Presented by: Courtney Anne Brewer Nipissing University cbrewer353@nipissingu 07/11/12

Using English Language Support to Reach Immigrant Families Preparing for School in a New Country Presented toSocial Work and Development 2012   

Presented by: Courtney Anne BrewerNipissing [email protected]/11/12

Related Literature• Current ideas of school readiness

• (Janus and Duku, 2007) (The US National Education Goals Panel, 1997 as cited in Dockett & Perry, 2009)

• Importance of parents• (Englund, Luckner, Whaley, and Egeland, 2004) (Chazan-Cohen et al.,2009). (Anderson and

Minke, 2007) (Piotrkowski et al., 2000; Zhang et al., 2008)

• Issues facing immigrant parents• (Turney and Kao, 2009) (Brooks-Gunn & Markman, 2005) (Levine-Rasky, 2009).

Parental engagement in school was used as an indicator of school readiness

-Why did you join Parenting in a New Society?

-Why did you refrain from joining other groups or becoming involved in the school in other ways?

Study Background: Location

• Study took place in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada• Kitchener is ranked 7th overall in Canadian urban centres

with a proportion of 23.1% immigration population (as of 2006) • (Region of Waterloo Public Health, 2009)

Study Background: The Program• Joint program called Parenting in a New Society

• Partnership between Our Place Ontario Early Years Centre and Focus for Ethnic Women

• Program delivery site is a local elementary school

Methodology

• One-on-one interviews with participants• 6 women who are classified as recent immigrants• Countries of origin: United Arab Emirates, Jordan/ Syria, Iraq,

Morocco, Romania, and Kurdistan

Parental engagement in school was used as an indicator of school readiness

-Why did you join Parenting in a New Society?

-Why did you refrain from joining other groups or becoming involved in the school in other ways?

•Barriers exist which prevent involvement and engagement (employment, lack of child care, unfamiliar with opportunities, language)•A catalyst barrier also exists, which can be helpful! (language)

Involvement and associated subthemes

Themes: Involvement / Engagement

• Catalyst Barrier (Language)

• When we were starting this program on Tuesday, I think [the program facilitator] told us there is another program for language in the community centre . . . . She told us about sharing day, from the community centre, and she told us about the Leisure card from City Hall. (Claudette)

• It’s good to be in this program to improve my English through conversations (Halah).

Conclusions• Use catalyst barriers like English language practice as a way to

gain a captive audience in order to provide further essential information and connections to assistive resources.

Discussion / Questions

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