Ted Audio Collective

I've heard lots of stories from my friends with kids about times where they've had to talk to their child's teacher.

In one instance, they felt their child hadn't been treated right in a particular situation.

While in another, they felt their kid could be pushed a bit more in the classroom

or they wanted to make the teacher aware of a challenging situation that was happening at home

that might affect how their kid behaved in school.

What strikes me about many of these situations is that my friends felt empowered

to have these types of conversations with their children's teachers or school administrators.

But not all parents feel this way.

Some aren't native English speakers, or aren't college educated, or feel intimidated,

or simply can't take time off work to make it happen.

That got me thinking, what would have to change to let all parents have this opportunity

to talk with their kids' teachers and the school more broadly?

I'm a doobachanola, this is Ted Business.

Our speaker today is he J. Lim, the founder of Talking Points,

an educational technology nonprofit.

This organization helps remove systemic barriers creating effective, equitable family engagement

so that every student thrives.

In this talk, you'll hear about the key ingredient that he J believes can remove language barriers

and foster meaningful connections between families and their schools.

Then after the talk, as a little treat, I've invited my dear friend, Shani Dowell,

who also runs an educational technology company to share insights on additional tools,

...