· The name of “your” family’s country of origin.
Australia
· At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family.
I will have each month a different country theme day. I will make sure that I educate the other children on Australia so that the child will feel at home.
I will bake some favorite dishes from Australia Anzac biscuits (cookies); Chiko Rolls (a sort of large spring roll); dim sims (Chinese-style meat dumpling).
Australians feel that it is important to make direct eye contact with them while talking so I will ensure when communicating with the families I will have direct eye contact with them. They also do not like to feel that you are in their space. I will ensure that I am not invading their space.
I will communicate with the family to see what values and beliefs that they have and want me to carry on in the classroom for their child. Even in the US our children vary in what values are held in the house hold.
I will make sure that any holiday’s that we celebrate their family celebrates as well. If the child has a different celebration faith then we could talk about having a special time with the child for that certain celebration.
· A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family
I hope that these preparations will help make my family and the child feel that they are welcomed and comfortable in my classroom. It will help the child start off feeling a little more comfortable about the transition to a new country. Being prepared will help reduce the uncertainty of having a child from another country in your classroom.
Thank you for sharing your comments. It is very hard to make the right decisions on what to decide what we really should know about the culture before a child comes. You do not even know if he practices the culture or not. Being prepared is the best.
ReplyDeleteKaren:
ReplyDeleteYour suggestions on preparing for your child from Australia was very insightful and posed wonderful ways to make the child and family feel totally welcome. You knowing that direct eye contact is a positive form of communication is the first step in making the family feel respected and at ease. Allowing for cultural diversity learning for all incoming students from a foreign nation is a step in the right direction of dominating bias and prejudice.
Vernanna
Karen,
ReplyDeleteI like that you are taking the time to ensure that your students know all about this new child's culture. This will certainly help deter any type of microagression behavior.
Karen, I like your idea of making each month a different country theme day. The children will learn about the different countries and when they have someone new join the class, they will have some knowledge of their country. Reading about the food you would prepare makes me hungry! Your heart is definitely in the right place.
ReplyDeleteAlicia