Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country of origin of my imaginary family is Tonga.

Things I will do to prepare myself to be responsive to the family in the childcare setting are following.  

1.       Visit the website of their national tourism guide such as http://www.thekingdomoftonga.com/.

2.       Visit a community of people who are from the country the family us from.

3.       Study about attitudes to education and discipline in Tonga.

4.       Study about religion in Tonga.

5.       Study the language(s) of Tonga and find a person who can work as interpreter if they only speak Tongan, or as a cultural interpreter if they speak Tongan English.

I hope visiting their national tourism website can teach me about their history, political situation and cultures such as food, clothes and festivals. I think I can learn what type of people they are and discover differences and similarities beforehand and hopefully I can get advice from community members who have already experienced a daycare in the US by visiting a community of their people.

I hope these preparations will benefit both of us by lowering the barriers of language difference in both ways, reducing the possibilities of my pushing my values on to them, and helping them to maintain who they are. I think their feeling supported and happy will be the biggest benefit for me.