1. Challenges for Lauren as a Korean-Canadian child in Canada2. How should I deal with these challenges as a Lauren’s mother 3. Professional responsibilities as an early childhood educator

Lethbridge College Eunhee Han

Background• Lauren was born in 2011 July at the

Foothill Hospital in Calgary.• Her parents moved from Korea in 2009.• As she turned 4 years in July 2015, she

needed to be involved with other children.

• Currently, she complains about many difficulties she is facing on as she goes to the library, church and family centre.

Challenges she is facing1.Language - She speaks Korean fluently but has just started

learning English.- Sometimes, she is depressed because she does not

understand what teachers are saying. She likes to read books at the library, but she does not understand when library teachers read the books.

2. No extended family members.- She has grandparents from both mother and

father’s lines in Korea. When she sees other children’s grandparents playing with them, she says to her mother, “I miss my grandparents.”

- She has many cousins in Korea. She talks with them on the phone. Whenever she feels lonely, she wants to meet the cousins. She says, “ I want to go to Korea and stay there.”

3. No close friends - Usually children get close when

their mothers are friends. For Lauren, she doesn’t have close friend because her mother does not have close relationship with Canadians.

- She always says “I wish that I could visit friend’s house and I could invite them to my house.”

4. Cultural conflict - Family, community and groups are more

important than individuals in Korean culture. We willingly sacrifice our rights or advantages if the community takes benefits from it.

- In Canadian culture : They use word “I want”. We rarely use this word.

How should I deal with these challenges as her mother

- Language Expose more English speaking environments to

Lauren in order for her to learn English faster. For example, send her preschool or read English books for her.

- No Extended family Visit Korea at least once two years. Make good

relationships with neighbors. If she doesn’t feel lonely, she might not miss them a lot.

How should I deal with these challenges as her mother

- No close friend Go to the library and family center with

Lauren and make some close friends who have same age children.

- Cultural conflict She cannot avoid it as she gets older. I cannot

say which is better, but both sides are important. Building Canadian and Korean identities must be good outcomes.

Professional responsibilitiesas an early childhood educator• Being an ally to immigrant and refugee

children and their families. • Be curious about their culture, family,

community, and methods of child rearing • Respect families’ value-driven approaches

to child rearing • Be aware of the issues that are most

central to the lives of the families you work with

• Establish trust and create opportunities for children and their caregivers to approach you

Professional responsibilitiesas an early childhood educator

• Establishing a supportive environment for immigrant and refugee children and their families.

• Children and their families feel emotionally supported

• Children and their families feel that the program is applicable to their lives

• Children and their families develop knowledge and skills to thrive in their new context

• Increased opportunities for Children and their families’ learning

Practice 1: Meeting needs ‘in the moment’

- Accommodating the cultural needs of the particular client group (e.g. food preferences, issues of timeliness)

- Providing support for children and their families with issues as they arise in their lives (e.g. moving, loss of work, economic and familial issues)

- Modifying program objectives based on the client group promising

Practice 1: Meeting needs ‘in the moment’ - Understanding immigrant and refugee

children and their families - Knowledge of historical, political and

social context from which immigrant and refugee children and their families have arrived and how that may impact their current conditions

- Curricular models that are sensitive to the vulnerabilities

- Understanding the cultural contexts in which they feel most supported

- Having consistent measures in place to assess progress

Promising Practice- Be patient, observe, listen, learn - Foster parental involvement in immigrant and

refugee child’s life- Willingness to let learning be a two-way activity - Be patient with the curricular process and

unexpected turns along the way - Be curious, humble, sensitive, flexible and

patient - Varied and divergent curriculum that repeats the

same message - Offering different ways of doing things to expose

caregivers to diverse parenting approaches

Promising Practice- Be patient, observe, listen, learn

- Allow immigrant and refugee children to be absorbed in an activity without rushing him/her, allow as much time as needed

- Use ‘challenging’ moments as learning opportunities

- Be sensitive to the ways in which social and cultural contexts of immigrant and refugee children informs their learning capacity

References• Kelity, J. (2015). Intro to early child education, Lecture notes at

Lethbridge College, Lethbridge, AB• Dietze, B., & Kashin, D. (1957). Empowering Pedagogy. Toronto,

Canada• http://www.spcottawa.on.ca/sites/all/files/pdf/2010/Publications/

Immigrant-Family-Report-English.pdf