Welcoming Families Around the World

This blog assignment for the week took me a while to search for the country of my origin. I searched through the internet about countries of the world and I did random selection. My family’s country of origin I chose is Tuvalu.

I learned that Tuvalu was comprised of nine small islands in the pacific, just a few miles away from the equator. The population was about 10,500 people. Their island started awareness campaign on reducing the use of gas emission to prevent the rising of earth’s temperature. When temperature rises, the water level also rises and when the water rises, their islands will be submerged in water. The threat of losing their islands in the future is possible and there will come a time that their country will be washed out on the face of the earth because their islands were just sixteen feet above sea level. These were just some of the information I gathered from the country I chose.

Ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive is by:

·         Conducting research about the country of origin and gathering as many information as I can from books, internet and other resource materials about their culture, beliefs, traditions, values and other practices. The more information I gathered the better it will prepare me when meeting them.

·         Interviewing and observing families and children will make them feel important, accepted and validated.

·         Acknowledging our differences and work towards the benefit of our families and children. 

·         Asking questions from families by gathering information directly from the children and families themselves.

·         Preparing a diverse center by making sure that children feel comfortable, safe and secure. Each center should represent different cultures. 

·         Integrating their culture to our environment. Plan and implement age appropriate activities that are reflective of our culture as well as theirs and work towards a common ground. Children should feel that their school is the extension of their home.

  

A balanced, respectful, integrated educational approach never sets one culture or group above another, but rather helps children gradually and naturally learn to appreciate the value of diversity within and among cultures (McCracken, 1993). Teachers along with children, families and the entire community can lead the way to fuller lives and a more harmonious world by incorporating diversity into children’s everyday experiences. 

Reference:

McCracken, J. B., 1993. Valuing diversity: the primary years. NAEYC, N.W., Washington, DC.