We recently had a family enroll that is from India. One of the most significant cultural differences would be language. The father speaks English very well however their four year old son that will be attending our pre-k program does not speak English unless prompted to say specific words such as hello and goodbye.
Three strategies that we could use to help us communicate more effectively with this family are:
1. We asked the father to please provide us with words in both English and Hindi that we could use with their son as well as for to recognized words that he would be using.
2. We will create a picture board so that he can point to specific places such as the bathroom or water fountain or items such as blocks (to play with) or food when he is hungry).
3. We will have a day for the children to bring in their favorite toy to share with others that is special to their family or their culture. I hope that an activity such as this will acknowledge differences and show commonalities for the children.
When I think about how trying these next few days, weeks, or months, may be for this little guy I am reminded of Bennett's Platinum Rule(Beebe , Beebe, & Redmond, 2011. P. 114) and think of how I would want my own children to be treated if the situation was reversed and my family was the newly enrolled family..
Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Chapter 4, "Interpersonal Communication and Diversity: Adapting to Others" (pp. 85–114).
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI think that you are taking the right steps and trying to help the student transtion into the classroom setting. Hw will eventually cathch on and be able to communicate with other students. When my son attended preschool he had a lot of hispnaic kids that did not speak English. The teacher did the same thing that you are doing. My child came home teaching me words in Spanish that he learned in school. It works both ways. Good luck to you.
Emily,
ReplyDeleteThese are great strategies for welcoming the little boy to your classroom. I particularly like the picture board idea. This is a great tool for communication when there may be limitations or differences. I worked with children with autism and we used pictures often for communication.
Meredith