Reaching Diverse Audiences
Good morning everyone. My name is Dr. Gloria Rodriquez. I'’m president and CEO of Avance, a family supported education program that has been helping young children and parents for over thirty years. I am also the author of “Raising Nuestros Ninos: Bringing Up Latino Children in a Bicultural World.”” I am very pleased and honored to have been part of many wonderful programs that PBS has broadcast, including “Sesame Street,” “Mr. Rogers,” “Dragon Tales,” “Puzzle Place,” and now to be part of this very exciting project that supports parents and children.

I would like to share with you some key points to consider in reaching a diverse audience, especially Spanish speaking.

An Audience of Caregivers and Parents
First, I would like to say that the role of parenting, the role of care giving is so important. You are the first teachers. Parents and caregivers need to understand that

	“Parents and caregivers need to understand that it's not just babysitting. They are teaching, they're molding, they're influencing children for the rest of their lives.”

it's not just babysitting. They are teaching, they're molding, they're influencing children for the rest of their lives. For caregivers it’s a career, it’s a profession that needs to be taken very, very seriously. For Latino caregivers it is even more important, because there's the pride of doing it in two languages. So I will begin with language.

Language
It's important to emphasize the Spanish language. Children who are Spanish speakers are native to this language and need to hear their language - to understand, to affirm who they are. It is important that Spanish be used in a production so that they retain the language.

There are many parents who would like their children to learn the Spanish language. If they don't know it, this is an opportunity for them to learn. Whether an Anglo parent or an African American parent, or a Hispanic parent or Latino parent that has lost the language, they would love to see this production be one where their children have an opportunity to learn Spanish.

Culture
The second point to consider is culture. Everyone has a culture and every culture is important. It needs to be recognized and affirmed - in particular, the Latino culture. We have many ways to bring out culture in this production. We have games, songs, lullabies, quentos. We have beautiful dichos. Our foods, our music, all kinds of celebrations and traditions could be integrated within the production.

Among Latino families in particular, the value of "respeto" is very important.

Part of the culture is our values.
Among Latinos in particular the value
of 'respeto' is very important - how we treat our grandparents, how we treat
the teachers, the father being the center of the family, the family being united,
the community coming together with neighbor helping neighbor. If you bring those value elements in, you will be
able to reach this population.

Education
It's important also to understand that education to a Latino family can mean more than reading and writing and getting ready for school. Education means being bien educado, learning manners, learning how to sit still, how to take your turn. It's so important to a Latino parent or a caregiver to understand the importance of being bien educado. It's importante bien-to behave well. But we have to help parents and caregivers understand that there also has to be a balance, that all children including Latinos need to explore, to experiment. Parents and caregivers need to understand that children learn through play, that children need to be given toys to learn, that play's the best way young children can learn.

Literacy
Another point to consider is literacy. We Latinos are tremendously diverse in education. We can have very, very educated people with college degrees and PhD'’s like myself. But we can also have people coming in from foreign countries who do not know English, who have a low educational level. It's important that we reach them at about the 7th or 8th grade level and that we use this program as an opportunity to teach them English, to improve their educational levels and skills. So that having parents as well as children learning English and trying to learn to read together are goals that a Latino population could identify with, because they want to learn the language, because they want to be part of this society. KCEd can help them achieve that.

Modeling
There are many ways that we can reach parents on a practical level through this program. It is very important that they see characters they can identify with – with the same issues and concerns that they are experiencing. For example: discipline. Make sure that there are individuals modeling effective disciplining techniques. Or reading, having parents model effective reading skills. Or learning, showing that education happens everywhere – in the house or at a grocery store - showing that as they're folding clothes or sorting the silverware, they are teaching. If they're going to the grocery store, they could be talking about the colors and the shape or the name of the object, or the label.

Parents need to be made aware that they are their children's first and most important teachers, that taking care of children during the early years of life is so critical and so important. Whether they're parents or caregivers, this program can help them do their job better.

And so, again, I want to commend KCET for KCEd, because it is a vehicle to help parents and caregivers in the raising of children in a very critical period of life.

Dr. Gloria Rodriguez
June 13, 2003
KCEd Expert's Convening