For this assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a child care 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 name of “your” family’s country of origin:

The last name of the family I chose is Felbiger and the country they are from is Austria.

At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family:

1.      I will research the Felbiger’s country and their cultural customs and practices.

2.      I will contact the Felbigers and request that we have a meeting so that I can get to know them on a personal level and learn more about their culture and customs.

3.      I will ask how to correctly pronounce their first and last names and practice them until I can say them comfortably.

4.      I will make sure to include some cultural items and depictions in my classroom of Austrian people and their culture.

5.      I will learn some key terms in German (the language spoken in Austria) and share them with the class.

A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family:

These preparations will help me become a more knowledgeable and rounded educator. It is important for educators to have knowledge of a wide variety of cultures. I hope that these preparations will help the Felbigers to feel welcomed and comfortable in my classroom. I hope that they will see that I am making an effort in including their culture and language in my classroom.