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.
The name of “your” family’s country of origin
- Jamaica
At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family
- Research
- Learn about Jamaican traditions
- Find books, pictures, toys, etc for the classroom so that the new student and his/her parents will feel more comfortable
- Educate the other children about our new student and his/her culture
- Speak with the parents and child so that I may get to know them prior to the first day of class
- These preparations will definitely benefit both me and the family in many ways. First, it will show them that I respect them and their culture and that I want to better understand where they come from. Second, it will make all of us feel more comfortable and less insecure about having their child in my class. Last but not least, the child will feel more comfortable in the class and will also feel welcomed.
Hello Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteI would use some of the technique you listed to find out more about a family. I am learning how to find out more about a family other than he surface meaning of culture. Now that I have a deeper understanding of culture, I will be able to use the information in order to develop a common goal for the family and I to work on as a team. I believe having a deeper understanding of the family's culture will allow them to open up and share more with me. Then I feel I will be more effective teaching their child.