Making home-to-school connections easier and simultaneously providing insight and connection for parents
“What did you learn at school today?”
It’s a question asked around countless dinner tables, in cars on the way home, and while getting ready for evening activities.
And it often gets a familiar response:
“Nothing.” Or maybe: “I don’t know.”
It’s usually not because students have nothing to share or don’t want to share. The question is simply so broad that figuring out where to begin can be difficult—especially after a full day of learning.
What if as teachers and educators, we could make those conversations a little easier?
One small way to strengthen the connection between school and home is to give families specific questions they can ask about what students are learning. A little context from the classroom can provide parents and caregivers with an entry point into conversations they might not otherwise know how to begin.
And in a language classroom, those conversations can be particularly meaningful.
Families don’t need to speak the language their student is learning. They don’t need to know the vocabulary list, understand every grammatical structure, or have visited the cultures students are exploring.
Sometimes, they simply need the right question to ask.
The behavioral science behind a small prompt
In behavioral economics, a small prompt that makes a desired action easier is often described as a nudge.
Nudges have been studied for their effectiveness and applied across a range of settings—from education and personal finance to public policy and environmental conservation—where thoughtful choice architecture can make positive actions easier to take. That same principle can be applied to parents and providing nudges for family communication.
Consider the difference between sending home:
“Ask your student what they learned in Spanish today.”
and:
“Ask your student about Mexico, and which traditional food they’d want to try the most — tamales, mole, or pan de muerto—and why.
The first requires the student—and the parent—to figure out what to talk about.
The second gives them somewhere to start.
That small difference matters.
From information to conversation
Teachers already communicate a tremendous amount of information to families: upcoming assignments, events, due dates, assessments, classroom announcements, and reminders.
But occasionally adding a conversation starter can turn that communication from information about learning into an invitation to talk about learning.
The goal isn’t to add more for educators, but to help affirm learning in a simple way.
For example, after reading a short story, a teacher might share:
- Tonight, ask your student which character in our story they connected with most and why.
After exploring a cultural tradition:
- Ask your student to tell you one similarity and one difference they noticed between this tradition and something your family does.
After practicing new vocabulary:
- Ask your student to teach you three words they learned today. Let them be the teacher! Students love to be the expert and tell their parents they know something that the parent doesn’t. You can trick them to correct you by saying “Doesn’t [insert word] mean [incorrect silly definition]?” Kids love to show off their knowledge and showcase themselves as experts.
These prompts don’t require a new assignment or additional homework. They simply provide an opportunity for students to retrieve what they learned, explain it in their own words, and connect it to someone outside the classroom.
They also give families a window into learning that can otherwise be difficult to see.
Make the nudge to parents easy—and timely
A conversation prompt should be easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to use.
It could be:
- A sentence at the end of the weekly classroom newsletter
- A message in the school’s family communication app
- A sticky note attached to a take-home folder
- A “Question to Ask Tonight” posted in the LMS
- A short text or email following a particularly interesting lesson
Timing can make the prompt even more useful.
A question sent shortly after students have explored a topic gives families something concrete to ask while the experience is still fresh.
Research on school-family communication has explored similar approaches, including the use of simple text messages and behavioral prompts to encourage parent engagement. The Institute of Education Sciences has highlighted research and strategies around text messaging for family engagement, while other studies have examined how behaviorally informed messages can lower some of the barriers that keep parents from participating in learning activities at home.
The point isn’t for teachers to start texting families every afternoon.
It’s that small, well-designed pieces of communication can sometimes make an action easier to take.
Taking the guess-work out of encouraging families to participate
Schools frequently tell families that their involvement matters.
But “be involved” can be a surprisingly difficult instruction to act on.
What exactly should a parent ask?
What should they do if they don’t understand the subject?
How can they participate when their child is learning something they never studied themselves?
Resources from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences emphasize the importance of building partnerships between families and schools to support student learning. One practical way to strengthen those partnerships is to make participation concrete and accessible.
Instead of only telling families that engagement is important, we can occasionally give them something specific to do.
Ask this question.
Talk about this idea.
Have your student teach you this word.
That’s a much easier starting point.
Families don’t need to know the language
This may be one of the most important messages language educators can communicate to families:
You do not have to speak the language your child is learning to be part of their language-learning journey.
A parent doesn’t have to know whether their student’s verb conjugation is correct to ask:
“What can you say today that you couldn’t say last month?”
A caregiver doesn’t need to understand the target language to say:
“Teach me something.”
And a family doesn’t need deep knowledge of another culture to ask:
“What did you learn that surprised you?”
In fact, allowing students to become the expert for a few minutes can create an entirely different kind of conversation.
Instead of a parent checking whether homework is finished, the student gets to explain, demonstrate, remember, and teach.
Further Reading
For educators interested in exploring the behavioral science and family-engagement ideas behind this approach:
- Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge: The Final Edition
- David Halpern, Inside the Nudge Unit: How Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference
- Behavioural Insights Team, Behavioural Insights for Education: A Practical Guide for Parents, Teachers and School Leaders
- Institute of Education Sciences, Toolkit of Resources for Engaging Families and the Community as Partners in Education
- Institute of Education Sciences, Using Text Message Initiatives for Parent Engagement
By Sierra Combelic
Also read:
Coming Together: Family and Community Involvement Are Key to School Success
