Afghanistan
I chose Afghanistan because I have not serve any families from this country and would like to learn more about them. As early childhood educator, we need to do some “homework” to learn about a culture in order to show the family that we are delight to have diverse cultures in our program and all cultures are being valued and all cultures are treated the same and equally. I would try to find out about their cultural music, clothing, food/ prohibited food, culture folk stories, and communication style. To prepare all these in the classroom will help the child and family feel welcomed to the school and respected. Learning their communication style is also important because we want to ensure our communication style is appropriate and respectful to them. For example, in Afghanistan, there is hierarchy between men and women that eye contact should be avoided between men and women, “it is best to only occasionally look someone in the eyes” (Kwintessential, 2014).
Ways to be culturally responsive toward Afghan's family:
- If I could meet the family before the child starts school, I would like to schedule a time to meet with this particular family to learn about their cultures. If they do not speak English or limited English, I would find a translator to help in the meeting. If we could be meeting the family, I would do some research on the culture of Afghanistan- learn about their communication styles and educate all staffs to be culturally responsive this family according to the culture norm- in this case, try not to look at the family in the eyes in a long period of time as it is considered as disrespectful. But meeting the family to learn about their family culture is very important as every family has their unique culture or child rearing style.
- To have pictures of Afghanistan’s family and flag in the classroom
- Have books about Afghanistan’s culture in realistic picture, and introduce this culture to children through books and tell children that we will have a child coming to our school who may dress differently than us. We are excited to see him/her and he/she is very excited to see us.Also prepare Afghan's children's song and books in Afghan's language.
4. We
need to teach children to be respectful to the child and the family.
5.Learn some greeting phrase like “hello, good morning, good afternoon” in their language or how parents like to be called
6. Yogurt, and other dairy products are important to this culture, so I will prepare these in the meals. And the child may still use hand to eat, so teacher need to educate other children about respecting different ways of eating gesture in other cultures.
Reference:
Kwintessential, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/afghanistan.html
Hi Joyce, you came up with some very effective strategies with how you and your program could be better prepared to welcome a family from Afghanistan. It must be challenging for a family to immigrate to a different country and then join an early learning environment where they know that they will be the only family with this cultural background; however, many of your ideas will show them how much you care. Greeting the family when they arrive with words spoken in their language will give them the message that they belong and that are trying to make their transition as smooth as possible. It is the little things we do that tend to make the biggest difference!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing!
Take care,
Stephanie
Hi Joyce,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! The images you included were a great addition to your blog! I like that you included music from Afghanistan in your ways to prepare for the family. Music is such a great way to help a child feel welcome and it is a great way to help bridge the language barrier! Great thinking!
Melissa
Hi Joyce,
ReplyDeleteGreat images. I myself know little of Afghanistan. Many are very ignorant and stereotypical of Afghan people. Despite, that I am glad you were able to come up with some information that will hopefully open new light for close minded people. I do like the various ways you will help integrate this family into your classroom. Never before had I thought about the typical eating habits of people. I really enjoyed reading how you will educate others in your classroom how your new student may or may not eat with their hands. May be one day you can have all your students eat with their hands in order to see how it feels.