I am working in an early learning and care program where I receive word that a child of a family who has recently emigrated from Costa Rica will be about to join my group soon. In order to prepare myself to welcome the child and her family, I need to know more than the surface facts about their country of origin.
Five ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally response towards this family include the following:
a) Take time to learn about the culture of the family through reading and researching to discover more information about their country of origin
b) My preliminary research indicates that Spanish is the spoken language in Costa Rica (along with English).
c) Take time to reflect the culture in the environment from welcoming signs in English and Spanish, to including artwork, posters, and books.
d) Post a map of the world in the classroom in order to promote discussion with the children about different places in the world.
e) Learn some words of welcome in their language. I do not speak Spanish so this would be a learning experience for me. I will continue to promote the child’s home language.
f) Prepare paperwork. Be sure that the required paperwork is available in Spanish and English. I would need to find someone who spoke Spanish to help with this process.
g) Although I have done some preliminary prep work to help me feel more confident, I recognize that I cannot make any assumptions about the family’s background and culture and think I know the family before meeting them.
h) I understand that it will not be easy for the family to leave their child at the early learning and care program. I hope to spend as much time as possible with the family to ease their anxiety. I will be sure to have an extra staff available on the day the child and family arrive (if possible).
i) I will take time to find community organizations that assist immigrant families to access local resources and services (Derman Sparks & Edwards, 2010).
By taking the time to learn about the family’s culture, I hope to feel more confident in connecting with the family. I hope the child and family will feel welcomed to the early learning and care program. I think creating a welcoming environment will help to a build positive relationship with the child and family.
Reference
Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J.O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Tamara,
ReplyDeleteI agree that creating a welcoming environment is the most important step an Early Childhood educator can make to support a new family and their children from a new country. I can appreciate your efforts to find a community organization to assist with new immigrant families, this will serve as a great benefit to the families in and out of the classroom!