Linda's ECE World

This week we were asked to think about how we would respond when we found there was a new student enrolling in our class from a country that we are largely unfamiliar with.   The family that I will welcome in to my classroom is from Myanmar.  I am to think of five ways I would can be culturally responsive to their needs as a new family. As someone who is not familiar with the country and customs of Myanmar so I looked up the following: 

Education (ECE)

Family structure and culture

Employment

Political structure

Culture (religion, food, dress, music, dance & customs.)

Myanmar has the Footprints Project for early childhood education in place. This is concerned with supporting the entire community for the benefit of the child and the family. Gender equality is built into the schema of the project.   The objectives are:

Providing early child care and education by improving the quality of care and quality of the building and providing proper latrines for the children.  Medical care and health education also are components.  Forming parent care groups for further education. The outcomes are as follows 

·         early childhood education centers (including child-friendly latrines and playgrounds);

·         facilitating community awareness-raising sessions on child health and nutrition issues, including implementing feeding centers;

·         collaborating with the Department of Health staff on child immunization campaigns; 

·         implementing teacher training on gender-inclusive education practices and child nutrition; and 

·         providing teacher aids to support primary school teachers. 

All of this is done in 44 rural villages.  School in urban areas runs in a more regular fashion.  Basic public education consists of five years of elementary, four years of middle, and two years of secondary school.  Elementary school is free and compulsory. Students passing an examination may enter secondary school. At the end of eighth grade, students must pass another examination before progressing to secondary school (grades 9–11). Following high-school, students may attend vocational training or university.

Family structure is very traditional in that it is multi-generational. When the couple lives apart from the extended family in their own home they live nearby or in a family compound.  Their elderly are very much respected.  The head of the household us usually male and remains rather distant from the daily goings on, the wife has the say so about finances and she is in charge of the household expenditures.  The average family has five children.   Most of the population lives in rural areas.

              Myanmar is one of the most economically depressed countries in the world.  The main occupation is farming or general labor.  Economically the push to industrialize is on; in an article by The Economist it is noted that even with industrialization in swing it will take years of education to bring the population up to standard in order to function in an industrialized society. 

              Political unrest has plagued Myanmar for many years.  The main religion is Buddhist with some Muslim and Christian’s active as well.  The government over sees the activities of the Buddhist monks and many are prohibited from being involved in social activism.  Many from the 2007 uprising are still in prison.  At present time the country has a president and a parliament governing. There are several ethnicities in Myanmar and they regionally Buddhism is promoted as the unofficial state school of thought.  This has created tension among the Muslims, Christians and Buddhist in the country.  Women are considered equal in matters of marriage, divorce and employment but the Buddhist religion says a woman cannot become a priest unless she reincarnates as a man. Aung San Suu Kyi is the most relevant woman in Myanmar politically.  Having won elections and then having the government be over thrown by the military and imprisoned.  She now travels and speaks about the plight of Myanmar and the need for reforms.

                Now that I have some general background I can plan how I can greet the new student and her family. 

               The first thing I would do is to meet with the family to find out what ethnic background they are.  What brought them to the U.S.? What is it they are doing for a living and where they live? I also would do an assessment of where the child is so I know where she is in terms of development and learning.  What I would do is to arrange an open house at our school welcoming all the new families and children.  In my classroom I would have many things that would be familiar to the family.  Food and music, pictures of the region they came from.  Then if things go well I would give them and any other family’s demonstrations of the work.  I hope I could find or make work involving Myanmar’s culture.  After a few weeks of settling in I would invite the parents to come to class and share about their home country.  I could also have some of the language cards and the moveable alphabet made up in the language of Myanmar. I can also make matching cards of land marks of the country.  I would put clothing, money and other things out on the cultural shelf for the children to explore.  On the science shelf I can have things for matching using the animals from Myanmar and I can play soft music from that country in the classroom.  Greeting the children every morning with the greeting from that country will also incorporate that into our classroom learning about the new country.  Most importantly remembering children are interested in children and they are pretty much the same all over the world.  I can make sure the new child is welcomed by the other children and she can integrate into the community. 

Myanmar is a beautiful country with a rich history and is working to move into the twenty first century.  Here are a few pictures of the grandeur of the Buddhist tradition and some other places I found off the internet.  Enjoy.

