You are working in an early
childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a childcare center, a social
service agency. You receive word that the child of a family who has recently
emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon. You
want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family. Luckily, you are
enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support
families who have immigrated you need to know more than surface facts about
their country of origin.
The country that I choose to discuss is Chad, Africa. Chad has a spicy cuisine with fish as the primary entre and the fish industry is one of the major source commerce in the country. They also enjoy some cakes and very appealing desserts. Although food is not deep culture it is a place of comfort when one is feeling out of place, to have a little piece of home looking up at you from a plate is like a “little hug”.
Another item
that is not considered deep culture but can be such a frustration is the
conversion of monies. Not understanding
how the monetary system works and how money is used can put a great deal of
stress on a family. The money used in
Chad is the CAF Franc, which is in danger of expiring and wondering of what
happens next in their world of economy still remains on the mind of the
immigrant. This question is something
they will think of, leaving family at home and the worries of how they will
survive.
I have looked up the education in Chad. The educational system is patterned after the French system with the instruction in French. Schools that conform to the guidelines prescribed by the government are aided. Education is ideally compulsory between ages 6 to 12. Studies show the ratio of teachers to children; in 1997, there were 10,151 teachers to 680,909 students. One has to wonder how much teaching occurs with those ratios.
With this
information in mind, how much education does this child have and what
opportunities to learn have been available to him? Will the child have an idea what school is
about, or will it be another new experience!
What is the reason for the family coming to the states, for more
education, to escape persecution, or to join family already in the states?
How can I help this family to be comfortable, to feel they
are wanted and welcomed? What are their
feelings and fears about this new place?
Are they thinking, will they look at me because I am different? How can I help the family, especially the
child coming into this class to look at himself as one of the class?
Researching the toys that the children play with in Chad seems like a strange thing to think about but entering a new room full of toys that are foreign can be scary. Assigning a “mother child” to the new child has been successful for me. The “mothering child” shows the new child where the bathroom is, where we play with the toys, where we sit for circle, how we stand in line, where we wash our hands and where we go to eat. When the parents see that another child is caring for their child, they are comfortable as they see their child comfortable.
Reaching out to the parents in a respectful and caring
manner is a requirement for a teacher who really cares about her children and
all the parents. One parent watches how
the teacher treats the other parents will expect the same attention and
respect.
Smidt (2006) suggests using the ecological system of
Bronfennbrenner who was one of the first to examine how worlds of children
intersect. The microsystem, the inner
circle, is the family representing the everyday life, the next circle is the
exosystem linking home with church or mosque or synagogue, between home and
school whether it be daycare or public school.
The outer circle is the macrosystem, which includes the social systems
such as laws and the economics of the community or state.
When we look at these systems, we can have a clear picture
of the issues that might or will confront the new family and ones, which we can
assist them.
REFERENCES:
Maps of World
RETRIEVED FROM http://www.mapsofworld.com/chad/society-and-culture
Smidt, S. (2006). The developing child in the 21st century: A global
perspective on child development. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.
I loved how you talked about food. Food is such a huge tradition for many families! I work for Head Start and when we have a review, that is a key focus of the review. Are we serving a variety of foods--foods that are eaten by all types of cultures? Food can be so important to a child, especially if they are around others who do not speak their language or follow their traditions. Another person focused on toys in their blog--which is so neat. I did not even think about toys! That is why online learning is so great!!! Thanks for all of your terrific blogs--I enjoy your stories so much!!
ReplyDeleteOne shocker for the student is going to be the small class size. If the ratio of students to teacher is 11,000 to almost 700,000, they are going to be amazed at the one to one attention they will be able to recieve in American classrooms.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, great post. I loved learninga about Chad and how the monies there converted. These are all things that we don't think about but will definetely affect the family. Your right, while food isn't necessarily a deep culture issue, it is important in making the child feel welcomed and accepted in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I enjoyed reading your post. I like that you mentioned the conversion of money. It would be wise to help the family with this as I am sure that it could be the cause of great frustration when left to depend on the people at the stores alone.
ReplyDelete