Building Bridges: 5 Strategies for Connecting Home and School to Support Emergent Bilingual Students

When Emergent Bilingual students walk through your school doors each morning, they bring with them their backpacks and a unique experience of language, culture, and family connections. 

The most successful literacy initiatives recognize this concrete reality: True learning occurs at the intersection of the classroom and the community. 

As Principal Mike Dixon of Smithridge STEM Academy in Reno, Nevada, said, "You have to be willing to walk out of a meeting and out of your office. This connection with families is the most important part of your day. It is!" When school leaders design and build these bridges, they improve literacy outcomes and create a foundation for joyful learning.

Discover five practical strategies that can transform your approach to supporting Emergent Bilingual students through stronger home-school connections.

"You have to be willing to walk out of a meeting and out of your office. This connection with families is the most important part of your day. It is!"  
—Mike Dixon

1. Create a Literacy Family Engagement Team

Establishing a dedicated family engagement team can transform good intentions into consistent action. This approach empowers you to weave family partnerships into your school's DNA, moving beyond occasional events or individual teacher efforts. 

When properly structured, this team becomes the vital connection between classroom instruction and home reinforcement. 

This team can:

✅ Coordinate home visits that focus specifically on literacy strategies.

✅ Connect families with bilingual staff and cultural liaisons who understand their unique needs.

✅ Partner with teachers to ensure families understand literacy goals and have the tools to support learning at home.

At Smithridge STEM Academy, Principal Dixon has created a team that conducts formal home visits with a literacy focus. "We tailor conversations to have a literacy focus and offer suggestions for tools and resources to be used in the home," he explained.

Similarly, John Ruhrah Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore, Maryland, has developed a "Student Wholeness Team" composed of administrators, coaches, teachers, and parent volunteers. The team connects families to community resources that address basic needs, such as housing, medical care, and food security. This creates the stable familial foundation students need before academic success can flourish.

"We tailor conversations to have a literacy focus and offer suggestions for tools and resources to be used in the home" 
—Mike Dixon

2. Implement Family Literacy Workshops With Concrete Strategies

Connections don’t complete the job alone—parents need specific guidance on supporting their child's literacy development. Many families of Emergent Bilinguals are eager to help but may lack the tools or confidence to do so. 

Generic advice like "read with your child" falls short when parents are navigating language barriers themselves or are unfamiliar with evidence-based literacy approaches. 

These families need concrete, accessible strategies that empower them as their child's first and most important teachers. 

Effective family workshops:

✅ Focus on practical, everyday activities families can implement at home, like turning grocery shopping into vocabulary practice, using family photos for storytelling, or playing simple sound games during car rides.

✅ Introduce science of reading concepts in accessible language—explaining phonemic awareness as "playing with the sounds in words" or decoding as "cracking the code of written language."

✅ Use technology creatively to bridge language barriers. Create short video demonstrations of reading strategies that families can rewatch, or use translation apps during workshops for real-time communication.

✅ Follow a structured format that builds parent confidence. Begin with clear objectives, model each strategy explicitly, provide guided practice time, and offer take-home materials with visual supports.

Consider using a gradual release model where you first share relevant data about student needs, then model a simple strategy parents can use at home. Give parents time to practice with each other, then provide specific guidance on how often to use the strategy with their child.

This approach doesn't just support students, it reinforces your professional learning initiatives. When families understand the same research-based methods teachers use in the classroom, they can extend the learning at home, creating powerful consistency for students.

3. Develop Communication Systems That Work for Multilingual Families

Clear, consistent communication builds trust and participation. For multilingual families, communication isn't just about information—it's about belonging. 

When parents can access and understand school communications in their home language, they're more likely to engage with literacy initiatives and support classroom learning. Without this foundation, even the best-designed literacy programs will struggle to gain traction beyond school walls. 

Effective systems include:

✅ Scheduled, predictable updates on literacy initiatives and student progress

✅ Multilingual options that make information accessible to all families

✅ Technology solutions like translation apps, text messaging platforms, and digital newsletters

✅ Culturally responsive approaches that respect the norms and values of your community

Take the time to understand and respect the cultural contexts of the populations you serve. When families see their cultures respected and represented, they feel valued and are more likely to engage with the school community.

