Welcoming Families from Around the World

For this week’s blog assignment, I am going to imagine that I worked at a child care center in which a new child was enrolling.  For this scenario, we will say that this child and their family recently emigrated from China.  How can I prepare myself and my classroom to welcome my new student and their family to my classroom?

The first thing I would do is take a good look at myself, personally, and evaluate any bias or prejudice I may have toward this family, before I even meet them.  Understanding my personal feelings about them ahead of time is important because I do not want to compromise my relationship with a new child and their family because of some personal opinion or bias.

Once I have done some soul searching,  I would research where they came from, the area in which they lived in while in China.  I would learn as much as I could by looking things up online and reaching out to community resources to gain information about their country, culture, and belief system.

The next thing I would do was to make sure that their culture was represented throughout my classroom.  I would make sure they could see things in the environment that were familiar to them and their culture, as with all of the other cultures represented in my classroom.  I would be sure Chinese food and clothes and baby dolls were in the housekeeping center and that pictures displayed throughout the classroom displayed people from China in real world settings. 

I would also like to do a home visit.  During my home visit, I could get to know the parents and the child on a more personal level in order to help them feel more comfortable once the child begins in my classroom.  I could ask questions about their family, their interests, expectations, and also gain a good understanding of the family dynamics and overall function of the home just by spending time with them.

The last thing I would do is to talk to the class about the new child enrolling.  I would share with them the child’s name and other pertinent information as well as a picture of the child so the other children can put a face with the name.

I believe that each of these preparations will help the child and their family feel  comfortable, in addition to helping me and the rest of the class feel more comfortable.   Doing these preparations are really not that difficult  Taking the time to go the extra mile, really will pay off in the end.

The personal side of bias, prejudice, and oppression

Just before I graduated high school, I began dating a guy several years older than myself.  A few years into our relationship, things were going well.  I ended up getting pregnant and we had our first daughter.  A few months later, we decided to move in together.  Everything went well at first, then I realized that we had completely opposite views of what women were supposed to do and not do.  I grew up in a home where there really wasn’t much difference between my brother and I.  He and I shared household chores such as mowing the grass or cutting wood or changing the oil in the car.  I did not feel any different just because I was a girl.  Unfortunately, this is not how my boyfriend felt.  He made it perfectly clear that a woman was to cook, keep the house clean, and take care of the kids.  This was fine with me in the beginning but I quickly got tired of being told that I couldn’t do things around the house, especially since it was my house.  Needless to say, I did not tolerate this well and our relationship ended, not for this reason but this definitely didn’t help our relationship.

I do not feel like this was an equitable situation because nothing ever seemed fair.  I was constantly being told what I could or couldn’t do just because I was a woman.  I couldn’t take out the trash, or wash the car, or mow the grass because those were a man’s job, even if I had to wait for a man to do them.  I was constantly frustrated because there were things I could do and had time to do but was not allowed to do them.

In order for this incident to be turned into an opportunity for greater equity, his bias toward women needed to change.  I understand that the traditional viewpoint that women belong in the kitchen was what he grew up around, but I feel like now times have changed.  There are many things that women can do just as well as men.  Until he could accept the fact that women’s roles have changed throughout the years, he would never overcome this bias toward women.  I am amazed at how strong his bias really is when it comes to women.  Our relationship ended 7 years ago and he still feels exactly the same today than he did then. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

I recently experienced a microaggression from one of my student’s parents.  I am the lead teacher of a Pre-K class in an early childhood setting.  I do not have an assistant so before I arrive, my students are combined with the 3 year old class.  Two weeks ago, I was gathering my students one morning to go over to our classroom when one of my newer students arrived with his father.  I welcomed them to the classroom and politely informed them that we were getting ready to go over to our class.  I did not really get a response from the father but I didn’t think anything of it because I have only seen him two or three times.  Later that morning, another teacher stopped me in the hallway and told me that this child’s father had talked to her and had a lengthy conversation about his son’s language development and some concerns he had.  A few days later, I came in a little early just as the father was coming in and I tried to talk to him about the concerns he had about his son.  He blew me off and said he was late for work.  I found out a few days later from the teacher he had talked to previously that he did not want to discuss his child with a white woman and if it were up to him, his son wouldn’t be in my class.  When I heard this, I immediately felt very defensive and hurt.  I know my credentials and I know that I am a good teacher.  My race should have nothing to do with my ability to teach a child of another race, gender, or nationality.  I know what is developmentally appropriate and I try to go above and beyond when I am in my classroom.