This week we were asked to think about how we would respond when we found there was a new student enrolling in our class from a country that we are largely unfamiliar with.   The family that I will welcome in to my classroom is from Myanmar.  I am to think of five ways I would can be culturally responsive to their needs as a new family. As someone who is not familiar with the country and customs of Myanmar so I looked up the following: 

Education (ECE)

Family structure and culture

Employment

Political structure

Culture (religion, food, dress, music, dance & customs.)

Myanmar has the Footprints Project for early childhood education in place. This is concerned with supporting the entire community for the benefit of the child and the family. Gender equality is built into the schema of the project.   The objectives are:

Providing early child care and education by improving the quality of care and quality of the building and providing proper latrines for the children.  Medical care and health education also are components.  Forming parent care groups for further education. The outcomes are as follows 

·         early childhood education centers (including child-friendly latrines and playgrounds);

·         facilitating community awareness-raising sessions on child health and nutrition issues, including implementing feeding centers;

·         collaborating with the Department of Health staff on child immunization campaigns; 

·         implementing teacher training on gender-inclusive education practices and child nutrition; and 

·         providing teacher aids to support primary school teachers. 

All of this is done in 44 rural villages.  School in urban areas runs in a more regular fashion.  Basic public education consists of five years of elementary, four years of middle, and two years of secondary school.  Elementary school is free and compulsory. Students passing an examination may enter secondary school. At the end of eighth grade, students must pass another examination before progressing to secondary school (grades 9–11). Following high-school, students may attend vocational training or university.

Family structure is very traditional in that it is multi-generational. When the couple lives apart from the extended family in their own home they live nearby or in a family compound.  Their elderly are very much respected.  The head of the household us usually male and remains rather distant from the daily goings on, the wife has the say so about finances and she is in charge of the household expenditures.  The average family has five children.   Most of the population lives in rural areas.

              Myanmar is one of the most economically depressed countries in the world.  The main occupation is farming or general labor.  Economically the push to industrialize is on; in an article by The Economist it is noted that even with industrialization in swing it will take years of education to bring the population up to standard in order to function in an industrialized society. 

              Political unrest has plagued Myanmar for many years.  The main religion is Buddhist with some Muslim and Christian’s active as well.  The government over sees the activities of the Buddhist monks and many are prohibited from being involved in social activism.  Many from the 2007 uprising are still in prison.  At present time the country has a president and a parliament governing. There are several ethnicities in Myanmar and they regionally Buddhism is promoted as the unofficial state school of thought.  This has created tension among the Muslims, Christians and Buddhist in the country.  Women are considered equal in matters of marriage, divorce and employment but the Buddhist religion says a woman cannot become a priest unless she reincarnates as a man. Aung San Suu Kyi is the most relevant woman in Myanmar politically.  Having won elections and then having the government be over thrown by the military and imprisoned.  She now travels and speaks about the plight of Myanmar and the need for reforms.

                Now that I have some general background I can plan how I can greet the new student and her family. 

               The first thing I would do is to meet with the family to find out what ethnic background they are.  What brought them to the U.S.? What is it they are doing for a living and where they live? I also would do an assessment of where the child is so I know where she is in terms of development and learning.  What I would do is to arrange an open house at our school welcoming all the new families and children.  In my classroom I would have many things that would be familiar to the family.  Food and music, pictures of the region they came from.  Then if things go well I would give them and any other family’s demonstrations of the work.  I hope I could find or make work involving Myanmar’s culture.  After a few weeks of settling in I would invite the parents to come to class and share about their home country.  I could also have some of the language cards and the moveable alphabet made up in the language of Myanmar. I can also make matching cards of land marks of the country.  I would put clothing, money and other things out on the cultural shelf for the children to explore.  On the science shelf I can have things for matching using the animals from Myanmar and I can play soft music from that country in the classroom.  Greeting the children every morning with the greeting from that country will also incorporate that into our classroom learning about the new country.  Most importantly remembering children are interested in children and they are pretty much the same all over the world.  I can make sure the new child is welcomed by the other children and she can integrate into the community. 

Myanmar is a beautiful country with a rich history and is working to move into the twenty first century.  Here are a few pictures of the grandeur of the Buddhist tradition and some other places I found off the internet.  Enjoy.

