Welcoming Families From Around the World

   The name of the family I have chosen to work with is from the country of India. The family has been in the United States for a month and even though they were taught English at the University they do not practice their English skills a lot.
   The five ways that I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive to the family are:
1. Do research about the country of India to see what their education system is like so I can find out if the child is behind the rest of the class, ahead of the class or right on schedule with the rest of the class.
2. I want to learn about the culture as well as places to see in India. I feel it is important to know about all my students and to teach my students about other cultures so they have a chance to be friends with each other and accept each other for who they are.
3. I want to learn a few simple words such as hello, good bye and door and teach these words to my students. Communication is very important in education. I remember a friend of mine who taught special education knew that she was going to have a deaf child in her classroom and had studied sign language during the summer so she would be prepared to teach her students simple signs such as door, hello, goodbye and lunch.
4. I want the parents to be involved in the school and to volunteer as much time as they can in the classroom. If possible I would like the mother and father to be able to practice their English skills so they can seek employment. I feel it is important for the parents to feel comfortable in the United States as well as their daughter.
5. I want to learn about the Hindi religion and the traditional holidays they celebrate. I also want the parents to know that if they would feel more comfortable with their daughter taking her religious holidays off from school that she will be permitted to. I feel that all religions need to be celebrated and that all children should be involved in class activities. It is not fair to mistreat any of your students nor is it fair to leave them out.

The way I hope that these preparations will benefit both me and the family is that I will learn something new about another culture and be able to pass this knowledge on to the rest of my students. I feel that interacting with my students and the parents is important because both myself and the parents are the teachers in their child's life and the things that the children learn in school needs to be reinforced at home.