It’s hard enough for parents who are suddenly in charge of their kid’s education at home. Even harder when that education is in a language they don’t necessarily speak.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Millions of parents started new jobs last month — as substitute teachers.
When schools shut down in mid-March to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, parents were thrust into homeschooling and teachers became online instructors overnight.
School leaders scrambled to figure out how to educate students entirely outside of classrooms.
“As a school you want to be a community anchor, and it’s hard to do that when everybody’s spread out,” said Meghan Hill, executive director of the St. Louis Language Immersion School. “But it’s bringing people together in a different way.”
A major obstacle for some is technology.
Districts including St. Louis Public Schools have surveyed families about their technology needs and started passing out tablets and laptops to students. About 14% of children nationwide lack internet access at home, according to the U.S. Department of Education. In St. Louis, 22% of families lack internet service. Some districts have outfitted school buses with Wi-Fi hot spots and sent them into neighborhoods, or told families they can use schools’ Wi-Fi connections from their parking lots.
The same teaching strategies that work in the brick-and-mortar classroom can work online, said Keeta Holmes, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at University of Missouri-St. Louis. Create a safe space where students feel comfortable and like they aren’t a guest. Let them show off their family pets or favorite toys, she said.
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Mandarin Immersion Parents Council 
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