parent communication

From: Jill Moore
Email: jilljohnmoore@sbcglobal.net
Date: December 12, 2005

Comments

Marsha: Welcome to the time-out forum! What a great topic! At my child care center in Champaign, IL we have about 65 children, two thirds of whom are international. There are 17 countries and 20 languages represented besides the U.S. and English. We have worked hard to communicate the basics about child care to parents learning English and we have some of our materials translated. We write notes in English for international parents to take home to translate. But when it comes to the finer points of everyday communication, I find myself just letting comments go, i.e. not saying things to international parents because it is too hard to communicate effectively. We do have 7 teachers on the staff who speak about 10 languages, but the right person is not always at hand who knows the right language. Do you have any suggestions for effective communication short of learning 20 new languages? Jill Moore