Celebrating Family Literacy through Intergenerational Programming [Part III: Family Literacy in Multicultural Settings]
Margaret Matthias, Beverly Gulley
Designed for administrators, educators, and people interested in children's learning, this book explores ways to reawaken parents' understanding of their role as their children's first teachers. The volume is divided into four major sections. Part 1, which provides a background and rationale for developing intergenerational programming in support of family literacy, strongly supports a new focus on educating families rather than children or adults alone, provides background information about family programming, and introduces a family literacy statute. Part 2 describes three family literacy programs that focus on adults and children reading storybooks together, emphasizing give-and-take as the basis for intergenerational communication. Part 3 examines family literacy in multicultural settings, describing multilingual communities as treasure chests of linguistic and cultural riches and warns that educators can either tap and nurture these riches, or preside over their rapid demise. Part 4 addresses the practitioner who may be working alone or with a team to generate increased parent participation in children's learning, and suggests methods to encourage parent-child interaction in a literacy context. The epilogue is a reaffirmation of parenting, pointing out that the growing awareness of the family's critical contribution to children's learning underscores the need to create educational programs that are more comprehensive and holistic. Most of the chapters contain references.
Margaret Matthias, Beverly Gulley. Celebrating Family Literacy through Intergenerational Programming [Part III: Family Literacy in Multicultural Settings] (1995). Association for Childhood Education International: Olney, MD.
(96 pages).
Language: English
Reading Level: Average
Formats Available: Printed Material
Association for Childhood Education International
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Olney, MD
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Phone: (800) 423-3563
Fax: (301) 570-2212
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URL: http://www.acei.org
Languages Available: English
Intended User Audience:
This book was written for those responsible for community programs in literacy, parenting, and early childhood education. It is designed for administrators, adult educators, preschool teachers, teachers of primary age children, and anyone interested in children's learning. It is also a resource for an early childhood education curriculum. Educators now recognize families' rich contributions to their children's learning and know the importance of a family and community partnership to develop the most supportive of all environments for children's learning.
Product Development:
The book is comprised of articles written by a variety of educators and administrators in multicultural education, early childhood education, and teacher education. The backgrounds of the writers include Native American, African American, Asian American, and European American.
Product Evaluation:
The book was reviewed by a publication committee of the Association for Childhood Education International. This committee included a wide variety of educators and teacher-trainers at all levels and from several cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Product Dissemination:
Unknown.
Review #1
About the reviewer:
The reviewer is a bilingual speech-language pathologist and has
been working with the Latino community (in Puerto Rico and the
United States) for fifteen years, in both urban and rural settings.
She has worked with monolingual and bilingual children.
During the past seven years, she has conducted research in the areas of
first (Spanish) and second language acquisition, including
typical and atypical development. She has also worked as
teacher and clinical supervisor in bilingual training programs.
She holds a certificate of clinical competence in speech-language
pathology from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Presently, she is assistant professor in the Department of
Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University at Bloomington.
Audience:
The audience for this material is professionals from various backgrounds (administrators, educators, specialists) who work or are planning to work with families from various cultural backgrounds. Although the intended focus of the materials is to present strategies for developing adult literacy skills, some of the chapters reviewed focus mainly on presenting major issues that impact service provision to specific populations. In particular, the following groups are presented in the readings: Navajo, families from low socio-economic backgrounds, African Americans, Filipinos, Cambodians, Laotians, Hmong, and Koreans. Although geared toward professionals, the chapters can also serve as excellent didactic tools for college and graduate level students.
Strengths of the Material:
Because its main focus is to discuss working with diverse families, the material is quite reflective of cultural diversity. Each chapter addresses different target populations. Two chapters (Weaving Parents as Partners: A Navajo School's Design, and Family Literacy: Writing and Family) provide the reader with an excellent description of programs that have been established to include parents in the education of their children. Within these descriptions, the reader is able to discern effective strategies that empower parents and make them significant contributors in the task of educating their children. Because both present a pro-active approach for establishing partnerships with parents, administrators in charge of program development may find useful information for preparing and designing effective programs that include the community as a whole. Through the use of examples and case studies, the reader is able to acknowledge the value of parents in the education of their children. The chapter that discusses an adult literacy program that was focused on low income families was particularly impressive. It acknowledges the strengths and varied experiences that these parents have, and provides, via examples, useful strategies for incorporating these strengths and experiences in effective literacy programs. From a more didactic perspective, it provides the reader with an opportunity to truly realize the potential of every parent, regardless of background.
The other two chapters included in the materials ("Olta Baa Akohwiinidzin: Part Two" and "Building Families, Building Lives: Family Literacy in Immigrant Communities") present valuable information concerning issues that will impact provision of services to diverse families, specifically Native Americans and Asian refugees. Through personal narrative, an insider's perspective on the cultural mismatch between traditional mainstream education and Native American values is presented. The particular aspects of intergenerational differences among Asian refugee communities that impact family service provision, specifically working with parents and elders, are presented. This is accomplished via the use of various strategies, including the author's (Vail Weinstein-Shr) experiences with the population and personal stories from both children and adults.
Although different persons wrote the chapters, all are written in a way that is "reader-friendly." The style is appropriate for readers who are novices and who are experienced in working with culturally and linguistically diverse families.
