I
chose Russia to be my new family's country of origin. I do not know anything
about this culture and would love to learn more about it. Working in an early
childhood center, some things I would do to prepare myself for the arrival of
this child and family would be:
-Read
up on the country history and government and learn about the traditions,
culture, education systems, food, pop culture, and music.
-Include
Russian children's stories and books in my class library and put out the food
and dress representative of the country in the Dramatic Play area.
-Learn
some basic phrases and words in the language like sit down, paper, crayons,
scissors, bathroom, hello, etc.
-Print
out labels in the written language to post around the room to accompany the
labels in English and Spanish.
-Purchase
popular Russian children's songs and include them into the curriculum.
I
hope that by researching this country and setting up the classroom to include
some of the things the child possibly saw in previous classrooms would be
welcoming to the child and family. That they would see I was open and willing
to help with the transition and with the education of their child. I hope they
would see that me and the class were happy to have them be a part of our class
community. I do not want to appear to be trying too hard and fake, so I would
not bombard them with too much enthusiasm. Moving to another country is hard
enough, so I would hope they could find some peace knowing their child was in
an environment that celebrated her and not ignored her.
Hi Tiffany! From reading your post, it sounds like your family would feel very welcome in your classroom.It sounds like the child would transition well. If it were my family, I would feel comfortable leaving my child with you for the day. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteHi Tiffany -
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your post and suggestions for welcoming a new family into your classroom. I have read many of the same ideas in other post, but love the suggestion you had of labeling some of the materials in the classroom with the child's language. That's a wonderful idea!
Thanks for sharing!
Gena
Hello Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI like the strategies that you shared. You mentioned labels and I cannot believe I did not think of that, as much as I mention label at our school. The labels would be helpful for both individuals in both languages. It helps for those to feel welcome and gives a sense of comfort.