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.
The family has recently emigrated from Nepal and will join my group soon. In order to assist that the family transitions comfortably, there are several things which will need to occur. I realize that a transition to a new place can initially be difficult for the entire family. Prior to the arrival of the family, I plan to personally learn as much about Nepal as possible and ensure that I inquire to see how I can help the family feel comfortable.
- At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family
Here are five ways that I can prepare myself to be culturally responsive to the family:
- First, I will become familiar with Nepal, which is located in South Asia.
- I plan to have a meeting with the family in order to ensure that I have a clear understanding of their personal goals, expectations, traditions, beliefs, and values. If the family requires a translator, I will ensure that I have communicated with the ESOL department in order to have access to the translator as needed.
- I plan to build an open, safe, and mutually respectful school community in which each child as well as family is an important and equal member (Derman-Sparks). It’s important to ensure that other educators as well as students are aware of the new family and the significance of ensuring that they are aware of how to help the family feel welcomed. If needed, I am willing to provide educators with a professional development on welcoming new families from around the world.
- It will be important to introduce the family with any other families or community members from Nepal.
- I will ensure that the learning environment is print rich, has plenty of visuals, and developmentally appropriate activities for an English language learner.
These preparations will benefit myself as well as the family in several ways. As an educator, I will become educated on the deep culture of families from Nepal and the family will receive insight on the American culture. During this time, we will work to uproot my own personal biases as adults and will speak against prejudice and bias where ever we encounter it (Derman-Sparks). As I take the necessary steps in order to ensure that I am culturally responsive to the family, I hope to ensure that the family feels that they are supported if they feel stress, anxiety, or fear because of current events or acts of prejudice or hate (Derman-Sparks).
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
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