Families From Around the World

My family is from the country of Eritrea! 

 I learned that a family of five includes a 12 year old a ten year old and a young daughter of the age of three. The parents will enroll her at my center. They were referred to my center by relatives that live in the community.

 

Five ways I will prepare to receive my new family and demonstrate cultural responsiveness is to;

1. Label everything in the class in the child’s native tongue- and try to get the children in the class to be come familiar with the labeling as well. I would display lots of pictures as well.

2.  Learn some simple phrases of the language to communicate with the family

3.  Encourage the children to learn simple greeting phrases in the language like, hello, goodbye, want to play?

4.  Read stories or tell folk tales that originate from the family’s culture

5.  Encourage the family to share as much about themselves to the class regarding their culture by having them to let us borrow music, sharing literature, or inviting them to share family traditions.

The preparations I would have in place are to greet the family in the child’s native tongue and to label every day material in the native language to ease transition to English speaking. I would study the customs and cultures of this country and try to initiate some parental support from the existing parent roster for them. As an educator for the young children I am also acting as an advocate for the family to help their move to a new country be as smooth of a transition as possible.  I hope these preparations will be of assistance for the benefit of the new family so that they will feel welcomed, the child will feel safe, and begin to become a part of our Learning Center Family!