Welcoming Families from Around the World

For this project, I would select a family from Burma. In order to be culturally responsive to the family from Burma, here is a list of what I would do to become culturally responsive.

1. I would research on Burma and its nation. This website is one of many useful sources: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910.htm

2. I would perform a home visit with the burmese family to initiate the contact. For this visit, I would request for an interpreter if needed. This would give me an opportunity to interact with the family to gain my knowledge of Burma and its tradition.

3.  I would study Burmese language using different sources to become familiar with. Perhaps, I would learn a few basic words in Burmese to show courtesy. Here is one of sources that provide information on Brumese language:  http://www.omniglot.com/writing/burmese.htm

4. I would research about local events related to Burmese. Then attend several events to study and learn how people interact, taste their food, and meet new people whose origin is from Burma.  This website provides a list of events related to Burma in United States: http://burmese-community.blogspot.com/2011/04/2011-usbma-burmese-new-year-festival.html

5. One important part in studying Burma is to understand traditional behaviors such as male and female roles, so I can demonstrate respect toward their culture through behaving accordingly.

These venues in becoming culturally responsive should prepare me for initiate and first several encounters with the family. Hopefully, I would be able to extend the study into Early Childhood program by inviting the family to share their culture and developing a solid relationship with the family.  I believe that I would need to observe, interact, and use my five senses to learn about Burma in order to have a better idea of how to respond to the Burmese family in appropriate ways.

One last thing, the reason I selected Burma based on the fact that I grew up with a gentleman whose origin is Burma. He and I became close friend. I've always questioned him about his background, but he was too young to remember anything about Burma. The only thing he talked about was the Burmese food. In the picture above is a  picture of my friend and I when we were in eighth grade. I sat on the ground--front row first from the left.  My friend, JT who was born and raised in Burma for a short time before coming to America, knelt in second row--the first from the right.

Burma Flag: