Open House, Curriculum Night, Back-to-school night – whatever your school calls it – it’s your one opportunity to showcase your personality as a teacher and educate parents on what you do in your classroom.
Educating parents on Comprehensible Input
If you are teaching in a comprehensible input classroom, educating parents is very important. Parents generally expect to see homework, worksheets, and textbooks because that is how they learned a second language. As CI teachers, we can save ourselves lots of time and energy by teaching parents how a comprehensible input classroom runs. Just like our students, if parents understand the expectations and routines of our class, they are less likely to push back and question our methods.
I created this video to share with parents at our virtual Open House. It compares how parents learned their second language vs. how second language acquisition occurs in a Comprehensible Input classroom. Feel free to share this video with your parents as well! It answers a lot of frequently asked questions. The parents in my community found it really informative and were really appreciative to understand why we don’t use a textbook and how comprehensible input works.
Engage parents with a demonstration
When we are able to hold Open House in person, I usually do a demo with the parents. I write these words on the board:
¿A quién le gusta…? = Who likes?
Quiere = wants
El chocolate = chocolate
Then I pull out a bag of Hershey Kisses and do a demonstration with parents, asking them who likes chocolate. I circle around this expression for a few minutes and then ask them who wants some chocolate while passing out chocolate to everyone. Parents LOVE it!
When the demonstration ends, I explain to parents that this is how students learn in my class. In a normal class period they would hear me use two or three expressions over and over again, providing as much repetition as possible to help them acquire the vocabulary.
Following the demonstration, I show my slides that include how to contact me, grading policies, and other things that matter to parents. Starting with the demonstration is the best way to showcase my personality and let parents know that their students won’t be bored in my class and will hopefully learn a lot! In other years I have started with the informational slides and ended with the demonstration, but with such limited time, I often ran out of time for the fun stuff! So I highly recommend starting with the demo and having a printout that parents can take on their way out that goes over all the nitty-gritty details of your class.
What to include in your Open House presentation
Introduction: Welcome parents in your target language! Just a quick “Welcome to Spanish class. My name is… and now I will speak in English for the rest of the night!” As a non-native speaker, I want parents to hear me speak the language and know that I’m competent.
Personal information: Most people start with this to build report and help parents see how their child may connect with you as a human. Keep it brief. You usually only have 7-10 minutes to get through everything! I limit it to how many years I’ve been teaching (because I look young and so this helps parents see that I’m experienced and know what I’m doing) and the clubs I sponsor.
Contact information: Let parents know if you prefer phone or email. I always tell my students and parents that I go to bed around 9:30 PM and will not answer emails sent later than 9:00 PM until the following morning.
Late Work/Absences: How can students access work if they miss class? Show them your website or portal and explain your late work policy and expectations.
Extra help: How can students access extra help if they are struggling? Do you allow retakes and what is your policy?
All of these items could be typed and passed out to parents if you’re worried about time. Remember, they really just want to see your personality so make that your main focus!
