Welcoming Families From Around the World

This post hit home to me because I had a lady in my training last week from Singapore. When I found out a month ago that I was going to have this lady in my training, I began to do my research on Singapore, really focusing on the child care system. The reason I did this is because I train on how to assess quality teacher child interactions, and I needed to ensure that what I was saying could a line to the culture of Singapore. I learned that Singapore child care system is a little different from America's mainstream child care, but that there are strides to really focus on quality care outside of the home.

In addition to researching Singapore, when I met Siren, my participant from Singapore, I asked her to tell me about the child care system she worked with. I asked her this because I didn't want to make the assumption that what I researched about Singapore was her experience. She was able to share with me her experience with child care, and the purpose of attending my training.

To answer the questions of the blog:

Since I work with adults who work with children, I will use that position to answer the following questions:

1. The name of "your" participant country of origin: Singapore
2. At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards the participant? 1. Conduct research 2. Ask the participants their experience instead of just assuming 3. Being aware of my own bias 4. Allow participants to share their stories and experience that may be different from the dominant culture 5. Create a diverse learning environment
3. A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the participant. I believe that the steps that I am taking will allow the participant to be comfortable in our discussions, and by asking their experiences, let them know that we value them an their opinions.