Gathering Information

Our next step was to develop and distribute a survey to the classroom teachers with ESOL students, administrators, and the instructional coach.

Here is a copy of our survey:

This survey is being distributed to assist the Media Center staff in creating a collection and environment that best meets the needs of our ESOL population. We appreciate your willingness to take a few minutes to consider the following questions so that we may serve our learning community better.

Teacher Survey:

What relationship do you have to the ESOL community at Loganville Elementary School? (e.g., ESOL teacher, administrator, 4th grade classroom teacher)
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Are you aware of any multicultural resources available through the Media Center? If so, what are they?
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How often do you bring your students to the Media Center?
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Are there multicultural materials you would like to see included in our collection? What are they?
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Are there culturally diverse lessons you teach in your classroom that you use materials from our collection to supplement? If so, what are they?
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Are there culturally diverse lessons you teach in your classroom that you do not supplement with Media Center materials? Would you like assistance with these units? What materials would be the most useful?
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If you are a teacher of ESOL students, are there behaviors or attitudes you notice in these students regarding the Media Center? Are they reluctant to use the Media Center? Are there certain materials they gravitate toward?
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We are considering developing a program for increasing ESOL student use of the Media Center. Do you have any ideas about elements that should be included in this program?
What could help these students get excited about using the Media Center?
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Other comments:
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If you would be willing to participate in a short follow-up interview to this survey, please let us know your name and how to contact you:

Name: ________________________________ Phone or email: _________________________________

The surveys were collected and analyzed. There were many suggestions including ideas for collection development, adding magazines that would appeal to the ESOL students, reviewing the Accelerated Reader program with the ESOL students, and pointing out books that interest the ESOL students and where they can be found. As a result of the surveys, we felt that an “open house” for the ESOL students and their families would be a way for us to meet our goal of increasing use by these students and to make the Media Center more inviting for them.

We also thought for a while about other possible reasons for the lack of use by ESOL students. In speaking with past ESOL teachers at the school and other faculty members, one possibility emerged that the large Media Center might be intimidating for some students. As the school population grew, the ESOL class was shifted around and has finally ended up in a small room that was formerly a closet. As a result, the big open space of the Media Center may be challenging for the ESOL students, especially considering it is full of materials that many of them can't read or don't know how to use. On that note, perhaps the students also feel that the Media Center is "not for them" if they are not aware of the services and materials it provides.

Planning the Open House

Our first step was deciding on a good time to conduct the Open House. We were aware that many of the ESOL families might face the obstacle of limited vehicle access. To address this issue, we looked at the calendar and tried to find a time when the parents and students would be already at the school to coincide with the Open House. The days of conferences were an ideal opportunity for this event. Students and parents would be at the school for conferences, and we could have them visit the Media Center as a part of their afternoon.

Our plans for the Open House basically amounted to conducting a mini-orientation to the Media Center for the students and their families. We decided to send invitations home to all of the ESOL families. Our original invitation was in English, but we had it translated into Spanish using an online translation service, which was also checked for accuracy by the school's former ESOL teacher. The invitations asked for an RSVP as well as for lots of information about the students and their library use. Some of the questions were created based on the suggestions culled from the teacher and administration survey, such as the question seeking ideas for magazines of interest to the ESOL population.

We wanted these invitation surveys to be filled out by parents, and they served a dual purpose. First, we wanted to learn about what their child likes to read. Second, we wanted to gauge the awareness of the parents as to their child's use of the Media Center. Even if a family was not able to attend the event, we hoped that the invitation might spark some discussion at home that would lead to increased Media Center use.

These were sent home with students a couple of weeks before the Open House (the English translation was on one side, with the Spanish on the reverse). We received three of these invitations back out of twelve. From the surveys, we learned a bit about what kinds of books and magazines the children enjoy at home and what has come home from the Media Center with their children before. Only two of our RSVPs indicated that they would attend. We forged ahead, hoping that some families would stop in that had not responded to our invitation in writing. We planned to showcase some of the books that the parents had indicated were of interest to their child in their responses. The books they like are many of the favorites in any school-age population, focusing on sports, drawing books, and mysteries. (We pause here to mention that this point shows the commonality of interests across cultures. Not all kids like the same topics, but there is definitely some crossover, at least in the ESOL population and the population of this school at large.)

We also planned to serve some refreshments. Deciding what to serve was an interesting process, taking into account the age of our group, avoiding cultural stereotypes in food, and preserving the carpet! We had a long discussion about whether or not it was being culturally responsive or stereotypical to serve chips and salsa. We decided that it was stereotypical, since we shouldn't assume that every Spanish speaking person or ESOL student likes the American version of Mexican food. Again, here we see how complicated even the little decisions can be, and that their impact can possibly be very great, especially when one is trying to make a first impression.

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