Welcoming Families From Around the World

                                                         

BURUNDI

                                                                                                                                                      

In order to prepare myself for a new family coming into my classroom from the country of Burundi I would need to do many things.  I would first of all need to research the country in order to find out as much information as I can about the people and the cultures that lie within the different existing communities.  In order to be culturally responsive to this family I would need to do the following five things:

1).  Create a culturally rich and welcoming environment.  I would make the classroom comfortable for this student and the family by hanging posters or pictures up of landscapes or scenery from the country.  I would add to my books and learning materials that would represent the country that this child is coming from.  We could do a class study on this country so that the other students would also be aware of information that they can talk to the new student about.

2).  Develop a way of communicating with the student and the family.  I would need to understand that there is a good chance that this child and the family are not going to speak English.  I would need to be sure to have a translator to communicate with the family and I would also begin to take ESL classes so that I can better equip myself with ways of communicating.  I would also put common words from their language next to pictures of the items in the classroom along with the English word.  This would allow the student to become familiar with the items in the classroom easier while also teaching English to the child. 

3).  Understand Cultural Differences.  I would need to research the culture that this family would be coming from and support that culture within the classroom.  For example what type of clothing do they wear (and have this available in a play area), what types of food do they eat (and have this available during snack), what holidays are celebrated (and make sure to talk about these and even perhaps celebrate them within the classroom), how is respect demonstrated in their culture ( and allow the child to show respect in this way).  

4).   A Plan to Include the Parents in the Classroom.  I would want to honor and value the parents in this by making them feel welcome at anytime within the classroom.  I would extend an invitation to come into the classroom and share their culture with us.  I would maybe have a "culture day" where all families would be involved in a celebration of their culture.  I would have the families share their similarities and differences and teach us about life in Burundi.  I would also have to make sure that I am able to honor them by creating a way of communicating with them outside of school.  I could do this by making sure they have assistance in filling out paperwork for the school and finding a way of communicating with them on a daily basis in a way that a language barrier won't hinder.

5).  Provide Resources for the Family.  I would make sure that the family was connected to any resources within the school and outside of the school that would make their transition into this country a pleasant one.  I would want to make sure they knew about health care, extracurricular programs,  and community programs.  I would provide them with all that they would need to not only be a part of our classroom, but a part of the community as well.  

I would hope that these preparations that I would make to help this family would benefit both me and the family that I would be working with.  I would hope it would benefit them because they will feel comfortable and excited about being in a new place.  I would have made preparations that would allow them to transition into the classroom and community environments with ease and the ability to share their culture with people who are willing to accept it.  I would hope that it would benefit me in the fact that I would be learning about a new country and culture and this preparation would also allow me the chance to get better at being culturally responsive.  I would also be able to self-reflect during the process and see if I have any biases and if I do I would be able to work towards dispelling them while I am expanding my knowledge about the variety of gifts another culture has to offer.