This week I am going to research a country I know nothing
about. This is great to do to help children and families feel welcome and
supported. This will also help me to be more informed and do my job better. The
country I picked is Indonesia. Before I read about this country, I didn’t even
know where it was located.
Five ways I plan on preparing myself to be culturally responsive
towards this family:
1. ~I
will make sure to learn about all the aspects of their native language; what it
sounds like, if there are other similar languages native to that country, and familiarize
myself with some basic words.
2. ~ I
plan to read about the countries child care practices past and present. What is
the most common form of child care and what are its costs? What are some popular
child rearing practices and family set-ups?
3. ~I
will research the state of the government and its history.
4. ~I
will give them a “get to know me” sheet to get some basic information on the
family, such as, the child’s likes and dislikes, the parents jobs, and other
unique aspects of the family and child.
5. ~I
plan on adding toys and books about Indonesia with the hope of sharing this information
with the rest of the children and making the new child feel welcome.
6. ~ I
will look up information on their surface culture.
I hope these preparations give me the confidence I need to
feel that I can serve this family it their best interests. I do a better job
when I feel informed, knowledgeable, and confident in my abilities. I hope that the family will gain a sense of
trust and partnership with me. This task can take some time but the sooner the
better. The better I can serve this family and make them feel welcome, the
better they will feel about working with me in caring for their child.
I enjoyed reading your blog! When I was in elementary school I had a good friend that moved to Indonesia. To help me with this transition, we did a lot of research so I would know more about where my friend was going. I like #2 I never thought about looking into the childcare systems and education systems to see what they do differently and how to incorporate that into the room. Thanks for the idea!
ReplyDelete~Kristen
Jalice, knowing about the government and history in the country you chose is a great ideal. Like Kristen had mentioned, knowing about child rearing practices and other educational systems are important to understanding how to positively relate to the family. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteJill
What a great post! I love the get to know me sheets because it will help with a lot of ways you interact with children and to help the adapt to our enviornment to make them feel comfortable. I have found families love them also becasue it shows we care enough to know their family.
ReplyDeleteJalice, I really enjoyed your post. I know very little about Indonesia and if you were to ask me where it was I would not be able to tell you. I think researching the countries child care practices is a fantastic idea. This will give you insight on the type of care the child is used to having. I also think that having toys and books about Indonesia will give the child a sense of belonging as well as educate his/her peers on their country.
ReplyDeleteJalice,
ReplyDeleteI think you have some great ways to prepare for this family. I really like your idea of finding toys and books from the country to help the child. I never thought about this, but I can see how important it is for children to have something so small yet familiar to them from their native land. I agree with your statement about the preparations giving you confidence. I also believe that being prepared builds confidence. It will decrease the chances of you feeling incompetent when interacting and helping the family.