The country of origin I choose is
Somalia. Somalia is one of many countries in Africa where they had no working
government between Jan. 1991 and Aug. 2000. In fact Somalia people were
reinstating a new transitional president in 2004. Somalia located in the Horn
of Africa, lies along the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Somalia culture is
very different from the United States culture therefore is very important that I
prepare my classroom for the arrival of the child as well as increase my
knowledge regarding their culture so that they can feel welcomed and accepted.
The way I will prepare myself to be more
culturally responsive toward the new child and the family is as followed:
1)
I
will research the language, custom, traditions, and the history
2)
I
will put up picture around the room so that the child will feel that he or she belongs.
3)
I
will invite the parent and the child to attend school event where many cultures
are displayed in a positive way.
4) I will create a list of common words and
phrases used in Somalia for me to use when communicating with the child as well
as for the teachers and staff to use with the child and their families so that
we can provide an effective communication with the child and the parents.
5)
I will ask the
families how they prefer to communicate with the center as well as if they can
come by the center to volunteer to teach some of their culture and tradition to
the staff and the children.
My goal is to help the child and the
family to have a successful transition into the new environment. Many
immigrants come to this country with no resources and usually fall into the
low-income status. Therefore I hope I can be beneficial to them by providing
the family resources and help to have their child become an early educator so
that they can continue and build a successful life style. In fact just by understanding each other’s cultural
background we both can benefit through effective communication as well as building
relationship for a better outcome.
Enjoyed reading the different ways you will do to make a child from another country welcome into your class. You are right about when they come, they might be from lower income therefore need resources. That is very true. Communication and building relationships is a musty, great post.
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of having common words used in Somalia to have around the classroom. This will definitely make the child feel a connection with "home" and a connection with other children in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteHi Sophia! Great post. Good idea about learning some of the phrases and providing a list for the other teachers as well. It is so important to include the family in on what you are doing to make the classroom a welcoming environment for their child. The other students could benefit from learning the words and being familiar with some children's songs and music representative of the country.
ReplyDeleteLemora