How can you introduce different cultures when you are in an area that is predominantly one culture?
Answer
I think you've got to know your audience first. You've got to know where you're at and what's acceptable for your program. As a teacher, if you're hesitant to add in other cultures, I say start small. You might start with adding a couple of books to the bookshelf. Once those set in, maybe you add a couple different baby dolls. Then after that, you can add some multicultural food boxes that you bring from home. Do it a little bit at a time so that the kids aren't shocked and so it’s integrated more naturally. For me, I think honesty is the best policy and I'm kind of a straight shooter. I would send a letter home to the parents and say I don't know if you know, but exposing children to different cultures and different groups of people is best practice. It's best for their development. Here's what we're going to start doing in our classroom. If I got some flack back from that, I would just really try to make sure that I was educating parents as far as why it's important. You might try to do some parent training. You might send home informational leaflets or something like that so that they could understand the purpose behind it and that it's not just for nothing. It's not just to do it, but that it's really serving a purpose. If you have parents that are hesitant from a race viewpoint or something like that, you might approach it from the visual discrimination point. We're really working on a skill called visual discrimination and this is going to help your child later with reading and writing and arithmetic and all of those important things. Sometimes approaching it in that way will help parents welcome it.
Natasha Crosby Kile, MS is a Program Coordinator for Bentonville Schools in Bentonville, AR, and works as a certified trainer, writer, coach and consultant for both the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University. Natasha has over 25 years of experience working in the field of Early Childhood as a teacher, supervisor, trainer and mentor. She holds a Bachelor's of Science in Child Development from the University of Arkansas and a Master's of Science in Childhood Services from Arkansas State University. Natasha has served as a leader in many areas including serving on the board of Arkansas Early Childhood Association. Natasha has a passion for training early childhood professionals and finds herself right at home in a group of 5 to 5,000 teachers that are eager to facilitate the growth of young children and support their families. She is a distinguished expert, and was named Arkansas Early Childhood Professional of the Year in 2012.
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