Welcoming Families From Around the World

This week I was challenged to prepare my preschool environment for a child whose family has just recently immigrated from Timor-Leste, a country in Southeast Asia that I have never heard of and know nothing about.

I did some research and learned that Timor-Leste has a lower-middle-income economy with over 37% of the countries population living below the international poverty line, which means living on less than U.S. $1.25 per day (Wikipedia, n.d.). Their primary language is Portuguese, however 36.6% of the residents speaks their native tongue of Tetum-Prasa. Unfortunately, almost half of the population is illiterate. The people of Timor-Leste hold traditions deeply rooted in their culture and almost 98% of the population is Catholic.

Thankfully, I am enrolled in a class on diversity and know that I must dig below the surface culture in order to prepare myself to welcome my new student and her family. I will work to create a foundation for a mutually respectful relationship, an essential first step in an anti-bias classroom (Derman-Sparks and Olsen Edwards, 2010). I will have a meeting with the new family (with an interpreter if needed) and ask them to describe their family, including extended family member and other important people so that I know who is important to my new student. Once we share this information, I will make sure that the family understands our most important common goal - caring about their child. I will also make sure that our new family is respected and reflected in our classroom with books, toys, and other curriculum that represent their culture. As our new family develops trust that I care about and believe in their child, they will hopefully gain a sense of belonging in my program and know with confidence that their child is in an environment where they can develop, learn and thrive.

References

Derman-Sparks, L. & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010) Anti-bias educations for young children and ourselves, National Association for the Education of Young Children

Wikipedia (n.d.) List of asian countries by GDP. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asian_countries_by_GDP