Limitations of the Material:
Because the material consists of four chapters, each written by different individuals, most of the limitations concern a particular section of the material. Nevertheless, there are two limitations of the materials. The first is that for most of the chapters, the focus is on families of school-aged children (i.e., elementary, junior high and high school). As a result, the reader is not provided with specific programming strategies for parents of young children. The second concerns linguistic differences. Although this is acknowledged in one chapter (i.e., Family Literacy: Writing and Family), it is specific to within-language literacy level differences (English). No information is discussed concerning how to incorporate the parents' native language(s), if other than English, into the development of adult literacy skills.
Certain chapters are stronger in providing the readers with specific strategies for implementing effective adult literacy programs and for incorporating the family as an integral member of the school community. Two chapters fail to provide specific information on actual strategies that have worked. In particular, Weinstein-Shr's focuses more on issues that may impact service delivery. It has very limited information on how to address these issues effectively.
Adaptations:
The information presented in these chapters is extremely relevant to professionals working with diverse families, especially if these correspond to those that are discussed in the readings. Because most of the readings did not focus on families with very young children, readers may need to adapt these suggestions so that they fit the particular needs of parents of young children and of their particular community. In addition, ways of incorporating native language into adult literacy activities would be extremely helpful to
practitioners.
Generalizability:
Because the suggestions, problems, issues, and strategies presented in the chapters grew out of work with particular populations, the generalizability of the material may be limited. Nevertheless, professionals who work with other communities may be able to adapt the strategies suggested in some of the chapters to their particular group. For example, cross-generational issues discussed by Weinstein-Shr that may be present in Asian refugees, may also exist in communities where rapid acculturation and especially first language loss is evidenced. In addition, the strategies presented by McLane & Graciono (Family Literacy: Writing and Family) can be easily applied to any diverse community, as the main theme presented is to respect parents' need and to use their particular strengths for developing adult literacy skills. In general, an inventive professional can readily adjust the information presented in these chapters to their community's realities.
Recommendations:
Because of the excellent information that is provided in these chapters, the use of this material for working with families from diverse backgrounds is recommended. In particular, professionals, administrators and program developers working with low-income families from urban environments, Asian refugees, and the Navajo nation, will find the readings practical and insightful.
Producer's Response:
Not available at this time.
Review #2
About the reviewer:
The reviewer was born and raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
She has a master's degree in speech pathology and over 15 years'
working experience with Indian tribes throughout the northwest. She
maintains cultural identity through pow-wows, tribal events, and other
ceremonies. She built the first speech-language program for the Flathead
Nation and laid the foundation for the Birth-to-Three program, before
joining her husband on his reservation. She currently works for the
Confederated Colville Tribes in Washington State.
Audience:
The audience for which this information is intended is professionals and parents from mixed cultural groups and specific cultural groups. Other possible users are professors teaching introductory multicultural classes, service providers of diverse populations, and families of diverse learners. The four chapters deal with the Navajo, African-Americans, Filipinos, Cambodians, Laotians, Hmong, and Koreans. This review focuses especially on the chapter about Navajo Nation.
Strengths of the Material:
In the first chapter, the author, who is Navajo, tells a story that reflects the value of the Navajo family and home environment, and the richness of oral stories which were passed on to her. When she was confronted with European ideals in a boarding school, the author realized they were in direct conflict with her own values. These mixed feelings, internalized as a child, can become very negative, if the child does not have the wisdom and internal healing power that is passed on from generation to generation.
The materials are comprised of a variety of educators' and administrators' cultural perspectives, which were highlighted throughout the chapter by using examples. Many important aspects of cultural strengths were highlighted due to first hand experience and knowledge of a particular custom. For example, in the chapter on Weaving Parents As Partners, the architectural designers took Navajo beliefs into consideration when designing the primary school building. The importance of color and the four directions made the building "family-friendly." The use of parents and community members paralleled Navajo beliefs about traditions, families, clans, and cooperative living and learning. Therefore, parents felt ownership in the educational process of their children. Building trust by keeping the same teacher for several years was sensitive to the needs of a people who had been stigmatized by earlier methods of teaching.
The chapter on the importance of family involvement in the Head Start setting, not only offered a safe inviting learning environment for children, but also for parents. Some of the literacy tools helped parents obtain GEDs and jobs -- which made parents feel more confident, and would positively impact their futures.
Limitations of the Material:
Unless the reader needs step-by-step instructions to infuse cultural diversity into early literacy, I do not see any limitations to this material.
Adaptations:
In order to offer this information to non-readers or non-English-speaking interested parties, adaptation to video or audio productions could be considered.
Generalizability:
As mentioned above, other culturally and linguistically diverse groups could utilize these materials, if distributed in their language or if a person from a particular group translated the information. Other early childhood programs, especially to encourage family involvement, can definitely use this material. This material would be most welcome in other tribal schools and communities. Also, if this were presented simultaneously with visuals (slide, video, and audio) many more diverse learners would be comfortable receiving this information.
Recommendations:
This material appears to be inviting, and I would recommend this material to learn more about intergenerational literacy.
Producer's Response:
Not available at this time.
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