My experience showed me that there is still a lot of prejudice in the world today.  Prejudice isn’t just white against black, as I have often thought it to be.  Anyone can be the victim of prejudice, even when it is least expected.  Now that I am aware of this parent’s view of me, I have decided to make sure that my actions are professional and show respect toward him, even though his actions to me are not the same.  It only takes one person to turn prejudice around but that one person can also validate a person’s prejudice as well.

Perspectives on diversity and culture

The first person I interviewed, Jennifer, was a friend from church.  When I asked her what her definition of culture was, she responded with the following: “Culture is how we are raised.  People are from different cultures; there again no one culture is right or wrong but they are different.  I just had a conversation today with my Ethiopian friend who was telling me of some cultural differences where he is from.  I think we are sheltered culturally.  There are so many different cultures out there but we tend to only stick to our culture that is right here around us.”  She went on to discuss diversity by saying “diversity to me means differences.  We live in a very diverse world.  I am open minded to diversity as to where some people are not.  Race does not matter to me....intellectual differences do not matter to me....political views.....economic status...etc....differences to me are what make the world a more exciting place to live.”

Next, I interviewed a friend of a friend named Manuel.  Manuel said “my definition of culture would have to be how a person values their own families beliefs as well as their own.  Diversity would have to be would be having respect for culture and also being in complete acceptance of cultures and beliefs.”

Finally, I talked to my best friend Stephanie.  She defined culture as “A community or group of people who have the same ideas and values and morals; beliefs.  Diversity is the differences from one culture to another.”

Looking over these answers, it seems like everyone had the same kind of answer to both of the questions.  Culture is how we were raised- our beliefs, values, morals, etc.  while diversity is the differences between cultures.  Over the past two weeks, we have been talking about specific areas regarding culture and diversity, not just the definitions.  While it is important to comprehend these definitions, it is important to understand these terms from a personal perspective and relate them to our own lives, as Jennifer did.

Asking people for their definition of the terms culture and diversity only scrapes the surface.  This week we were asked to relate specific aspects of culture and diversity from real life situations.  By doing this, we were able to get these terms off of the paper and into our heart.

Through this assignment, I realized that other people, even people who are culturally different from myself, all have the same basic understanding of what culture and diversity is.  Some people are more open minded about culture and diversity while others are rather close minded.  Jennifer challenged me to take a deeper look at myself and how open I am to diversity.  I have always been open to diversity as far as race and economic status, but am I really that open minded when it comes to age or abilities.  Thankfully, I believe that I am pretty open minded on all aspects of diversity but I could always use some work, especially when it comes to people who do not necessarily do things the way that I do them.  I get frustrated because their way is different and I have realized that this difference may be because of a cultural difference.  I need to be more open minded and patient!

My family culture

This week’s assignment was to imagine that there was a major catastrophe which resulted in my immediate family and I needing to evacuate to another country.  In this scenario, I was allowed to take one chance of clothes and 3 small items that I hold dear and that represent my family culture. 

The first item I would take with me would be my photo albums containing pictures of my children, our extended family, and friends.  This would be important to me because I would be able to look back on the pictures and remember the people in the pictures and the places the pictures were taken.  I would also take my grandmother’s Bible.  She had this Bible as long as I can remember.  She spent several hours every night in her bathroom reading from this Bible and praying to God.  She also recorded births, weddings, and deaths of our family members in it.  When she passed away 2 years ago, it was given to me by my aunt and uncle.  Her Bible was a part of her and I would not only want it to read and continue to grow in my walk with God but also because it makes me feel like I still have a piece of her with me.  The last thing I would take would be an American flag because it is a symbol of who I am and the freedom I grew up with.  The American flag is like my comfort blanket.  Although I would have to leave my country, I will still have a piece of my country with me.

If something happened and I was only able to bring one of the three things I brought with me, I would have to bring my grandmother’s Bible.  As much as I like the sentimental aspect of the pictures and the patriotic symbol of the flag, I do not think I could do without my grandmother’s Bible.  Her Bible is my heritage and I would do everything I could to keep that and even pass it down to my children and my children’s children.

As a result of this exercise, I realized that my family culture is made up of a combination of a love of God and others.  While family and closeness is important to my family, we also understand that God is the center of it all and without Him, we are nothing.  I am thankful for my grandmother and the strong role she still has in my family even though she is no longer here with us.

The most influential people in my life: my Nana and my Paw-Paw