It's that time again for many of us worldwide to start the new school year!

This time of year is very exciting, but it also comes with new challenges.

One of the most important challenges of the school year is how to engage parents.

Engaged parents make decisions and have a say in what happens in the classroom and with the curriculum. Engaging parents was something I often struggled with for many years.

Here are a few practical ways to get your parents to become partners.

Begin the conversation

Instead of having parents sign a syllabus with difficult language, try sending a personalized email.

• I use a blanket email that I copy and paste but the first two sentences always says something along the lines of, 'Dear Mr./Mrs. Doe, I really enjoyed meeting Johnny who is very bright and made me laugh.' I always try to send a positive message for every child. This way, the first communication you have with the parent is positive versus negative.
• Include information and links to your wiki page, school website, your contact information, where they can find homework, your meeting hours, schools supplies needed, and other important dates or information.
• Use headers like I am using in this post for easy navigation.
• Try translating with Google if you know the parents of your English language learners have trouble understanding. I often will begin the email with 'I'm sorry if this isn't translated so well. I used Google.' Parents really get a kick out of this and love me for the effort.
• At the end of the email, ask the parents to respond with answers to questions like what is the best time to contact them and how they would like to help. If the parents have a question, they are more likely to respond back.
• If the parent doesn't have email, then send the printed letter home with the child that asks for the best way to contact them.

Set up an online parent community

Set up a community for your parents to communicate with you and other parents. You can easily do this with Facebook.

• These communities allow parents to post updates to calendars, share resources, find homework, and so much more. These social networks can be made private so that only students and parents have access.
• Try posting a resource every week or month that will help parents with their own English.

Keep parents active

Partnerships work best when we help each other.

• Let parents make decisions. Ask parents what they think would make the curriculum better. Then try to implement the suggestion. In the past, I have had parents add Wiki content such as song lyrics or YouTube videos. I have had parents suggest an activity for a book or a game.
• Invite parents to volunteer and help. I have had parents decorate the classroom or update the calendar in our online community. I have had parents organize fundraisers to get computers or other needs in the classroom. I have had parents be in charge of the activity of the month or resource of the month. Parents have organized field trips or have been guest speakers. Just like students, parents often need to know how they can help and be assigned roles so they feel like you value them and their ideas. Every parent can help in some way to improve the learning environment.
• Invite parents to a workshop. Invite parents to a special workshop night and serve food! Food entices people to come. I like to do this after the first few weeks in order to go over what technology we will use in the classroom, games we will play, rules, and more. I talk to parents about their concerns with their children posting online and we come to an agreement on what will be published.

Share your ideas

I hope these ideas will help you begin the school year right with your language learners and their parents! Whether your students are toddlers or teenagers, these ideas have worked for me! What are your favorite ways to engage parents?