New Online Tutorial- Understanding Children’s Settlement: The Basics
International research shows that young immigrant and refugee children experience settlement needs in five key areas. To build responsive programs for newcomer children, CNC staff need to understand these unique needs and how they can help.
Understanding Children’s Settlement: The Basics is a 15-minute tutorial that describes each settlement need and strategies you can use in your program. It will also give you tips on how you can tell if a child is settling successfully! At the end of the tutorial, you’ll also find suggested resources, a facilitator guide and added group discussion questions so that you can easily facilitate your own team training.
Multicultural Principles for Early Childhood Leaders
This Head Start resource is divided into 10 chapters, with each chapter presenting one multicultural principle, the research and guidance to support that principle, and questions and/or discussion activities. You can download the individual chapters, or the entire resource here to use for professional learning activities, or for personal professional development
here.
Teaching Diversity without the Tourist Approach
One of our greatest strengths in CNC programs is our diversity. Unfortunately, even with our varied backgrounds, caregivers sometimes fall into the trap of teaching children about diversity mainly through special cultural holidays or events. This is referred to as the “tourist approach” because it gives a narrow view of a culture. This article,
Teaching Diversity without the Tourist Approach, shares some ideas for how to integrate culture into child care programs in a more holistic way.
Webinar: Trauma Informed Care for Refugees and Children
What are the effects of trauma on immigrant children? How is mental health screening done? What are some options for helping children who have experienced trauma? Recorded in November 2016,
this webinar discusses issues that children face when exposed to trauma and helps caregivers learn to respond appropriately.
Breaking the Stigma: Can Children with Special Needs Learn a Second Language?
Some families and professionals believe that it’s too difficult for a child with special needs to learn a second language, but
research shows that children with special needs can become bilingual. In a study of children with language impairment, Down syndrome and autism spectrum disorder, researchers confirmed that children’s ability to learn is based on their age, the degree of their disability, their intellectual capacity and their proficiency in their first language.
What does it mean to be culturally competent?
What does cultural competence mean and why is it so important for children to have their culture and cultural backgrounds acknowledged, respected and valued? Underlying cultural competence are the principles of trust, respect for diversity, equity, fairness, and social justice.
Read more...
Podcast: Immigrant and Refugee Children in Childcare
In this
recording, Julie Dotsch, writer, presenter and trainer for CMAS, discusses research and practices that support refugee children and families. She looks at the importance of keeping traditions alive by integrating them into the new culture as well as the importance of newcomer families maintaining their home languages.
Wouldn’t it be fun to sing O Canada with children in their home languages?
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra recorded our national anthem in 12 languages: Arabic, American Sign Language, Cree, English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Punjabi, Spanish, Tagalog, and Tamil. This is part of celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday (sesquicentennial) starting in 2017.
Hundreds of Free Tools to Build Leadership and Enhance Cultural Competence!
The
Community Tool Box is a free, online resource for those working to build healthier communities and bring about social change. It offers thousands of pages of tips and tools for taking action in communities.
Want to learn about community assessment, planning, intervention, evaluation, advocacy, and other aspects of community practice? Then help yourself to over 300 educational modules and other free tools. The website is currently available in English, Spanish, and Arabic, and includes an entire unit on Cultural Competence in a Multicultural World
My Name/My Identity
Have you ever mispronounced a child's name? It’s okay to make an error, but it is not okay to ignore the mistake or not learn from it. A child's name can be a powerful link to their identity. To promote equity and respect in the classroom, pronouncing students names correctly should always be a priority. Read more, take the pledge, and access resources on how to honour childrens' names at
My Name My Identity.
