By Sara Inés Calderón

If you’re a teacher in Texas, chances are you’ve had encounters with parents who are immigrants, and may not speak English. It wouldn’t be an oddity, considering that more than one in ten people in Texas was born in another country (that’s 2.9 million people), more than 1 out of 3 Texans speak a language other than English at home, and 36.5% of the state identifies as Hispanic*.

Although The State of Texas has historically had very strong ties to Mexico, engaging with immigrant parents (who are overwhelmingly Mexican) may not be easy for all teachers. There are all sorts of barriers standing between teachers and immigrant parents that neither party can necessarily control; however, on the educational end, there are some things you can do to pave the way to easier communication. Here are a few tips to help.

Different Educational Systems

Systems: It might help you to understand that, in other countries, public schooling is structured differently, so parents might not understand how the system works.

Educación: The word “educación” in Spanish is all-encompassing to mean manners, culture and other things outside academia; therefore, parents might see their role as providing one type of educación while it’s the teacher’s job to provide the other.

Teachers as Professionals: Teachers in Mexico and other parts of the world are seen as respected professionals, like doctors and lawyers, and might consider it disrespectful to question their authority.

Low Educational Attainment: Many Hispanic immigrants don’t have high educational levels when they come to the U.S., as continuing past a certain grade might require them to pay tuition.

Multiple Languages: Not all Hispanic immigrants speak Spanish. Brazilians speak Portuguese and several indigenous groups have their own languages and may not speak Spanish.

Communication Strategies

Start early: During registration, introduce yourself to parents and explain school structure, such as grading structures or field trips, and make yourself available to them for any questions. Also, this would be a good time to explain to parents what your expectations are for their involvement with their children’s education.

Face-to-face: If your parents don’t speak English, don’t understand the school system and are new to the country, they might feel more comfortable with face-to-face communication. Try to be visible, greet parents before/after school and build rapport with parents at the beginning of the school year to lay a foundation.

Try everything: Make phone calls, send emails and send home flyers with your students; try every method to communicate with your parents.

Scheduling: Because many immigrant parents may work multiple jobs or have transportation issues, make sure you schedule meetings with plenty of advanced warning and during hours when they can attend.

Language Barrier Strategies

Recruit Translators: Older children who have English fluency, parents who are bilingual, staff members who are bilingual

Native Language Use: Whenever possible, communicate information in the parents’ native language, include phone numbers of bilingual liaisons or other staff.

Student Translators: Parents might use their children as translators, which could be awkward at times, but necessary if the school cannot provide another one.

General Strategies

Goals: At the start of the year, ask your students to brainstorm with their parents and come up with a list of goals or a study plan they’d like to accomplish that year.

Bribes: Give your students incentives to get their families involved in school.

Cultural Relevance: Incorporate aspects of your students’ culture when you can, when it corresponds with your curriculum.

Cultural Prep: If you feel unsure, you might want to ask a bilingual coordinator or someone else about parents’ cultural norms before you meet them.

Recruit Volunteers: Recruit immigrant parents to be volunteers for anything you can think of; this could be especially useful if you can find a bilingual volunteer to help you recruit other immigrant parents.

Be Empathetic: Sometimes parents may be truly struggling to put food on the table, dealing with family illness or other hardships. Given such circumstances, school functions may not be at the top of their priorities list.