Families from around the world

            As EC specialists we come into contact with children of different cultures and backgrounds every day. Helping those children and their families to feel welcome is one of the most important parts of our job. When a teacher doesn’t know anything about a family or culture it important that he/she takes the time to learn about that culture, not just so they can interact with the family, but so they can incorporate things from that culture in their classroom so that the family can feel welcome and accepted.

            For the purposes of this assignment I chose to write about working in a child care center with a family from Vietnam. I have never studied Vietnam before and after some recent research I realize that our country and the country of Vietnam are extremely different. The first thing I would do to help myself get acquainted with the family is to research the country that the family came from and the culture of that country. I would then learn some key words of the language the family speaks so that I can communicate with them when I meet them. I would incorporate some pictures of the country and ask for some pictures of the family to help the child acclimate to their new surroundings while still feeling comfortable with who they are and where they come from. I would also add some books to the classroom library that represented that country. And finally I would invite the family to come in and read some of their nursery rhymes and children’s stories to the class in their native tongue and invite an interpreter to help the other children to understand the story.

            In making these preparations I hope to not only help the other family feel comfortable with their new home but to help me feel comfortable in my role as caregiver to these children. By researching their country and learning how to communicate in their native language I am showing them that I do care about them and where they come from instead of just expecting them to conform to American ways.