Welcoming Families From Around the World: SURİNAM

-


The country that caught my attention while I was navigating the world map. I found it interesting when I examined its history and culture. Surinam, officially known as the Republic of Suriname, is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. French Guiana bordered it to the east, Guyana to the west, and Brazil to the south. 

            It is the smallest sovereign country in South America at just under 165,000 square kilometers. Suriname has a population of approximately 575,990, most of whom live on the country's north coast, in and around the capital and largest city, Paramaribo. Suriname is the only sovereign nation outside Europe where Dutch is the official and current government, business, media, and education language. The country has rainforests located in the tropical climate zone.

As I prepare to invite the family to the class, I explain to them that I would like to ask the family a few questions that would enable us to understand their culture and to understand them individually. I stated that the purpose of the questions was not to scare them but to get to know them better.

•  Although the country I choose is the native language of Danish and their local language is English-based, the first thing I want to ask whether they wish language support or not.

• How to pronounce the child's name? is very important for children. For instance, my son's first name is 'Mustafa,' and my son was not happy because it is difficult to pronounce for a person whose language is English, and they made different sounds. We told his teachers that he wanted to use his middle name, which better to pronounce.

• In particular, what is the language the child uses and understands? What languages ​​do you speak as a family?

• Can he bring a family picture or symbolic item in the classroom that their child will feel good about?

• A few suggestions on how your child will express his individual needs?

• What foods does your child like or dislike?

• Can I get an object that reflects the family's culture or help from the family for the creative drama center?

Getting answers to such questions will help get to know the child and the family. We can make a preliminary start in communication by preparing flashcards with pictures to help the child feel comfortable.

Comments

  1. Kwilson123.wordpress.comDecember 20, 2020 at 11:51 AM

    Although I am not familiar with this country the information is both interested and informative. Incorporating questions about the family is important for both the child and their family. Showing that you are interested in their homeland and culture will give them a sense of belonging. Great Post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Samantha M. GarciaDecember 20, 2020 at 7:18 PM

    Hello Behice,
    I also thought it would be beneficial to gather as much information from the family about the child as possible. I thought it there would be less miscommunication and ideally promote the family's acclamation to a new setting.
    Samantha

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ashawnta HockadayDecember 20, 2020 at 9:58 PM

    Ashawnta Hockaday
    I don't know anything about that country. But I do think that it would be a good idea for the families to bring in pictures to help the child. I think meeting with the family and asking question is also a good idea. this was amazing post.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field

-
    Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field   Faster than we ever thought: the first years of a child’s life set the stage for all future growth. In the earliest years of life, especially from pregnancy to age three, babies need nutrition, protection, and stimulation for healthy brain development. Recent advances in neuroscience provide new evidence about a baby’s brain development during this time. As a result, we know that in their earliest years, babies’ brains form new connections at an astounding rate – according to Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child, more than 1 million every single second – a pace never repeated again (UNICEF, 2017).  POVERTY is one of the biggest problems disturbing the education system of the countries. When families live in poverty, it becomes impossible for the next generations of that family to get out of this situation. With early childhood education, young ages from low-income families get a q...
Read more

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

-
  O'Hair and Wiemann (2012) say conflict is "inevitable" (p. 220). Conflicts are something that happens in every communication, sometimes easily overcome or sometimes not resolved. The less fight in human life, the more peaceful it will be. Of course, it is almost impossible to avoid this. A conflict I have encountered recently may have some communication problems in my family with my teenage son. My 14-year-old son's school offers them virtual or in-person education. My son wants to participate in virtual learning activities from home some days. Some days, under our forcing, he goes to school and gets training face to face. We support him in getting an education by going to school so he can socialize at school. He has recently been volunteering to participate in virtual education because he can play online games during training breaks (lunch, physical education, recess). He cannot manage his time at all when he played computer games. I tried to explain this situa...
Read more

Expanding Horizons and Expanding Resources

-
Image
I am not a good podcast listener, I have listened to English podcast when I was learning English, but I hope to turn my routine into habits with this lesson. In my researches, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-early-childhood-research-podcast/id1039178520 apple's podcasts caught my attention, and I found works on a wide range of topics in early childhood. The website that I decided to look at is the NAEYC website. I chose this website to have general knowledge about my field, to access information quickly, and to keep the developing resources under control. For this, we must continuously check. This website gives us a lot of awareness for our career and why we do our job. Also, this website provides us with positivity and encouragement during all trial periods we encounter every day.
Read more