Welcoming Families from Mongolia

I am welcoming a new family from Mongolia to my childcare center. My goal is to make the family and child to my center feel as welcome as possible.

First- I will prepare the classroom with photos, some dress up materials such as brightly colored scarves. The photos would not be all costumes and surface culture materials, but also pictures of homes, people and environments found in Mongolia.

Second- I will check out books from the library, both children’s books and informational books about everyday life in Mongolia. So the child can point to pictures for a better understanding.

Third- Through my investigation on the Internet I discovered there are several languages spoken in Mongolia; Mongolian, Russia, Chinese and Turkish. I would learn the word welcome in these languages and articulating to the best of my abilities.

Fourth- I will search my community and organizations for any people, stores, restaurants where they may be people from Mongolia. I will learn as much as possible about the social workings of the culture and how people interact in a school setting.

Fifth- As in step 4, I will search the community for any Mongolian groups, places of worship, or Mongolian food items to direct the family to. When I meet the family I will pay very close attention to how they interact with their child, and pay special attention to names and repeat them to assure I am correct in my pronunciation.

When meeting this family I would hope to create a trusting relationship so I can eventually do a home visit and learn much more about the deep culture. I would hope that the classroom was inviting and that the child and family would feel they have a voice and presence. By finding a community of other's from Mongolia I would benefit in learning about the social culture and some of the language. Hopefully this would create some piece of home for the family and along with the childcare center would create a support system for them.