Forum helps Hispanic parents stay involved with education

Clark County

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Gio Guerra Perez, a social-cultural specialist for the New Neighbors Project at Indiana University Southeast, talks to parents and students about the importance of family involvement in education at a forum Thursday afternoon at Community Action of Southern Indiana. Staff photo by Matt Thacker

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February 9, 2012

ESL students adapt quickly at a young age

By MATT THACKER Matt.Thacker@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Thu Feb 09, 2012, 10:49 PM EST

JEFFERSONVILLE — Southern Indiana educators are reaching out to Hispanic parents.

The Hispanic Connection of Southern Indiana hosted an educational forum Thursday afternoon at Community Action of Southern Indiana. The event, conducted mostly in Spanish, was directed at helping parents with children in Head Start prepare for kindergarten.

Jackie Love, director of multicultural affairs and adult education at Greater Clark County Schools Corp., said this is the second Spanish-language forum they have had this year. At the beginning of the school year, they had an informational session which covered topics from drug and gang prevention to the education process.

“I think it’s important for us to participate in the community and to list the needs of our community and to provide the educational resources to help with those needs,” Love said.

Luis Arredondo, a sophomore at Jeffersonville High School, said these programs are helpful for his parents as they teach his younger brother. Arredondo said he spoke some English when he started school, but classes were challenging at first.

“The first day, it was terrible,” he said. “It was easier after a couple days, and I started meeting people. They helped me.”

Six percent of Greater Clark students speak English as a second language.

Angelica Perez, family services adviser for Head Start, said it is important for children to learn English at a young age. She has seen the Hispanic population in Clark County grow and said there is an increased need for English Second Language programs.

Perez said she works with many children who do not speak any English when they begin at Head Start. The children are taught the basics of the language, and within less than a month, teachers see results.

“When they first come in, [the children] don’t participate. Within three weeks, they feel more confident,” Perez said.

Perez said they have monthly meetings with the parents, and family involvement is an important part of the process.

Gio Guerra Perez, a social-cultural specialist for the New Neighbors Project at Indiana University Southeast, was the featured speaker at the forum. She talked to the parents about easy ways they can work with their children at home to help them in school and cultural differences in the United States.

“Parents should be able to participate in the education of their children,” she said. “It’s important for them to join in the activities at school.”