4. Foster Teacher Collaboration to Support Language Development

In schools with significant Emergent Bilingual populations, every teacher must become a language teacher—but this transition doesn't happen automatically. Many educators feel underprepared to support language development alongside content instruction. 

As Principal Dixon noted, "The greatest challenge we have for supporting our English language learners is the limited amount of staff." This reality makes structured collaboration essential. 

When specialists and classroom teachers work together systematically, they create a multiplier effect where expertise is shared, strategies are refined, and all students are seen and supported.

Effective collaboration includes:

Creating co-teaching opportunities between classroom teachers and EL specialists 

✅ Arrange for push-in support during literacy blocks where specialists can model language scaffolds.

✅ Designate specific units where pairs of teachers jointly plan and deliver instruction.

Scheduling regular collaborative planning with protected time 

✅ Establish weekly grade-level meetings with a standing agenda item for Emergent Bilingual student support.  

✅ Provide templates that prompt discussions about language objectives alongside content goals.

Utilizing professional learning communities that focus on language acquisition 

✅ Organize teacher teams to study specific aspects of language development.

✅ Test classroom strategies.

✅ Document what works for different student profiles.

Reviewing data together through an asset-based lens

✅ Examine language proficiency and academic performance data on a quarterly basis.

✅ Celebrate growth while identifying targeted areas for additional support.

At John Ruhrah EMS, classroom teachers, ESOL teachers, and support staff meet weekly to collaborate on reaching all students. These structured sessions allow teams to review data, examine upcoming curriculum, and develop differentiated plans for all student groups.

5. Model the Culture You Want to Create

As a school leader, you set the tone for how your school community values diversity and family partnership. Your actions speak louder than any mission statement or policy document—so when staff see you prioritizing relationships with multilingual families, they internalize the importance of these connections. 

When families from diverse backgrounds feel welcomed by leadership, they're more likely to engage with teachers and academic initiatives. But this cultural shift doesn't happen through delegation. It requires your visible, consistent presence and genuine commitment to meeting families where they are. 

"I believe holding this time as sacred has created a connection with our families. I'm seen, I'm available, I greet everyone, I ask questions, and offer support for just about anything." 
—Mike Dixon

Keys to effective leadership:

✅ Make yourself visible and accessible to families on a daily basis. 

• Be present during arrival and dismissal times. 
• Learn basic greetings in the languages of your community. 
• Create informal opportunities for parents to connect with you without appointments.

✅ Through your actions, demonstrate that family connections are a priority.

• Reschedule administrative meetings when they conflict with parent interactions.
• Attend cultural events in the community.
• Ensure translation services are readily available for all school functions.

✅ Celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity of your student population. 

• Highlight multilingualism as an asset in school communications.
• Incorporate cultural celebrations throughout the year.
• Ensure that classroom libraries reflect the diverse backgrounds of your students.

✅ Share your passion for inclusive literacy practices. 

• Talk about your vision for achieving literacy success for all students.
• Publicly recognize teachers who excel in supporting Emergent Bilinguals.
• Continually connect literacy initiatives to your school's broader equity goals.

Principal Dixon emphasizes this by personally greeting every student during arrival and dismissal each day. 

"I believe holding this time as sacred has created a connection with our families. I'm seen, I'm available, I greet everyone, I ask questions, and offer support for just about anything."

Building Lasting Community Together

Creating a school culture that supports Emergent Bilingual students and their literacy development requires an intentional partnership between school and home. Whether through a dedicated family engagement team, targeted literacy workshops, or simply prioritizing personal connections with families on a daily basis, these bridges make a significant and positive difference: They empower us to make a real impact on the lives of our students.

The most inspiring stories often come from our newest arrivals. Principal Dixon noted, "When our team provides wraparound supports for the entire family, it builds connection and trust that leads to [Emergent Bilingual] students often becoming our best students!" 

Connecting all members of your school community ensures that students have every opportunity for growth at home and in the classroom. 

The result? A more equitable learning environment where all students, including Emergent Bilinguals, can thrive.