This week we have
been focusing on children who are part of emigrated families. For this week's
post we were asked to respond to the following scenario by picking a country we
know nothing about and answering the following questions.
Scenario
You are working in
an early childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a child care center, a
social service agency. You receive word that the child of a family who has
recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group
soon. You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family.
Luckily, you are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in
order to support families who have immigrated you need to know more than
surface facts about their country of origin.
For my assignment,
my country of choice is Australia. (I know very little about Australia)
At least
five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive
towards this family
1. The first thing
I would to have a better understanding of my Australian student is to find out
what their family structure is so that I have a point of reference in regards
to their home life.
2. I would then
research the schooling system in Australia. For example, the majority of
schools in Australia follow the Australian National Curriculum. I need to have
an understanding of what that entails. My student could come into our
curriculum advanced or slightly behind.
3. I would
then determine what grade they are in their schooling system. The school
year runs from January to December, this could put my student ahead or behind
of his or her peers,
4. I would also
try to gain an understanding of the general teaching style used in the country
of origin. My student may be used to being taught in one particular manner, and
I may have to adjust my initial approach to suit his or her needs.
5. Lastly, I would
research general information so that I can have a point of relevance in the
conversations with my student. This will make them feel more comfortable
working with someone who knows a little bit about their home country.
A brief statement
describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you
and the family
With these goals,
I would hope to make my student feel more comfortable in my
presence. Moving to a new country will be very jarring for any new student.
Thus, having some knowledge about their background, the school system that they
come from and what life is like in their country will make them feel more
inclined to trust me. Through this process I can start to build a strong partnership
with the child and his or her family in order to foster an efficient learning
environment for said child.
