Assignment: You are working in an early childhood setting of your
choice—a hospital, a child care center, a social service agency. You receive
word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you
know nothing about will join your group soon. You want to prepare yourself to
welcome the child and her family. Luckily, you are enrolled in a course about
diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have
immigrated you need to know more than surface facts about their country of
origin.
In order to complete this assignment, first choose a country
you know nothing about as this family’s country of origin.
 |
| Malaysia |
The country of origin I chose is Malaysia.
The five ways in which I will prepare myself to be
culturally responsive towards this family:
1.
Familiarize myself with the country’s spoken
language
2.
Meet the parents and interview them about their
own family culture, the family structure, their parenting style, and their
child’s overall routine
3.
Understand some of the countries’ behavioral customs;
pay particular attention to what is considered inappropriate or insulting, etc…
4.
Get pictures of different people from this
country and share them with the class
5.
Find books written by and about Malay people
This assignment has prompted me to explore the ways in which
I can become more aware of my students’ culture. Although in this particular
scenario, we had to choose a country that we have absolutely no idea of, I
believe this exercise has encouraged me to adapt further strategies that will enable
me to be culturally responsive toward my students and learn more about their
culture, even if I think I have enough information about them and their
families, there is always something useful to learn.
Reem,
ReplyDeleteI like your point to familiarize yourself with the family routine. That would definitely help the child feel more comfortable in his or her new country and new setting - great idea! I also like your point at the end about how even if you do know a little about a country's culture, there is always something new to learn. I feel that's true even of our own cultures ... the more we explore, the more cultural awareness we gain of ourselves and others!
Thanks for sharing!
Lydia
Reem- You have shared several good ideas on how to deal with welcoming new families from different cultures to our classroom. One of the most important things we can do, is meet with the families like you suggested. If possible have an interpreter available if needed, in order for everyone to better understand the goals and wishes of both the parents and teachers.
ReplyDeleteDonna
Reem, your post was very interesting. I believe it's very important to see what resources that are available locally. I must say this was a very challenging assignment.
ReplyDeleteJanet
Reem,
ReplyDeleteI love that you chose Malaysia, for starters! Also, I really appreciate your five ways of becoming a culturally responsive educator towards this new family. It really is important to recognize the value all cultures can bring in the creation of diversity! You're taking steps at not only adhering to your personal responsibility of becoming culturally responsive, but also focusing on the objective of developing culturally responsive students! This is great!
Shawna