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Post by sr on Nov 1, 2016 19:46:14 GMT -8
In my preschool facility we have ten to twelve kids at a time. Our group is rather diverse, many of the kids have parents who have recently come to the United States.
Some of our kids are religious; their families are thoroughly uncomfortable with concepts of witchcraft, magic, and Halloween. To work with this, during October we concentrate on the idea of October as a time for harvest, rather than focus on Halloween. We host a party on the last day of October, which kids may wear costumes to, but our activities are not related to Halloween. We also gave notice to all families a week before about our Harvest Party, and let them know there would be costumes there. We are also working to incorporate awareness of many religions into our curriculum, so all the kids learn to be respectful of the many religions throughout the world.
Family values are entirely dependent on the individuals in the family. One of our kids is raised in a bilingual Spanish and English home - he has a very clear delineation about what boys and girls can do/like/act, and a very clear idea about what discipline looks like. Another one of our kids is from Taiwan - he does not talk about the differences between boys and girls, and he communicates with adults more often than he communicates with kids his age. Another child has family from South Korea - humor is different to her compared to the other students, she doesn't appreciate tricks or sarcasm, but finds dramatic acting and physical gags hilarious. This said, when distressed, frustrated, or sad, she usually becomes very quiet and will not react to anything or anyone until the thing upsetting her is resolved. Another one of our children has family from Norway, and he is immensely individualistic despite being three years-old; he is very driven in doing things his way and by himself.
These descriptions of children are by no means a stand in for the behavior for children of that background and culture. Cultures are multifaceted and complex, and so are children of various and all backgrounds.
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Post by RT on Nov 2, 2016 12:27:45 GMT -8
One of the children in my enrichment group is originally from Mexico. His mother's approach to discipline relies heavily on a respect for elders. While at the program my approach to disciplines relies on respect for peers as much as elders. It's been an adjustment to make sure that our lessons do not conflict with one another. My desire to see him act with respect to his classmates is something I hope to see reflected in how he treats me, my co-counselors, and his parents. But, while I do not try to make him value respect for me above the other children I consistently remind him that I respect him and if he wants to be treated well it is important to treat others just as well.
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Post by Guest on Nov 2, 2016 17:49:33 GMT -8
One of the kids in my preschool's family is from Chile. When talking with her about this she explained that her mother was pregnant with her in her belly when she came to the United States, this fact made her smile so wide! The excitement in her voice and pride to be from Chile was clear during this conversation. It made me want to talk about our different cultures and backgrounds with the rest of the class, giving them a chance to share their histories with each other. She wanted to talk about visiting her grandparents and speaking both Spanish and English, eager to share different facts with me. It reminded me how important it is for the children to engage with their teachers, counselors, and peers in this way. We all have different backgrounds and stories, and many of them are not obvious or known without engaging with each other. I think that is an important and wonderful thing to learn as a young preschooler.
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Post by GUEST on Nov 3, 2016 16:18:35 GMT -8
At the school I work at, we don't necessarily have children from different cultures, but we do have more of religious-based children at the school because it is a private school. Two of my kindergartners one afternoon were playing on the playground when we were outside. They both came up to me and said, "Teacher, we want to perform a song for you." I said ok and that I would love to hear their song. They started singing and dancing and one of the lines I noticed was "Jesus is the Lord." Since it is a private school, I knew that they would be taught Christian songs and Bible lessons.
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Post by Guest on Nov 5, 2016 19:10:38 GMT -8
At the schools I work at, you can definitely see how kids' various cultures affect how they interact with others and how they interpret directions. Some seem to have more of a respect for authority figures than others do, some are very quiet and work well with others, and others take every chance to display their sense of independence and individualism. A lot of this is probably temperament, but lessons they're picking up from their families at home definitely are coming into play too.
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Post by guest on Nov 6, 2016 18:00:23 GMT -8
At the school I work at there isn't a large variety of culture, however, it is noticeably different how students of different backgrounds interact with each other. One young girl I introduced myself to recognized that my name is Spanish and discussed how she spoke Spanish. I was very impressed with her confidence and respect for authority. I look forward to looking more in depth into the cultures of the students I work with.
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Post by ja on Nov 8, 2016 11:01:01 GMT -8
At the center I am a part of, there is not much of a variety of cultures, but there is a variety of backgrounds these children come from. By the way the children respond to authority, you can get an idea of what kind of structure they have at home.
I have not personally talked to this child about the situation, but there is a specific child at our center who comes from a different country where he is traumatized by certain events that happened to his family. Based on what I know about that country, it is somewhat understandable why this child acts the way he does but he does need to understand adults of either gender need to be listened to and respected at the center.
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Post by Megan Fisher on Nov 11, 2016 18:37:50 GMT -8
At the school I work at, there are several children from Mexico. One of the students is an English Language Learner. Some issues arose when we had reading time in class and he was not yet literate in English or Spanish. We did not want him to miss out on this time or feel uncomfortable. One change we made was to instead have partner reading time. Because everyone was already reading with a partner, he did not feel uncomfortable to ask a peer for help. This became one of our favorite activities as group!
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Post by Erin on Nov 12, 2016 0:32:24 GMT -8
Culture wise everyone is pretty similar at my center, but the 'family culture' varies between each family and it reflects in the way each child responds to authority and follows directions. Some children show they come from maybe a more structured or 'strict' house hold and follow directions the first time ask, and others show they may come from a less structured or maybe chaotic home and have a harder time listening or respecting authority. We often teach about different cultures in our curriculum however, especially around the holidays when different cultures celebrate different things, we also have a hispanic teacher that teaches our pre schoolers spanish.
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Post by SR on Nov 14, 2016 15:03:28 GMT -8
It's important to let children represent their culture in their own terms. When other students have questions or are curious about how everyone lives their lives at home, it's not my place to answer for anyone else. Letting children have autonomy over how they appropriately ascribe to their cultural values gives them strength of character and high confidence. Oftentimes, simply talking to parents about how to work with their children provides all the guidance you need, no matter the background.
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