My new family enrolled in the child care center from Mexico.
How can I prepare to receive this new family?
1.
Send a
welcome letter to the family with their native language and English on the
back.
2.
Include in the letter a getting to know you questionnaire.
3.
I would have a welcome package with school
supply items (if accepting gifts is ok with the culture).
4.
Make sure the classroom environment is labeled
and reflects the different cultures of the class.
5.
I would help the class and myself learn familiar
words and phrases
6.
Most of all ask the family what is needed to
support me in the transition.
7.
Most of all to be culturally sensitive. Critical
teaching requires teachers to admit that they do not know everything. We can
learn from our students by listening to them. We need to document, respect, and
learn about people from all over the world, particularly those who are
dramatically different from us (Hyland, 2010).
I think strategies such as the
ones above will help both the class and myself grow in my knowledge and
awareness of different cultures. It also
helps in all our efforts to become more culturally sensitive.
As an childhood professional what would you suggest?
Resource
Hyland, N. E. (2010). Social justice in early childhood classrooms:
What the research tells us. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 82-87.
Hi Barbara,
ReplyDeleteAwesome Blog, if I was a family that was coming to the US, I would be honored for my child to come to your classroom, I feel welcomed already.
I like the ideal of sending a selcome letter to the family in their native language and English on the back. Would you send it to them now knowing if they would receive the welcome letter before they came to the US or would you do it on arrival. To write their native language would you have an interpreter to help you write it?
I like the ideal of the school supply items, I am going to incorporate that in my classroom starting tomorrow.
As an childhood professional, I love the suggestions that you have with the environment being label, the children learning familiar words and phases. You could also add music and if the class consist of older children once the family has settled in you can ask them to come and talk with the children about there culture.
Thank you for sharing. I would recommend having paper work in their native language as well as an interpreter that way if they are more comfortable speaking with an interpreter then they can.
ReplyDeleteHello Barbara,
ReplyDeleteThat is a powerful and humbling statement that you made that"critical teaching requires teachers to admit that they do not know everything". There is so much to learn about others and their culture. We cannot assume that we know based on our own cultures, standards, and values.