Welcoming Families From Around The World

 

slideshare.net

For this blog I really did not know what country to pick so just looking at the map, I decided to do Algeria. 

britannica.com

The offical language is Berber alongside arabic.

thenationalnews.com

Algeria is a Northern African country with a Mediterranean coastline and a Saharan desert interior.

If my director came to me about a new child that is going to be added to my class, and she mentioned that the family is from Algeria. There are a few questions that I would be asking to help make the transition to the classsroom easier on the child, family and myself & co-teacher.

• How long has the family been in the states?
• Have the child ever been in a preschool/ day program?
•  Do he/ she speak English and what is the main language spoken at home?
•  I would take the time and familiarize myself with some information about that country.
• Keep an opened mind and gather materials/ paperwork that in both english and the family native language just in case the parents do not speak or read english very well.

shutterstock.com

    The way that I would use these five questions/ ways to help prepare me for the new family that is going to be part of my class is research. In order for there to be a child added to the class, I would have to have the background information. Such as the paperwork that the program director have recieved from the child's parent. With having this information in hand it will help me to feel more comfortable in interacting with the family. 

    At least if I knew some about where the family came from, it will show that I have atleast tried to show interest in the family that will be with me throughout the year. That can start will building a positive relationships with the family, that hopefully they will feel comfortable enough to ask questions and be involved within the classroom. 

Also with doing my research, I would review some information on how to teach an ESL/ ELL child within the classroom.

Strategies for Supporting Dual Language Learners in an Early Childhood Classroom

https://youtu.be/Mb_-uj7L6No

References

Strategies for Supporting Dual Language Learners in an Early Childhood Classroom

https://youtu.be/Mb_-uj7L6No

 Shutterstock, Inc. (2003-2021). https://Shutterstock.com

The National News /US (2021). https://thenationalnews.com

Encyclopaedia. Britannica, Inc. (2021). https://britannica.com

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

 The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The oppression Tree: Facilitation Tool

When looking at the different plat forms whether it's social media, newspapers, television, daily activities around the community. There is always some kind of bias, prejudice and oppression, sadly to say that miniorties we as a culture have been dealing with this for years!! It's just now the last few years that the rest of the world eyes were opened to what miniorties have been saying. 

One of side of bias and oppression, that I have recently read about is the story about former Buffalo, Ny officer Cariol Horne

Former Buffalo, NY officer Cariol Horne, was an fired in 2008 for intervening when a white colleague employed a chokehold on a black man. Ms. Horne did not only get fired, but she lost all pay and pension. This story stood out to me for the reason that this is a woman and of color, she has gotten penalized for her doing the right thing, for calling out a unacceptable behavior of a colleague. This situation also has me think of the microaggression that Dr. Sue had mentioned in his media clip. "psychological dilemmas associated with microaggression; clash of racial realties and the catch 22" (Laureate Education (producer)(2011). Luckly recently Cariol Horne was just award back all of her pay from when she was fired and her penison, that decision was made by a New York judge. 

This story is one of the few that ended up with a positive endeding that did not envolve someone dying. Yes, the loss of financical strain, emotional toll that it may have caused, with people of all colors, age , nationality standing up for what is right things seems to be looking up.

In the beginning of my post I mentioned that social media is one of the ways that bias, prejudice and oppression plays apart in our environment. Prejudice has always been a big part of our society, it is just more evident now. Here is another example of how social media can elevate a situation that many of us would not of heard about if it was not for "cell phones" and other media outlets like instagram/ facebook.    

 

This next story/ situation, takes place in Pentland, Columbia South Carolina. This situation stemed from a young black man walking around a neighboor hood of which he lives in.  This situation was flimed by a cell phone and uploaded to the different sights such as facebook and instagram. The bias that is happening in this situation is that the white male believes that this young man can not live in that neighboor hood because he never seen him before. The man went so far to questioning the young black boy on where her lives exactly (house number and street) to how long has he been there. When we look at how far minorities have come in being home owners, business men/women, president and now vice president, why do it still seem like that miniorties have to be explain themselves, so this situation does diminish some equity. 

The question was asked, what and/or who would have to change in order to turn this indicent into an opportunity for greater equity?

In the first situation, Cariol Horne the people that were working on her case in the justice system help change her situation even though it was years late. In order for this not to happen again is within the police department, the "hornable" police that are working need to make choices that will help impact a postitve change within the police force among each other, without of fear of being targets themselves. In the second situation with the Pentland, Columbia South Carolina, in order for this to change it has to be the people in the neighboor hood to help make this a teachable momment. For example, take this situation and see where did it go wrong from. Yes, what had happened was uncalled for therefore, the question now is  how can we learn from this? change the way we think! ask ourselves do we really know who we are surrounded by? The people living in this neighboorhood, should take this time to meet one another and possibly have a conversation. Effective conversation is the only way that real change will be made. Yes the army staff sargent Jonathan was completely wrong and he has his consequences, now it's time to make changes to "us" so it will not happen again.

References

Common-It, November (2018). The Oppression Tree: Facilitation Tool, in Coco Highlight, Front page, Tool Box coco-net.org/the-oppression-tree-tool

Laureate Education (producer).(2011). Microaggression in everyday life. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://class.waldenu.edu

Practicing Awareness Mircoaggressions

              This weeks blog, I found it hard to pin point when I was a target of microaggression. I had a good childhood, raised around different types of people/ cultures. That is one of the perks of being in a military household. According to Dr. Sue microaggression contains different variables. Some are communicated intentionally or unintentionally, happens outside the level of awareness of well-intentioned individuals (Laureate Education (producer).(2011) 

           I guess as an adult I have learned to ignore what some people say, that doesn't define who I am. Or either I have been conditioned when growing up, that the society that we have to live in is different for people of color. There is a certain way that we need to act/ carry ourselfs when out in public, so that I/we do not seem aggressive. Dr. Sue also mentions that the social psychological factors associated with microaggressions. Two of these factors are; individual, institutional, and societal racism, inherited racial biases (stereotypes), (Laureate Education (producer). (2011).

        Today I went to get my hair done, today was my self-care day. The salon that I went to the clients that are usually in there are white. The older white woman (stylist) she washed, blow dryed, pressed and cut my ends. I observed many of the regular clients were older white woman. They just starred at me like "what was I doing there"? As my styliest continued to work on my hair, there were plenty comments made of how "Beautiful my hair is", and how "thick my hair is". I replied with thank you, as the day went on I could only wonder if the ladies were generally giving me a complement or if there were a hidden aggenda.  This reminds me of the microaggression are communicated intentionally or unintentionally (Laureate Education (producer).(2011). 

Reference

Laureate Education (producer).(2011). Microaggression in everyday life. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu