Welcoming families from around the World

Egyptian Family

As an Administrator of an Early Childhood program in Florida, I have the opportunity to provide services to families of different cultures.  Most of these families are American citizens or have lived in America for some years.  However, I have been contacted by an organization seeking to help a family that would be emigrating from Egypt.  We have never had any families from Egypt nor do I have any staff familiar with the customs of the Egyptian people.  I must prepare myself for this family and therefore I have come up with the following plan to familiarize myself with the Egyptian culture, the family's culture, and the educational expectations of the family. 

The family consists of the parents and their two children (boy and girl).  The will be arriving in 2 months so this is how I plan to familiarize and prepare my staff and I to ensure that the family feels welcome in the center:

1. I would first search myself to ensure that I do not have any hidden biases or stereotypes toward the Egyptian culture. "The better you know yourself, the better you can understand your own responses to the children and families you work with."  (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 21)  If I deal with my issues before the family arrives then I will be more receptive and be able to welcome them genuinely.
2.  Ask the organization that contacted me is there any special information or request that the family requires. The organization should be able to provide me with information about the family that they have given permission to share.
3. I would ask for contact information for the family so that I can start communicating with the family before they arrive.  The best way to get to know people is by communicating with them.  This will allow me to ask questions related to their culture, educational expectations, and any special instructions that I will need about their children.  "Ensuring that every family feels welcome and comfortable creates a crucial foundation for mutually respectful relationships."  (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 37)
4. In order to have a personal touch to the welcoming of the family, I would contact my local colleages and/or school board to see if there are any Egyptian families or communities in the area that can tell me personally about the culture and to see they would be willing to communicate with the family once they arrive.  My goal would be to have the family a local representative that can help them to adjust to our country. 
5. Lastly, I would do an search to find out more information about the educational system in Egypt, cultural, diet, pictures so that they can be displayed, music to be downloaded from YouTube, cultural items to be added to every classroom, and words or symbols in the Arabic language to be added to the center.                                                                                                   

Once my research is complete, I will have a staff meeting to inform the staff of the family and what I have learned.  I will ask the staff to discuss with me and biases or stereotypes that they might have so that we can work on them overcoming them before the family arrives. I will ask them for help with adding items to the center and other ways in which we can help the family feel welcome.

I would ask the staff to prepare the students in the classes that the children will be place.  This will be done by conducting virtual tours of Egypt, reading books, poems and songs about the culture, and preparing a class art project welcoming the student that has aspects of their culture embedded in the artwork.

I will also include information in our parent newsletter informing parents of the family's expectant arrival.  I would ask parents to contact my individually if they have any concerns, biases, or if they would like to do something special to help welcome the family to the center. “One of the best ways we can serve the children in our programs is to help their families connect with and support one another, thus allowing them to learn about how other families deal with child-rearing issues.”  (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 42)

My overall goal is to ensure that the family feels welcome and accepted at my program.  I believe that my action plan will help prepare myself, my staff, the children, and the other parents to be receptors of the new family. 

 

Resource

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and

ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).