Welcoming Families From Around the World

For this assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a childcare 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.

The name of “your” family’s country of origin

For this assignment, I would like to imagine that my child and their family are from Egypt and that I am welcoming the family in to my classroom.

At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family

1. I would contact the family and ask them a few questions about some of their values, beliefs, hopes and dreams for their child and their family.
2. I would plan activities and lessons that encourage the family to share special artifacts, family photos, language, literature, music, and food that have deep personal meaning to the family. 
3. I would introduce the family to classroom prior to their first day by having the children meet by Skype and including a short introduction of the family in our class news letter. 
4. I would increase the about of times that I check in with the family ensuring that they feel comfortable and address any issues that may have come up, immediately. 
5. I would talk to the children about whom to make new friends and explain ways to make people feel welcomed. 

A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family

My goal is to create a classroom environment that embraces the family’s culture and not their implied surface culture based off what see from the media. I want my current students to understand and build a connection with the child and their family before they arrive which is why I think having a couple of meeting via Skype would be a great way for the students to start preparing themselves for our new family. I want the family to feel that they are apart of the school and the classroom so providing them with opportunities to be apart of the learning process lets them know that they are valuable contributors to our learning community. Checking in with the family, frequently, will let them know that they have an alley to confide in and that they are supported. They will be able to address any issues that may make them feel powerless, marginalized, or discriminated against.