Children from Senegal (Africa)

Welcoming Families From Around the World

My preschool classroom will be receiving a family from The Republic of Senegal, which is on the African Continent. We are super excited and have made preparations for our new family:

1. The staff does research about the country, most particularly the area where the family is coming from. We study the language, culture, food, dress, school system etc.

2. When the staff is prepared, we make anannouncement to the students that we will be receiving a new family in our group. We then share photos of the place where they are coming from, including children and houses and so forth. We allow the children to ask questions about their language and culture and food etc.

3. The current students make a big "Welcome" sign and special gifts for the new children that will be arriving soon.

4. The staff meets with the parents (an interpreter is brought if needed and available). We discuss goals for the child and program, goals the family would like to see as far as the child and the program. Any special requests pertaining to food, religion, holidays, etc. Invite the family to participate in the program as they are available. 

5. Make sure the classroom is full of books, posters, toys and so forth depicting children from all over the world and even some with disabilities. We encourage all the children to welcome the new student and make them feel comfortable. If the new child is welcome, we have them share items from their country that we may not have seen before such as toys and food items. We also allow the current students to share items that are special to them.

Our hope and desire is that by making the above preparations, we will all feel an excitement and joy at having a new student from somewhere far away come and join our extended family. We also hope to instill in all of the students, how precious and valuable we all are. Also, we hope to instill in these young children how different we can be from each other, yet so valuable to society. Also, even with the differences, there is always something we all share in common.