My family’s
country of origin is Romania. I chose
Romania because through World Vision my family actually sponsors a young boy
from Romania. Even though we sponsor
this boy I actually do not know anything about Romania.
The following
are the five ways I would prepare to be culturally responsive towards this new
family:
1.
Research
– I would do research on Romania. Where
is it located, what language do they speak, what is the climate, favorite foods
and information on the environment and economics. I would start by using the website http://www.romania.org.
2.
Language
– I would try and learn some common words in Romanian so I could help the child
feel welcome. There is actually a
translator section on the Romania website where you can translate English words
into Romanian. http://www.romania.org/services/romanian-translations.php
3.
Food
– I would learn about what kinds of snacks they like to have in Romania and
hopefully bring some of those foods into the classroom. I would hope this would make the child feel
more at home and it would help the other children learn about the new student. Familiar food always seems to be a comfort to
me.
4.
Include
Materials – I would bring music and books into the classroom that relate to
Romania. This would help educate the
other students about Romania and help the child feel at home and that his
culture is represented in the classroom.
5.
Meet
the Family – I would take a special time to meet the family prior to the child
attending school and after the child has been in school for a week or two. This would allow me the opportunity to learn
about the family and see what their expectations are for their child’s school experience. Meeting with them a couple weeks later would
be a good chance to see how things are going and if they have any new questions
or concerns.
These steps
would help me have a better understanding of Romania and the environment the
child has been living in. It would allow
the other students in the class to feel like they have a better understanding
of where the child is from and it would hopefully bring up similarities between
the children. I hope it would help the child
feel welcome in the classroom and a part of our classroom team. I hope the family would feel important to our
program and feel comfortable enough to have open communication with us. I hope these steps would create a good
environment of acceptance, caring and belonging.
Hi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas for welcoming a child from another culture. I like your idea of learning about what kinds of snacks the child might be familiar with and like. It is something that I did not think of but would be very important to most children. I also like your idea of meeting with the family a couple weeks after the child enrolls. I'm sure by them both parties may have a lot of questions! -Mary
Hello Courtney,
ReplyDeleteIncluding the language(s) of Romania is very important. When I was a classroom teacher, I created a language center in my classroom. It included basic vocabulary that children will hear in the classroom along with matching photos that represented all the languages spoken by our families. Parents were excited and involved with the center. Thanks!
~Markethia
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your information. I think that it was nice to pick the country where your family was from. You had very good ideas with learning about another language.