The first way (and extremely essential) in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards my new family is to not make any assumptions. I would ask if an interpreter is required for the our meeting and not assume everyone speaks English. Another way is to be culturally responsive is to begin dialogue by asking the family to tell me about if and how they celebrate holidays and birthdays as well as what is important to their family and its culture. With their permission, I would post a photograph of the child(ren) and their family and ask how I can incorporate their culture into the center and their child's classroom. I would, also, study their country and learn various aspects of it to implement into the center's environment.
"When you support diverse families you do not make assumptions. You do not assume that every family celebrates the same holidays, has a mother and father, eats the same foods, sees the role of child and parent in the same way, believes in the same (or any) god, has the same ways of caring for a child, or shares the same view of death and what happens after death. To avoid making assumptions, tell families that you respect and honor them for who they are and ask them to help you to support their child by explaining their perspectives and beliefs to you (Feeney, 2010, p. 418)". I hope the preparations in place for this new family will allow them to feel welcomed and know that they are valued and appreciated. I hope this will present an opportunity to establish a strong line of open communication between the staff of the center, the child's teacher(s), and the family.
Reference
Feeney, S. (2010). Who Am I in the Lives of Children?: An Introduction to Early
Childhood Education (eighth ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Monique,
ReplyDeleteI think it was a great idea that you thought of contacting an interpreter for your first meeting with the family. It is so easy to assume that someone in the family would speak English but if we have learned anything through this course is that we should not assume anything!
Kate
Monique,
ReplyDeleteI think that you have a lot of good ideas on how to effectively establish open lines of communication and making new families feel welcome. Asking the family about their family culture and views will definitely help to prepare for the new child and family to become a integral part of the classroom community. I like how you emphasis the importance of learning about the newcomer without assuming.
Salesha
Monique,
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I really enjoyed your post this week. I love how you interpret the first thing that needs to be done which in not assuming any thing towards the family.
Melissa