Jane is the head coach for Science Olympia. She has an extensive engineer background and she wants to recruit parents to be coaches for the weekly after-school practice. These elementary school students who are sitting in the cafeteria for the first team meeting are excited. They are more interested in what they are going to do and what they are going to build than all the logistics parents are talking about.
Tammy’s son is in the team. So is May’s boy. Tammy works in the IT field. May is a reading specialist. Being a science program parent coach? It sounds interesting. Both moms are thinking about it and you can see it on their face. But, there is fear. They are afraid that they might not be able to do a good job.
They are concerned if they could follow the program and give qualified guidance to the team during the practice. May is even more worried because what she does have nothing to do with science. The head coach sees the unsure expressions on parents’ faces and she says, “I will be here during every practice and we will work together. You can prepare for each project ahead of time and we have all the resources available for you.”
There might be fear.
But, they decide to give it a try. They are now both parent coaches on the same team for the upcoming Science Olympia event. Tammy and May are happy to lead a small group of kids every week and help them to think, design, and build.
Where is the fear? It is fading away. With the head coach there, with the resources, with the parent peer support, everything is going well. These fifth graders are doing great. Tammy’s son and May’s boy are very happy that their mothers are a member of the coach team.
Sometimes we paint a picture in our head before we start something new. We have a narrative. There might be fear. That fear that stops us making the move to try. If an artist wants to paint a great picture what he needs to do is to start painting.
The first painting is not going to be perfect. Neither is the second one, third one… However, as the artist keeps painting he will learn more techniques and get better.
What if he is so afraid and he doesn’t paint? There will be no painting. And, there will be no improvement.
It is just like learning, isn’t it? If we don’t start we can’t go anywhere. If we get it started but we don’t keep working on it then there will be limited progress.
How do young kid learn a new language? They listen, listen, and listen. Young children listen to what is provided to them in the environment. They see what is there at home. Books, posters, flashcards, drawings, and pictures are all can be set up for your young learners. Bilingual or in the target language.
There might be fear but when you kick it off and do it. It will fade away and you will be proud of yourself as you go on the journey of raising a bilingual child. When you hear your young child asks you to play more of the same song or she wants to listen to the same story in the target language again.
What does your child say “More! More!” to? Why is she saying that? What can you do to have that enthusiasm from your child in learning?
Image by Austin Public Library
