For more than 50 years, the RELs have collaborated with school districts, state departments of education, and other education stakeholders to help them generate and use evidence and improve student outcomes. Read more
Home Resource Supporting Young English Learners at Home
"I just want to enjoy being with my granddaughter at home. How can I make learning fun for her?" —Grandfather of a young English learner in California
Learning together can be fun! These family and caregiver activities (FCAs) are designed to provide simple, fun activities families and caregivers can use with young English learner children at home to leverage cultural and linguistic assets and knowledge to strengthen language development in either the home language or English. The resources are based on the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide "Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School." They are available in multiple languages.
These resources support educators in helping families and caregivers make the most of the activities:
Strengthen language by asking and answering questions about a story.
Use everyday experiences inside and or outside of the home to ask and answer questions.
Interview a special person to build oral and written language.
This video shows how to extend elementary classroom learning to the home with two Family and Caregiver Activity sheets: Asking and Answering Questions About an Informational Text and Writing Notebooks. The simple and fun activities, using content from classroom lessons, encourage young English learners to strengthen oral and written language skills while interacting with family members or caregivers.
This video demonstrates how educators, families, and caregivers partnered to prepare transitional kindergarten children for classroom lessons on sequential language across content areas and then extend this learning using two fun and engaging activity sheets: Asking and Answering Questions About a Story and Making a Meal Together.
This video focuses on how the Family and Caregiver Activity sheets Word Detective and Interviewing a Special Person can extend classroom lessons on academic vocabulary and language to help elementary-age English learner students use new words across multiple contexts by listening, speaking, writing, and drawing with their family members and caregivers.
Connect with REL West