“One does not worship, display or teach culture; one
acknowledges it as a whole way of life grounded in the past, and one
necessarily lives a culture.” Houston Baker, Jr. (1990, p.1)
The name of my family’s
country of origin is Syria. Five ways in which I can prepare myself to be
culturally responsive towards this family are:
·
By being aware of my own cultural
background. By knowing my own culture, beliefs, and values I will be more
responsive to theirs because this will be the foundation from which I interact
with them.
·
I will contact them in person prior to
their child starting school; regardless of culture everyone wants to be valued
as an individual not just a number.
·
I will learn greetings in their home
language and practice them so I pronounce them correctly. This will help them
to see I want to value a part of their culture by getting to know them better
through verbal communication.
·
I will attempt to accommodate the child’s
personal needs; schedule, dietary, etc.
·
In Syrian culture it is inappropriate to
speak to the wife before you speak to the husband. I will address the head of
household for my initial contact.
I would hope that by taking these steps to prepare
myself for accepting a new student and their family from an immigrating country,
that I know nothing about, I will start a positive relationship with the family
that will help them to feel welcomed, comfortable and help them to feel more at
home. It will help me as an early childhood educator because I will know more
about where the child has come from and where they have been so that I can
teach them individually and honor their culture within the classroom.
Hi Susan! I enjoyed reading your post and agree that your methods would be effective. I learned something new today as I did not know that it was inappropriate to speak to the wife first. This is something I would not have thought about. I also liked that you would contact the family before the child starts school. This is a great opportunity to have more one on one time with the child and family and know what accommodations you may need to make for the child. It will also help you gather more information about the culture when you speak to the parents directly. Good Post!
ReplyDeleteMyra
Hi Susan, I enjoyed your post. I do believe it is important to really know your own culture, in order to be able to understand other cultures. It helps you to me more open and sensitive about the cultures. I also agree that learning language and food would be very beneficial.
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