of preschool age were not engaged in the activities!
  • After a half an hour, it was time to change pace. Thirty minutes was the average amount of time needed for one activity, although I often piggy-backed many activities together. The important point was noting when it was necessary to change the rhythm of the class.
  • Children liked activities that were easy for them, but more difficult for the adult. As one child said: "I like having the right answer." Again, that put them in the teacher role.
  • Children liked to use tangible objects like cards and paper, rather than speaking without one of these.

    • Conclusions

    First, I will return to my original assumptions and state how they have informed my teaching:

    - Family Literacy is useful. I have become comfortable with the fact that although I will occasionally know that something we have done in class positively effects the life of a learner, this will not always be the case. More often than not, I will probably never know if and how our lessons have impacted the lives of students outside of the classroom, and furthermore, if our family literacy classes have had the intended results. I have often lost sight of the bigger picture of the role of English and family literacy classes and the spirit of empowerment that is behind our program. Family literacy is definitely useful, although the fruits of this labor are often unbeknownst to me.

    - Adults are sometimes resistant to these activities, especially adults without children in the program. Although I had experienced what I perceived as resistance or disinterest in the past, this was certainly not the case at the Smith Hill branch library this year because I was able to create an atmosphere of family sharing, which I began the first day of class. Through this inquiry project, I have learned how to present the concept of co-learning, incorporate family activities more easily into weekly lessons, and even extend these activities outside of the classroom by giving homework that requires input from many family members. In retrospect, I wouldn't say students are at times resistant, but rather disinterested in family activities if they are not carefully planned and if they are not incorporated into our class routine.

    - It's possible to eliminate chaos; chaos is a bad thing. Yes, it is possible to eliminate chaos, but chaos is not necessarily a bad thing. I found that when I, personally, prepared the children ahead of time for the activity, rather than asking the Children's Teacher to do this, the two groups joined together without confusion as to what they were doing. Chaos can be a very good thing if the activity lends itself to a lot of commotion, movement, etc., like mingling activities.

    - There is a way to involve preschoolers. This is the part of our program I have not figured out yet. Most of the activities I did were lessons that I would normally do with adults, but which were adapted for children. I don't have a background in teaching at the elementary or pre-school level, and was, therefore, not able to figure out how to include them in most activities. They were, of course, included in some of the activities, but not enough of them. In moving forward, our program Directors are putting more emphasis on training the childrenąs teachers to take a more active role in the planning of family activities.

    - Control is important. Control is like chaos. There is a time when control of the classroom is necessary, and a time when control is not important. If students are using English in some way, and if they are engaged and enjoying the lesson, then I donąt feel the need to be łin control.˛ If, on the other hand, the children are running around and their behavior is disruptive, I feel as though I need to get the situation under control by giving the children an activity in which that they, too, will be engaged.

    - Everyone has to do something in order for the activity to be successful. This holds true. I will once again reiterate that each student must be involved by either speaking, listening, reading, writing, or thinking; otherwise, why come to class?.

    - Learning in the way of either producing or practicing English is essential to the success of the activity. Yes and no. I want learning to take place, but I cannot always gauge whether or not this is happening. Learning is the job of the learners. What they take from each lesson is very individual and varies on their experiences, frame of mind, and dozens of other variables. I want to offer them the opportunity to learn, but it is up to them to seize the opportunity in any way they see fit. The other component of these activities that I stress is having fun. I love to see both children and adults have fun in the classroom. After working and studying all day, I want them to look forward to coming to class. Having fun is not essential to the success of an activity, but it is helpful.

    - I can easily define family literacy. I have come full circle on this note. I went from thinking I understood family literacy to feeling I didnąt understand what FL is about, and I now think I have a much clearer perspective of the meaning of family literacy as it relates to our program, which is a means of strengthening the family unit. Our job is to give families the opportunity to learn and encourage them to extend this learning outside of the classroom.

    As I move forward into another year of teaching, I have identified some of the strengths and weakness of our program as well as a new awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses in terms of teaching in a family literacy program, the changes I will make, and the challenges that still lie ahead.

    This process of practitioner research allowed me to really examine what was happening in the classroom and think about the "why" behind what I was observing. In the process I was able to identify problems, experiment with possible solutions, and recognize the fact that there were, and still are, problems that I cannot solve at this time. Equally as important, I was able to explore my own beliefs and attitudes about family literacy and how they tie into my values about teaching ESOL.

    By the end of this action research, I had made many positive changes in my practice. I eliminated any resistance in my own mind to family literacy activities. Throughout the two teaching cycles, I increased PACT (parent and child time) in my classes, and as a result, I am more comfortable with planning and implementing family activities. I also realized the significance in developing a rapport with the children of our program. In getting acquainted with the children, I was able to get a better feel for individual family dynamics inside and outside of the classroom. Once I became familiar with each family, I could think of ways that I might be able to help them such as giving them activities to do as a family at home or suggesting books, web sites, etc.

    The biggest weakness that I face is how to include preschool aged children. Most of the whole group activities I prepared were the same kinds of activities that I have been using for years in teaching adults; I simply adapted them to include children, which is why they were not appropriate to preschoolers. I would like to have a better balance in children's activities that can be adapted to include adults and vice-versa. I plan to work more closely with the Children's Teachers and Computer Teachers by meeting more frequently, getting their input, and asking them to play a larger role in planning family literacy activities.

