How a video program will help empower bilingual families

I grew up in a bilingual program here in Buffalo, New York, and now it’s my privilege to support students and educators in bilingual programs as an instructional coach. Much of my work with educators focuses on dual language instruction and amplifying students’ home language – Spanish, in the case of our community. This year, I’m excited about launching a project to support our students’ families, building the knowledge caregivers need to navigate the school system and participate in their children’s bilingual education: a collaborative, informational video series.

For many bilingual families, English is seen as the language of power. What we hear from educators is that when families enter the district, they often yield their child’s education experience to the schools. I know when I was growing up, my parents trusted the schools almost blindly, thinking, “The teachers and system are going to do right by my children.” There’s also a layer of self-consciousness. Some families might think, “I’m not as educated as the professionals here. Who am I to ask questions?.” We know that children experience more success when their families play a role in their education and advocate for them within school systems. We also know that having a relationship with students’ families is key to building connections between school and home cultures.

We want to send a message to families that they are valued. We want families to feel confident asking questions, getting involved and building connections with the school community.

We’re creating collaborative videos to invite families to participate at school.

We’re in the planning stages of creating a series of videos that will inform our families about topics related to school and invite them to get involved.

We don’t want these videos to center teacher voices and reinforce the idea that teachers are the ones with all the answers. We are focused on centering the experiences and the voices of the community. I’m lucky to connect with people across the community, and we’re approaching this project collaboratively. For example, one professor at the University of Buffalo, who’s also a parent liaison at a dual-language school, has been an invaluable partner. We are inviting students to co-create the videos, knowing families might connect more with a video of their child describing these concepts more than with a video of a staff member.

Our goal is to create a video-powered, multimedia communications strategy that invites parents in and equips them with knowledge that can open doors. We’re looking at multiple modalities including stop motion and coding. We will also infuse  visual and text-based formats like memes, sketchnotes and flyers – so we can reach families in a variety of ways, just like we do with students. We’re also thinking about how to make this project accessible. We want to use platforms that parents are already engaging with, like ClassDojo, so we’re meeting them where they already are.

We’re designing each video to address key topics relevant to families’ roles in bilingual education. Here are a few topics we want to cover through these videos:

• Benefits of bilingual education

There is a belief in some immigrant communities that enrolling students in English-only immersion gives them the best chances of success, but we want families to know that we see their students’ bilingualism as a gift. There is a body of research that bilingualism supports long-term success and academic proficiency, and we want families to receive those messages about the importance of preserving their home language. 

We want them to know what bilingual education looks like: How does literacy instruction in Spanish differ from that in English? How does our program support socio-cultural competence, critical consciousness and high academic achievement in both languages? 

• Family rights within the education system

We want to educate parents about the role they can play as advocates across their students’ education journey. We live in New York State, so we want them to know about the laws that protect their students. What are their rights around interpreters and student accommodations? What are the questions that they could be asking in a parent-teacher conference? 

• Making education jargon more accessible 

As a student who navigated ESL and bilingual programs, and now as a parent of a first grader, I understand how educational jargon can feel alienating. Terms like “data,” “RTI,” or “science of reading” come up but aren’t broken down at a level that’s accessible for most parents. Our videos will help parents understand what we mean by “data” or “RTI” so they can better connect with what’s happening in the classroom.

Ultimately, we want these videos to be an invitation and create a feedback loop.

This isn’t just about providing information; it’s about fostering two-way communication that enriches our school community. In addition to sharing videos with families, we’re looking at ways to build in opportunities for families to speak back to the schools. We hope to share surveys and hold one-on-one conversations with them to ask, “What are some of the things that you want to be able to highlight? What are some of the things that you see that are missing?” 

We don’t want families and students to minimize themselves and their identities regardless of what outside messages they might receive. Sometimes, students’ caregivers don’t see themselves as experts, so we want to identify ways to strategically partner with them, elevate their areas of expertise and embed their perspectives in the curriculum. We want families to see their students’ bilingualism not just as an asset but as a gift that enriches our entire community.