Favorite Quote on Childhood

Friday, December 14, 2012

Welcoming Families from Around the World

Being in United Arab Emirates, where majority of the population here are people from different parts of the world, I as an early childhood educator encounter children from diverse backgrounds. Until this course on diversity I had not realized the need for a background study on the child’s country of origin. As a model practice for my future class, I am to imagine a child whose family has recently immigrated is going to join my group. I am supposing the child is from Croatia, a country I know nothing about.
 
 As my effort to welcome this child, I would  
  1. Search the internet on the country to acquire basic information that I would need.
      
  2. Get help to translate our program’s forms and other written communication, as well as our monthly procedures and activities into the child’s home language.
     
  3.  Learn a few key words and phrases (greetings, requests for help, terms of comfort and encouragement, etc.) in the child’s home language ‘Croatian language’ to be able to communicate with the child and build continuity between home and early childhood center. I would also print out pictures and signs to use in situations where non verbal communication would be necessary.
     
  4.  In order to build a personal relationship with the child and the family, and support the needs of the child better, I would discuss with the family regarding their family routines, religious practices, music, household customs and diet.
     
  5. Borrow photographs of the family members to display and also partner with families, giving them a voice in decision making.                   
As “building effective partnership with every family is essential in promoting the development of the whole child”, (Lopez, 2010), it would be necessary for me as an educator to explore the many cultural differences and similarities represented among the families and staff in order to bridge the gap between the home culture and the dominant culture. 
 
Lopez, M. (2010). Valuing families as partners. Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/valuing-families-as-partners
 
 
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. Suzanne AltonDecember 15, 2012 at 7:46 AM

    Deepa,
    I like that you mentioned printing out pictures and signs to replace verbal communication when necessary. Another practice I find helpful is making sure everyone in the room is familiar with some basic words (quiet, stop, good, sorry, hungry etc.)in sign language.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 15, 2012 at 9:34 PM

    Deepa,
    It is a really good idea to translate some forms into their language, because language barrier might be the biggest issue in communication with an immigrant family. I also like the idea of learning some words in Croatian because it will dafinitely help the family feel welcome into a new environment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownDecember 15, 2012 at 9:57 PM

    Deepa,
    I think all your ideas are very pertinent information. Yes, we will have to have a good partnership so we can foster a healthy development with the families as they enter into the country. We will want the families too feel welcome them.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)