·
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:
A child from Denmark will be joining our group at
preschool. Since I do not know much
about this country I will need to prepare myself in order to make the child and
the family feel comfortable.
1. The
first thing I would do would be to learn all I can about Denmark. I would use
the internet to research the language that is spoken (Danish) and begin to piece
together what everyday life is like in Denmark.
2. I
would then begin to research what early childhood practices are used in Denmark
to note any difference that the child may face right away in the classroom.
3. I
would then make sure the teachers and staff that will be caring for this child
have a hand in finding out what they can do to demonstrate a loving caring
environment and to make this child feel as if it is not a foreign place.
4. Fourth
I would send out a letter to the other parents in the class stating that we are
welcoming a new student. This would not
be because he is from a different country; this would be because we send out
welcoming letters anytime a new student arrives in the middle of the year. This way the parents will be able to welcome
the family at family events as well.
5. Finally,
as a class we would begin to incorporate pedagogues that the child would be
used to. In Denmark they use the word
workshop rather than centers and they call their teachers playworkers rather
than teachers. These are the types of things we may discuss as a class prior to
the child arriving. They children may
help label the different areas in Danish writings.
I would hope that these ideas would help the family and the
child feel welcome and included. I would
also hope that these strategies would help the other children in the class
adjust to the situation and be a recipe for community building in the classroom.
Tisha,
ReplyDeleteDenmark seems like an interesting place to learn about, they are ranked very high in education, happiness and salary. I like the fact that the seasons are not extreme. I have met a few Scandinavian people and I love their spirits. I love the thoughtfulness that you have put into your preparation, finding out that the play workers is used instead of teachers and workshop for centers! I wonder why it is so, did you come across the reasons?
You had me so interested that I had to check out how to say "welcome to our class, I do not know about the accent but this is the translation; Velkommen til vores klasse! I find this exercise so very interesting as it takes us into cultures that we may never have even experienced if we were not asked to do this.Very interesting for me, I spent hours reading all kind of articles on Denmark, I found that a very relaxed and welcoming country had to tighten its reigns on immigration laws by introducing such very strict laws for families.
Tisha,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog this week! The idea of getting the other children involved in labeling the room and making the child feel comfortable is a great practice for both the new student and the current students. Sometimes with new students we can get so distracted with what they may need that we forget the current student's may also struggle with the changes in environment and dynamics in the classroom. Thank you for sharing!
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ReplyDeleteTisha,
ReplyDeleteI like your practice of sending a welcoming letter out to the families in your class as a new child and family enters. This seems like a nice way to build a support system for new families!
It is also a great idea to involve the children that are currently enrolled in the classroom in preparing the classroom for the new child who might potentially have a different language. I think that it is wonderful when a classroom is more than just a classroom - it is a community where people (the smaller ones and the bigger ones) support and care for each other so that everyone feels successful and loved! I also think that the Danish interpretation of a teacher is a "playworker" is interesting. That makes a lot of sense - the adult who works on facilitating play!
Tisha,
ReplyDeleteI like that you said you would send a letter home to the parents informing them there would be a new child attending from another country; that is a great way to involve parents as well as the a great opportunity for parents to talk to the children about accepting children from other parts of the world. Parents and children could even make a welcoming poster as an activity together learning about global citizenship. Denmark is a fascinating country I plan on visiting sometime in the future. I loved this assignment it was a great experience for us to use our critical thinking skills to think about how would we prepare having children come from another country; this assignment has got me to thinking about teaching teachers how to help children to become global citizens, I’m excited and I’m thinking of ways to start planning curriculum's around global citizenship awareness.