During her four years at the Taylor Independent School District, Clara Lopez repeatedly heard from bilingual parents wanting to continue their children’s language instruction outside the classroom.
After some research, she discovered a way to help them — the Latino Family Literacy Project, which is used in school districts across Texas including Hutto, Mesquite, Alvin and more.
“A lot of these parents want to support their kids at home, and they just don’t know how to ask or (what) strategies to use at home,” she said.
The Main Street Elementary School first- and second-grade bilingual teacher will launch the project at the school with the help of the Taylor Educational Enrichment Foundation.
The program allows parents after some initial training to bolster classroom bilingual literacy education at home.
“(Lopez was) very specific that this is in line with the campus goals (and) the district goals, several of them to incorporate community, which is the family portion of it,” TEE Foundation Executive Director Anita Volek said. “There’s a huge push on reading and writing right now, especially in the elementary level.”
The foundation granted Lopez $2,150 to purchase 180 firstthrough fourth-grade level bilingual books, literacy worksheet kits and training materials for two staff members.
“(The grant) made me very excited for my students, for my community. … Parents are going to get the support that they’ve been wanting, and I’ll be able to have more resources to help them,” Lopez said.
The training materials will help Lopez and another staff member, who has yet to be chosen, prepare to run the project when it launches in January.
Then, parents of emerging bilingual students can attend a 10-week course with the educators to learn about the literary strategies their students should be using. Moms, dads and guardians can put the knowledge into practice by checking out bilingual books from the library and filling out worksheets at home with their students.
“The course is pretty much teaching the parents, like, how to read with the students,” Lopez said. “Because some parents would tell me, like, ‘I just put him down, and he reads (to) me out loud, but I don’t know if he’s actually understanding when he’s reading.’ So, this course is more so that parents have those strategies and knowledge.”
The project will begin with Lopez’s class of 60 students and their parents, but if it’s successful, she hopes to expand it across the school district. The Latino Family Literacy Project offers materials at the middle and high school level, which also includes resources for college and career prep for bilingual students.
“Literacy is such a critical foundation for success,” Lopez said. “Putting an importance with family, so that they know how to support their kids at home is definitely going to help them be successful and reach their unique potential.”
If the project becomes a recurring program, Lopez will need additional funds to replenish the literary-worksheet kits after each session. This first set of kits used $400 from the grant.
“I’m hoping that this will launch an initiative of more family engagement within the district and the community to be able to support our Latino families in the Taylor community,” Lopez said.
