Welcoming Families From Around the World

My new family is from Vietnam.

There are many ways that I can prepare to welcome this new family to my classroom. I will first begin by familiarizing myself with the cultures in Vietnam. I will need to learn about the family culture of Vietnamese families. I have learned already that in Vietnam, extended family is very important. As the new family will be moving here, they will most likely have a multigenerational structure in their home. (Thuong, 2019)

"“Khiêm tốn” (humbling and self-restraint) is the most important value in Vietnamese society. If a child has ideological or moral opinions that differ from those of their superiors, he will mostly likely to keep them to himself" (Thuong, 2019).

Knowing this fact about Vietnamese culture will help me to understand how the child will interact with myself and the other children. This is something that they have been taught throughout their life so knowing this fact will help me to understand his mentality of respect for his elders.

Thirdly, I will want to learn a few Vietnamese phrases that I can use to make the family and the child feel comfortable upon entering my classroom. By putting this effort into learning a little bit about their language, I am showing that I care about them. I will also learn how men and women tend to greet differently. Men will shake hands upon meeting and leaving and bow their heads, women will bow their heads and not shake hands. I will also learn the correct way to say 'hello' in Vietnamese. Xin chao. (2016)

I would also like to understand how gender roles work in the Vietnamese culture compared to the United States. "Even though the family is viewed as a unit, the father or an older male has the ultimate responsibility and acts as an authority leader while delegating tasks and involving others in the decision making. (See Gender Roles section). From a very young age the father and other family members educate the children on “filial piety,” a key part of Vietnamese culture which requires that children give parents and elders respect, love, and care" (LaBorde, 1996).

Finally, I need to know about the value of education in Vietnam. Expectations will be higher than that of Western culture. "Vietnamese place a higher value on education rather than on material success. That the reason why parents encourage their children to study and excel in their education. Vietnamese parents have a high regard for it which was considered a way for family advancement" (Tran, 2020).

My hope would be that this family would see that I put effort into learning about their culture and trying to make them feel as comfortable as possible in this new environment. Although I may not fully understand all of their cultures, I can try to make them feel as comfortable as possible while in my classroom. 

References

LaBorde, P. (1996). Vietnamese. Ethnomed. https://ethnomed.org/culture/vietnamese/.

Thuong, Y. (2019, May 21). Three Main Aspects of Family in Vietnamese Culture. Medium. https://medium.com/travel-is-to-think-in-terms-of-experiences-rather/three-main-aspects-of-family-in-vietnamese-culture-86bcb6010bb4.

Tran, R. (2020, February 18). Vietnamese Traditional Family Values! Vietnam Discovery Travel. https://vietnamdiscovery.com/culture-arts/vietnamese-traditional-family-values/#:~:text=Obedience%20and%20respect%20were%20the,gift%20of%20birth%20and%20upbringing.

Vietnam - Cultural Etiquette - e Diplomat. (2016). http://www.ediplomat.com/np/cultural_etiquette/ce_vn.htm.