Talk to the parents 跟家长沟通

美国很多家长都会到小学当志愿者（或称义工），原因有很多，了解学生在学校的上课情形；帮助小组的读书练习；帮助学校的各种特殊节日庆典；帮学校或老师做不同的琐事等等。
 Many American parents love to volunteer in school. They can see what is going on with their students; they can assist small group instructions; they can help classroom's celebrations; they can help with many errands at school.

美国沉浸式的教室是不能使用任何英文，所以如果家长不懂中文，如何帮忙？家长可以帮忙削铅笔，可以帮忙文件归档，带字卡回家剪和装袋，帮忙剪贴（我曾经把一些童书简单翻译出来，打印出来的翻译和书都标明号码，家长带回家按照号码剪贴），帮忙整理文具用品，张贴或收拾美术作品，改功课，改考试卷（这一点必须争取学校同意，因为学生的成绩不应该公开在他人眼里，除非试卷上没有名字。）
However, there is no English allowed in Immersion classrooms. If parents can't speak Chinese (or any target language), how can they help? Parents can sharpen pencils; organize paperworks; take flashcards home to cut and separate them into bags for students to use; cut and paste children's books (I have translated some simple children's books that we received for free. Parents pasted the cut out translations onto books.) Parents can correct homework and quizzes. School will need to agree before letting parents correct quizzes because students' grades should be private. Unless there are no names on the quizzes.

因为老师也不能在教室里用英文，让志愿者了解各项作业就要事先做好准备，可以简单写个英文的条子，附在待完成的物品上，也可以事先写电邮跟家长沟通。
Since teachers can't use English to communicate with parents in classrooms, they will need to prepare ahead. Anything that needs to be done should have a clear note attached to it. An email can be sent home first to require help and with instruction on certain tasks.

电邮是和家长联络的方法之一。部分的家长可以到学校，可是大部分是来不了的。家长会很感激老师和他们沟通各种事情，学生的进度，学校的活动，以及学生的问题。沟通的方法除了上面提到的电邮，还有其他方法。
Email is one way to communicate with parents. Some parents can come volunteer at school but some can't make it. They will appreciate any kind of communication that let them see the progress of students,  aware of school activities, and be notified about students' behaviors.

 1. Remind: 这是智慧手机的app，方便好用而且免费，老师需要先注册，然后上面会有说明如何设定班级，可以设定不同的班级，家长按照指示加入。老师可以选一个或全部的班级来发通知和提醒。如果是要个别通知，也有这个选项。
Remind is a nice and free APP.  Download it then register. There will be clear instruction on how to set up classroom(s).  Parents can follow direction to join your texting group. Teachers can reach out individual parent as well.

2. Newsletter: 把学习进度和目标打印寄给家长，可以用电子邮件，也可以打印出来，有些家长可能比较习惯读纸上的信息，可以打几分给这些家长就行。
Newsletter can be sent via email. Some parents prefer reading actual letters, so maybe few can be printed for the parents.

3. 影片：即使家长到了教室看到上课情况，他们也不一定了解学生在说什么。家长签下同意书之后，可以拍下学生的学习情况，制成影片给家长看。这些影片配合上课内容打上字母也是练习的工具。要注意的是，如果要上传的YouTube，一定要上传到unlisted，这样影片就无法被公开搜寻，当然，家长也要了解你的用意。如果学区有下载影片的地方，那就更方便了。
Classroom videos can be used to show parents the progress of the students. Parents will need to sign agreement to allow their kids to be filmed. When school and parents agree, the film can be uploaded to Youtube, however the setting should be on unlisted to avoid public searching. If school district has their own channel for film, then just use the District one to save troubles.

4. 教学网站：如果学区提供那就最好，如果学区没有提供方便的博客工具，老师也可以自己做一个网站，介绍学习目标和各种活动，给予中文功课的协助，如果做了影片，可以加在这里给家长看。
Blog or teaching website. Teachers can use blog to show learning objectives, embed the films, school activities, and homework help. Some school Districts provide blogs and teachers should take advantage of that.

5. 纸条：如果有些紧急要家长看到的活动或其他通知，我和我的搭档会把内容打印在颜色鲜艳的纸上，为了节省资源，尽量印小一点，一张纸可以印好几分，这些印出来的纸条会被折几折，学生书包上通常会有个提带，我们把折好的纸穿过提带用订书机钉起来。学生的书包是黑洞，很多东西进去来就从此找不到，所以这个方法，保证家长一定看到。
Sometimes a printed note is inevitable.  A note can be printed multiple times on a paper then cut apart.  Fold the cut out paper many times, thread through the loop on student's backpack.  Staple the two ends together. Make sure to print on colorful papers. Students' backpacks often become blackhole.  To have a note hanging this way can ensure parents to read the note.