Hello, I have to help parents, who don't know English, how to help their kid with their homeworks.
Can you tell where I can find ideas?
Quesne
How do parents help their children with homework? How do parents help children with English homework? Have you got any tips? Can you recommend any websites?
Fill in the form below to let us know what you think. We will publish your answers here.
Firstly parents make their children understand that english is an international language and importance of the language. Because in this age the way you want to mould them they will take the shape according to the parents want it. At home speak in english it will help your children and they will find the language easy. Parents supports create major confidence in children.Love them, converse with them and praise them.
Sweety, India
On my opinion, the parents should learn english in order to help their children.
Hossein Mghewa, Tanzania
I think that parents should study step by step as their kids.
Doaa Eraki, Egypt
I also like you. i had a little knowlege of english. but I am trying to learn it and learn my little son too. while I am studying i teach him. Then my son and me both learn speak english.
Nayana Manukulasuriya, Sri Lanka
Parents have unique opportunities to motivate chldren to keep learning English. In fact they don't need to be experts at the language; by simply asking the kid what he learnt during the day and by sitting together to do homework parents are showing the kids English is important. It would be much better if parents take their time to review a few pages from the kid's English book, as well as maybe look up some words in the dictionary in advance so that they can actually help their kids the moment they need it. Fiinally it would be greatly apreciated if parents talk to the kid's teacher so that he or she can provide useful tips according to the child's needs and skills.
Francisco Santos, Mexico
That’s a good question! Even if the parents can’t help their children very much with the content of the homework itself they can help in other ways. Firstly, they will be helping their children a lot by showing a positive attitude towards learning English. Parents can encourage their children not to rush, and to spend time on their English homework. Simply by asking their children what they have to do for their English homework and by spending some time sitting with their child while they do it can be a great support. Making sure the television is off when the children are doing their homework is also helpful!
Secondly, parents can help their children by teaching them how to use a bi-lingual or monolingual dictionary. There are many dictionaries on the market so parents could choose one that is appropriate for their child’s age and spend some time helping them get used to using the dictionary. Some picture dictionaries are really attractive and could be a very useful tool to help with their homework. There are also online dictionaries but these tend to be for older students.
Finally, parents could use the fact that they don’t know much English to their advantage. They could ask their children to teach them some simple vocabulary. Maybe the parents could ask the students to write the words of some house hold items on post-it notes and stick them around the house. The children can teach the parents how to pronounce the words. Teaching is a great way to learn so as the children teach their parents some vocabulary they will be revising too.
Some parents might also like the idea of rewarding their children with some ‘play time’ when their children have finished their English homework. Parents can have a look at the topics on LearnEnglish Kids and see if they are similar to the topics their child is studying at school. When they finish their homework the reward could be ten or fifteen minutes playing games in English on the website. As well as having some time to relax, the children will also be revising their English.
Joanna, LearnEnglish Kids