    There are still many challenges that are inherent in the structure of our program, namely the limitations of a class that meets only 4 hours per week, the level of commitment of part-time employees, and the lack of training and experience in family literacy on behalf of all staff members. Trying to achieve the goals of family literacy, teach computer technology, and help them improve their communication skills in English are three very large goals to accomplish in very little time. I like to establish class routines so students have some expectations rather than constant surprises. I found it very difficult to create routines because I wanted the computer and family components to tie into the themes we were working on, which meant these two components did not always fit in neatly at the beginning or end of class; instead they had to be incorporated at the appropriate time in the lesson. So, maintaining continuity of lessons in all three areas: computer technology, adult education, and family literacy is another area in which I will continue to develop and improve.

    Lastly, I return to my original question: What happens when children and adults are joined together to learn in a family literacy program? When lessons are planned carefully, I think learning takes place in the classroom in the forms of speaking, reading, writing, and listening in English and possibly developing critical thinking skills. Most of the learning was repetition and practice of English skills that both adults and children had already learned, rather than presenting new material. As with teaching, patience, flexibility, and a good attitude are attributes that help make family literacy activities successful. And to these I would add that it is important to look at the learning goals and to have fun! I learned that I won't always know if and how what we do in the classroom impacts our students and our families in the program, but I trust that somehow our efforts are at least one small step towards the three pillars of our philosophy of family literacy: life long learning, social change, and solidification of family units..

    Appendix A

    Ideas for Family Literacy Activities

    I have listed below categories of family activities that I found productive and which gained positive feedback from learners. In most categories, I have listed a few examples.

    1. Surveys: I used many different kinds of surveys that both children and adults could relate to. Sometimes, the surveys were two sided: one side for adults to ask children and the other side for children to ask adults. Adults also asked adults and children also asked children. An example is a survey we did about work: the surveys asked children what they wanted to be when they grow up and why. The adult part of the survey was asking them what they like and donąt like about their job. Another topic of universal interest is food. Adults and children surveyed one another about the kind of junk food and fast food they like.

    2. Role-Plays: Many children expressed an interest in role plays that put them in a position of authority so I gave them the role of waiter/waitress at an imaginary restaurant, but also at an imaginary Burger King. They also played the role of employer. While the adults were the new employees with a lot of questions about company policies, the children had all the answers as employers.

    3. Child as teacher: I often asked the children to teach a small group of adults. The activities they did were numerous and very diverse. A few examples are:

  • Children used verb card to elicit past tenses.
  • Children read comparatives and the adults had to say whether the sentence was right or wrong.
  • Children drew bodies and elicited the names of body parts.
  • Children used handouts and elicited types of illnesses and helped adults match pictures to words.
  • Children worked as the "Callers" for bingo.
  • Children helped adults write. See "writing" below
    • .

    4. Guessing Games: This was one of the few games in which preschoolers could easily participate.

  • Using picture cards of food, the child or adult would look at the card and give the information about shape, color, and category; the rest of the group had to guess what food item the speaker had.
  • We also played Pictionary and hangman and used the vocabulary of the theme we were working on that week.
  • We also did a number of charades, including one where the children had to pantomime their dream job.

    • 5. Movies: Watching a family film together was a lot of fun and can be extended in a number of ways. Two of my favorite films to watch as a whole group are: Corina, Corina, and Mrs. Doubtfire. We extended the films to include writing film reviews. Children worked in small groups with adults to produce one review per group, requiring a lot of collaboration. Another extension was making films on www.dfilm.com. Again, children and adults worked in groups of 2 or 3 on the computers making short films, and then played their films for other groups.

    6. Kinesthetic Activities: One of my favorite activities is what I call the "human unscramble the sentence." Each student is given a large 8.5 x 11 piece of paper with one word written on it. Students stand in a circle with their word facing outward so all can see, and they have to move around until their words form a correct sentence or question.

    This can also be played as a table game using small cards. I group the sentences by level. Students work in groups or individually to unscramble the sentence and when they finish they move to another set of cards that are increasingly more difficult.

    7. Art Activities: I chose a topic that I thought would appeal to children and adults such as fear or dreams. I asked them to draw a picture that represented a fear they had, for example, and then write about it. I did the same with dreams or hopes and we later combined all their pictures and writings to create a book. We did a similar activity about games they like to play.

    8. Writing: I often asked children to help adults with writing or to work collaboratively and write about a given topic.

  • News topics: They wrote about the West Warwick fire tragedy in February 2003. They also wrote their reflections about the war in Iraq. They were very instrumental in helping adults convey their thoughts in writing.

    9. Reading: The children I interviewed said they like reading to adults. Anytime adults or children are reading books, I find it more interesting for the students if each person has his/her own book. Obviously, the book should be of high interest to both children and adults. One book I have used in the past that worked well was Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say. Another consideration should be the ratio of child to students, which should be rather small like 1 child to 4 adults. If the adults cannot hear what the child is reading, they will probably become bored.

    Pairing parents to read with their children is a great activity for preschoolers and their parents. This encourages children to check out books and it also encourages parents to read to their children at home. All learners in our program receive a library card and we constantly encourage them to used their cards to check out materials of interest to them.

    Sherry Fiaux, June 13, 2003, sherfiaux@hotmail.com

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