Of all the questions and queries that a teacher receives from concerned parents, none is more indicative of a caring and understanding parent than the question “What can we do at home?”

It is a question that means that the parents are aware that education doesn't stop at the end of the school day, but carries on at home too.

As growing is an ongoing process that happens at home and at school, so is a child's education.

The first way you can help your child with his or her English at home to finding his or her favorite cartoon in English. For example, youtube.com has many clips of Chinese children's television programs in English or with English subtitles. Learning can be fun for your child because they already love the program.

Another, similar way is to switch on the Discovery Channel in English and let your children learn about the ocean, animals and other science related subjects.

To help your child improve his or her vocabulary, why not try labeling items in your house. Your appliances like your air conditioner, refrigerator, washing machine, and television are good places to start. You can label your furniture, like your sofa/couch, coffee table, rug, and chairs and the places where your dishes, chopsticks, forks, knives and spoons go. You can help your child by referring to these items with their English names in order to make English more relevant in their daily lives.

A lot of children associate English with text books, tests and school, so bringing English into your daily life can help make it more fun and provide inspiration for mastering the language.

If you take anything away from this article, I hope it's the knowledge that you can ask your child's teacher what he or she thinks are good ideas for home education.

Answers to this question are not limited to the few which I have shared with you in this article; in fact there are numerous answers that are equally good, if not superior. Keeping the lines of communication open with your child and his or her teacher is the best place to start.

明德J 1a Teacher Graeme
York University
Toronto Canada