Welcoming Families from Around the World

If I had a family immigrating from Italy I would want to be sure to prepare both myself and my classroom for their arrival.  The first thing I would want to do would be to hold a team meeting and breakdown the typical stereotypes concerning those from Italy.  There is a picture of a certain lifestyle that comes when people just say the word Italy.  Making sure that my team remembers to take some time to get to know this family before they assume that they love pasta, wine and art, would be a great start.  I would also like to be sure to make them feel welcome.  Being friendly, accommodating and inviting can go a long way to making a new family feel at home.  In addition to just being friendly I would want to put together some information about my community for the family.  Providing them with information about the resources, community events, clubs, children’s programs, churches, library, restaurants and local shopping  can help meet both the basic needs of life as well as provide them opportunities to embrace the new community at their leisure.  Language could be a barrier, so I would go out of my way to either prepare myself with a translator or learn a few of the basic words needed to communicate information concerning their child.  Since this statement is also an assumption, I would hold off using either tool until I knew for sure it was necessary.  Assuming that they would speak little to no English could send a mircoaggressive message that tells them I think they are not educated in the ways of our country.  Plus there is nothing worse than making that kind of assumption and being proven wrong.  Lastly, I would want to base my pace with the family on their comfort level.  Relocating half way across the world can be overwhelming at best.  There are so many details to get sorted out and arrangements to be made, I can only imagine how your head would be swimming!  I would like to make sure that this families interaction with me and my facility are pleasant and follow their lead.  Taking it at their pace, providing the family with resources, being prepared to address the possibility of a language barrier and breaking down stereotypes within myself and my staff would help us go to know this family for who they are not what they are.  When you know your families you can better serve them and provide them and their children a higher quality education.