Purpose: To identify literacy practices in the home, record parent-child interactions, and provide a
baseline for documenting changes over time.
Process: Either as part of a whole -group or small-group discussion, have learners discuss activities
they currently do with their children. Give the learners the following prompts: "Parents and children
can do many things together. They go to the park on Sunday, go fishing, cook food, cle an the house,
go hiking, watch TV, work in the garden, or look at magazines. In many families, parents help their
children with homework or check their assignments. What do you do together with members of your
family?" Record their responses on the lines below.
Luisa and her husband go to church together on Sundays.
Then they watch their son Marcos play soccer.
(Adapted from Holt & Van Duzer, 2000. Used with permission.)
Purpose: To record home literacy events and activities that parents regard as essential and to gain
insights into educational values and opinions about learning.
Process: As part of a whole -group or small-group discussion or through pair activitie s, have the
learners discuss and then record their views of how children learn and how parents can help their
children learn. Give the following prompt:
In my opinion, these activities help children learn.
Talking about (for example, field trips, birthday parties)
Teaching children to (for example, ride a bicycle, use the stove)
Helping children with (for example , math homework, spelling words)
Asking children questions about (for example , their friends, their favorite class, personal problems)
Telling children that (for example , everybody makes mistakes, you learn by doing)