Learning About Your Students Strategies & Resources Reference

When students’ families fill out forms to register for school, they’re typically asked to complete a home language survey. Your school or district may have its own policy for how that information is stored and who can access it. (You can learn more about these home language surveys and view a sample survey from the English Learner Tool Kit from the U.S. Department of Education.)

The home language survey may only ask about the student’s primary language. In that case, you may want to ask students and families for additional information, including:

• Whether the student speaks multiple languages and which languages are spoken
• What language(s) the student and family use at home and with whom
• At what age the student started speaking the home language

One informal way to get a better sense of your student’s home language literacy is by providing a picture prompt. Ask the student to write a story based on the prompt. This will help you determine if the student can write in the home language, and if those writing skills seem to correspond with the number of years of schooling.

You may also wish to ask the student’s family questions about literacy activities at home, such as:

• Does the child have a favorite book?
• Does the child read the book or is the book read to them? In what languages?
• Does the child talk about what happens in the book?

These questions provide insight into the print-rich environment at home and typical vocabulary-rich experiences that can be used in the classroom.