This week we were asked to think about how we would respond when we found there was a new student enrolling in our class from a country that we are largely unfamiliar with.   The family that I will welcome in to my classroom is from Myanmar.  I am to think of five ways I would can be culturally responsive to their needs as a new family. As someone who is not familiar with the country and customs of Myanmar so I looked up the following: 

Education (ECE)

Family structure and culture

Employment

Political structure

Culture (religion, food, dress, music, dance & customs.)

Myanmar has the Footprints Project for early childhood education in place. This is concerned with supporting the entire community for the benefit of the child and the family. Gender equality is built into the schema of the project.   The objectives are:

Providing early child care and education by improving the quality of care and quality of the building and providing proper latrines for the children.  Medical care and health education also are components.  Forming parent care groups for further education. The outcomes are as follows 

·         early childhood education centers (including child-friendly latrines and playgrounds);

·         facilitating community awareness-raising sessions on child health and nutrition issues, including implementing feeding centers;

·         collaborating with the Department of Health staff on child immunization campaigns; 

·         implementing teacher training on gender-inclusive education practices and child nutrition; and 

·         providing teacher aids to support primary school teachers. 

All of this is done in 44 rural villages.  School in urban areas runs in a more regular fashion.  Basic public education consists of five years of elementary, four years of middle, and two years of secondary school.  Elementary school is free and compulsory. Students passing an examination may enter secondary school. At the end of eighth grade, students must pass another examination before progressing to secondary school (grades 9–11). Following high-school, students may attend vocational training or university.

Family structure is very traditional in that it is multi-generational. When the couple lives apart from the extended family in their own home they live nearby or in a family compound.  Their elderly are very much respected.  The head of the household us usually male and remains rather distant from the daily goings on, the wife has the say so about finances and she is in charge of the household expenditures.  The average family has five children.   Most of the population lives in rural areas.

              Myanmar is one of the most economically depressed countries in the world.  The main occupation is farming or general labor.  Economically the push to industrialize is on; in an article by The Economist it is noted that even with industrialization in swing it will take years of education to bring the population up to standard in order to function in an industrialized society. 

              Political unrest has plagued Myanmar for many years.  The main religion is Buddhist with some Muslim and Christian’s active as well.  The government over sees the activities of the Buddhist monks and many are prohibited from being involved in social activism.  Many from the 2007 uprising are still in prison.  At present time the country has a president and a parliament governing. There are several ethnicities in Myanmar and they regionally Buddhism is promoted as the unofficial state school of thought.  This has created tension among the Muslims, Christians and Buddhist in the country.  Women are considered equal in matters of marriage, divorce and employment but the Buddhist religion says a woman cannot become a priest unless she reincarnates as a man. Aung San Suu Kyi is the most relevant woman in Myanmar politically.  Having won elections and then having the government be over thrown by the military and imprisoned.  She now travels and speaks about the plight of Myanmar and the need for reforms.

                Now that I have some general background I can plan how I can greet the new student and her family. 

               The first thing I would do is to meet with the family to find out what ethnic background they are.  What brought them to the U.S.? What is it they are doing for a living and where they live? I also would do an assessment of where the child is so I know where she is in terms of development and learning.  What I would do is to arrange an open house at our school welcoming all the new families and children.  In my classroom I would have many things that would be familiar to the family.  Food and music, pictures of the region they came from.  Then if things go well I would give them and any other family’s demonstrations of the work.  I hope I could find or make work involving Myanmar’s culture.  After a few weeks of settling in I would invite the parents to come to class and share about their home country.  I could also have some of the language cards and the moveable alphabet made up in the language of Myanmar. I can also make matching cards of land marks of the country.  I would put clothing, money and other things out on the cultural shelf for the children to explore.  On the science shelf I can have things for matching using the animals from Myanmar and I can play soft music from that country in the classroom.  Greeting the children every morning with the greeting from that country will also incorporate that into our classroom learning about the new country.  Most importantly remembering children are interested in children and they are pretty much the same all over the world.  I can make sure the new child is welcomed by the other children and she can integrate into the community. 

Myanmar is a beautiful country with a rich history and is working to move into the twenty first century.  Here are a few pictures of the grandeur of the Buddhist tradition and some other places I found off the internet.  Enjoy.

Resources

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21625884-myanmar-becomes-thailand-it-will-have-become-bangladesh-let-million

http://footprints.worldnomads.com/project/119.aspx?s=open

http://famdliflc.lingnet.org/products/burmese/by_co/burmese.pdf