Tasked with schoolwork help, many US parents lack English

Since her daughters' school closed for coronavirus outbreak, Mariana Luna has been thrust into role of ir primary educator, like millions of parents across U.S. But each day, before she can go over ir schoolwork, her 9-year-old first has to help her understand what assignments say.

A Spanish speaker originally from Mexico, Luna uses Google Translate on her phone and, when she gets stuck, asks her daughter to translate instructions and emails from teachers.

“To be honest with you, it has been difficult for me because of langu more than anything,” said Luna, whose daughters attend a school in rth Las Vegas, Neva. “My husband does speak langu a little more, and when he comes home from work, he is one who gives me most support with girls, but since I have t worked and have only been at home, I do t speak langu as well."

shift to distance learning has created unique challenges for English langu learners and ir parents, who are tasked with keeping m on track despite ir own struggles and lack of familiarity with educational system.

re were more than 4.8 million English langu learner students in public schools in 2016, nearly a tenth of total enrollment, according to most recent U.S. Department of Education statistics. While some teachers are taking extra measures to help m, re is concern se students will be left behind longer schools are closed during pandemic.

Obed Acosta, a 10th gre student in Baltimore, has only lived in U.S. for a year and is w trying to figure out assignments on his own since his high school closed. An after-school program organized by an vocacy group for Latis and immigrants provides some assistance, but his parents are t in a position to help.

“y would like to help us with our studies, but it is very difficult for m because of langu," Obed said. "y can maybe understand it speaking it, but if y have to re something, y don’t understand it perfectly well.”

At home, he watches movies with Spanish subtitles to improve his English. And despite his own limited skills with English, he helps his younger bror and sister understand ir assignments.

Compared to teachers of mainstream students, more teachers of English langu learners h alrey cited students' lack of home internet access as a barrier to using techlogy, according to a 2019 U.S. Education Department report. And in some cases, programs designed for English langu learners are t even available through online instruction.

Still, teachers have devised some strategies to overcome langu barriers.

Sofia Halpin, a langu arts teacher at a Denver school serving a large immigrant student population, joined a new program this year that pairs English-speaking teachers with co-teachers who ensure lessons are available in Spanish. As school prepares to launch online learning on April 7, Halpin and her co-teacher are planning assignments in both langus — for her students, and for ir parents.

“A lot of my students are totally fluent in English, but ir parents aren’t and ir parents might be people that y want to go to for help with assignments,” Halpin said. “So y need to be able to understand what that work is, too.”

But Halpin kws challenges won’t end re for families learning ir way around school system, especially those whose time at home is limited by work in service-area jobs considered essential.

“I imagine that communication between teachers is going to be rough for some of se families," she said. “y may t feel comfortable reaching out to teachers who haven't me mselves available alrey in a langu that y're more comfortable with or teachers who y aren’t alrey familiar with.”

school closures threaten to worsen phemen kwn as “summer slide,” in which students lose acemic ground while away from school. Research shows langu acquisition also can slip if English langu learners spend summer speaking a langu or than English at home, said Joshua Lawrence, an educational researcher who studied trajectories while at University of California, Irvine in 2012. He said findings are concerning for students w facing extended time away from school.

On a recent morning, George Barcenas looked out his office window in Santa Rosa, California, in time to see students arriving to pick up breakfast and lunch to take home. techlogy director for Bellevue Union School District, Barcenas said immediate goal has been meeting students’ basic needs while district works on a long-term plan to continue learning.

In meantime, students in district where 91% are people of color — majority, Hispanic — went home with packets of work. Barcenas took to social media to spre word about Google Translate app, which uses phone camera to scan text and displays an onscreen translation, to help students and parents who may be struggling with provided schoolwork.

“We’ve (typically) done a pretty good job of having everything translated,” Barcenas said. “But at point that we’re at right w, we’re handing out packets and we have to find a way to help m. So this is a quicker way for m to be able to understand, ‘This is what’s going on. This is what teacher is asking for.’”