Immigrant parents learn how to teach children, prepare them for school

Lake Worth, Florida - Thousands of miles from her Mayan village in Guatemala, Angelina Francisco knew little Spanish and no English. When her younger children grew closer to the school age, she was unable to prepare them for first grade.

She sought help.

For the past three years, Francisco has been opening her Lake Worth home to Martha Gomez, an instructor with Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, or HIPPY. Every week, Martha teaches Francisco how to be her children's first teacher and help her to improve her Spanish. In her 13 years in the United States, Francisco managed to survive speaking only her native Mayan dialect.

"I felt bad not being able to help my sons," Francisco said in broken Spanish.

Gomez is one of many HIPPY home visitors in Palm Beach and Broward counties tutoring parents on how to get involved in their children's pre-k education. The program, offered in Spanish and English, serves 659 parents with children 3 to 5 in Palm Beach County, said DeMarchia Gibson, director of the HIPPY program for the Center of Family Services in Lake Worth.

In Broward, 175 parents with 203 children participate in the program, said Penny Westberry, director of the Early Learning Coalition of Broward County, which helps fund HIPPY in that county. "Parents are their children's best teachers," she said.

Westberry said the program is a success. A recent survey showed 96 percent of the families enrolled in HIPPY in Broward demonstrated the ability to be their kids' first teacher.

Francisco hopes the program will give her children, Alejandro, 8, Juan, 6, and Diego, 4, a leg up in school and build confidence to continue studying as adults.

"I want them to become teachers or police officers," she said. "I don't want them to work in the fields."

She knows the hardship of working outdoors. When she came to Palm Beach County 10 years ago, she worked in nurseries. She quit when she became a mother. Her husband, Diego Pascual Francisco, is now the breadwinner. He does landscaping for a construction company, she said.

The couple agreed that she would stay home to help with their education.

The HIPPY material coaches children to think, listen, develop reading habits, follow directions and coordinate eye-and-hand movements.

"Kids' brains are a sponge at this early age," Gomez said.

The skills they learn transcend language, and children from Spanish-speaking homes easily apply the techniques to their English education, she said.

Gomez goes to the Franciscos' home once a week, carrying storybooks and activity packets, including scissors and crayons. Gomez explains the material to Angelina Francisco and helps her understand what skills she will teach Diego . Diego is in the only one of her three children still in the program.

Juan completed HIPPY last year and now attends first grade at South Grade Elementary School. Alejandro was too old for his mom to qualify for the HIPPY program when she enrolled in 2003.

Angelina Francisco attends Spanish classes at the Guatemalan-Maya Center in Lake Worth every morning. She needs to, she said, to be able to better understand the HIPPY storybooks and the homework she explains to Diego.

"Some days I think I can't learn enough to help them," she said. "But I go on. I don't give up."

Click here to read the original story from Paola Iuspa-Abbott from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com (includes a picture on the subject and a link to the newspaper's Children's fund)