In preparing for a family from Romania, I would endeavor to know more
about Romania, specifically about families and children in Romania. The internet is a great resource of
information about other cultures.
For example on the following site, http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/romania.html,
I can learn that Romania is part of Eastern Europe, and that the capital of
Romania is Bucharest. The ethnic
make-up of Romania is fairly homogenous by comparison to the U.S. with nearly
90% of the people being of Romanian decent. The religions of Romania are Christian-based, with most
people being Eastern Orthodox.
Romanian families tend to be patriarchal, and it is expected that one
will show respect to elders by addressing them with their appropriate title and
surname, rather than their first name.
Romanians respect humility in themselves and others. As a Montessori teacher, I would also
utilize the Internet to make contact with Montessori teachers in Romania, for
instance Montessori Kindergarten of Bucharest, http://www.gradinitamontessori.ro/en/.
As a Montessori teacher, it is common to come in contact with families from all over
the world. In preparation for
receiving a Romanian family to my classroom I would contact the family I
know whose daughter was enrolled in the Montessori preschool program of my
school. I would ask them for
translation services if necessary, and for advise on how to serve the cultural
needs of the family. I would also
introduce the families to one another.
Romanians traditionally take Christmas and Easter rather seriously, with
elaborate customs and celebrations.
I would plan to invite the family to share with the class their
traditional ways of celebrating important holidays in Romania, such as the art
of painting Easter Eggs.
Through my own personal research of Romania via the Internet, Romanian
Montessori Teachers, and local Romanian families with whom I am associated, I
would basically hope to gain enough information about Romania to have an
intelligent and respectful conversation with the family upon their arrival at
the school. This is the first, and
most critical step in creating a trans-cultural rapport. Once communications and trust are
established, the family school relationships can grow beyond what is U.S. and
what is Romanian, to something more personal such as the characteristics of
this family specifically.
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| Spring time in Romania |
Thank you for sharing about how you would welcome a child and his/her family from Romania. Your blog this week not only gave good ideas about how to make your guests feel welcome but you also shared a lot of good information about Romania. From your post, it seems like a lot of your material revolved around the internet. What if the internet was not available? How would you help this family feel at home?
ReplyDeleteDot,
ReplyDeleteGreat job in preparing for a child from Romania. Knowing about their important cultural events helps the parents feel as though they have an active role in their child's education.
Thank you for also sharing so much information about Romania to your classmates. The pictures that you included added to your post this week. The internet is a wonderful resource that can be used to gather essential information as we prepare for new students to enter our program.