Supporting families who emigrated from Afghanistan

Supporting families who emigrated from Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a country that has endured several civil wars over the years. As a result, Afghan refugees are one of the largest and longest displaced populations in the world. Three decades of recurrent conflict have led to the education of successive generations of Afghan refugee children being disrupted, discontinued or forgotten, due to a range of barriers that are primarily outside their control.

Many of the displaced children and families are beginning to arrive in the United States. Unfortunately, these children and their families are coming to the United States with little or no English, and as such, they will need a lot of help as they adjust to their new environment.

As a Preschool teacher, I believe these are the five ways to benefit significantly emigrated families coming from Afghanistan.

Make them feel welcome. Making immigrant families feel welcome. A welcoming environment that celebrates students' cultures and encourages family leadership creates a strong foundation for relationships and identifying and addressing challenges.

Looking for ways to celebrate families' cultures and languages

Have your students find pictures of different items of clothing that people wear in different cultures and groups. Some examples can include Jewish yarmulkes or Muslim burkas, which are different kinds of head coverings in these respective religious traditions.

Create different channels for communication in families' languages. We must ensure that communication is happening in parents' languages. Schools must communicate in families' preferred language. Identifying families' preferred means of contact can also help schools communicate more effectively and efficiently.

Connect families with resources and provide opportunities for them to ask questions. It is critical to hear from your families about their questions and concerns before determining what kind of support will be most beneficial. At that point, educators, schools, and districts can identify which resources will be appropriate to share in respectful ways of their culture.

Creating a partnership with family

Creating a partnership with local community organizations that represent and serve Afghan families can provide valuable support and insight regarding immigrant families and volunteers! In addition, they can be beneficial on issues related to meeting students' basic needs and connecting families to legal resources.

The role of home language: Family outreach

It is critical to communicate in families' home languages and provide forms and documents in families' home languages to the extent possible, such as registration forms, home language surveys, and emergency contact forms. In addition, the United States educational system will be new to them. Therefore, they may have lots of questions related to the program, on top of their questions about complex issues related to immigration (Parker & McHugh, 2018). 

Language and literacy development

The children's home language should be included in their learning environment. It provides numerous benefits to their social-emotional development, sense of identity, early literacy development, and acquisition of English.

Learn how stress, anxiety, and trauma impact students of all ages. The impacts of these stressors will vary based on students' ages. Learn how different kinds of stressors affect students in your age group; become familiar with age-appropriate forms of self-expression and social-emotional support, and take steps to prevent and address bullying.

Applying the suggested methods will help build a structure where all of our classes support language learning and emergent bilinguals. Furthermore, emphasizing cultural proficiency and inclusiveness, ensuring that every teacher and staff are culturally proficient, and are committed to creating inclusive environments where everyone feels welcome, will make children and their families safe and assured. 

As educators, we come into the profession because we find joy in seeing children learn (Colorado, 2021). So when we build bridges to families of minority cultures, we ensure that all children, not just those of dominant cultures, are successful but open up opportunities for all children.

                                          References

Colorado, C. (2021). Welcoming afghan families: lessons learned from Austin ISD

        https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/welcoming-afghan-families-lessons-learned-

        austin-isd

Park, M, & McHugh, M. (2018). Responding to ECEC of children of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in

        Europe and North America

        https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/ECECforRefugeeChildren_

        FINALWEB.pdf