Transmitting Culture-Parent to Child
Jesse Rodriquez, Head Start Director, Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG), Flagstaff, Arizona
Northern Arizona's population is culturally diverse and includes significant numbers of Anglos, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans from five different tribes. NACOG Head Start covers four counties and 37,000 square miles. It serves 1,354 children in 22 centers and 14 home-based sites. The home-based program provides an excellent opportunity to use the rich culture of enrolled families as part of the learning experience.
Home-based staff encourages all home-based families to pass on their rich culture to their children. By talking with families, staff can easily incorporate culturally relevant experiences into an early childhood learning program, and sensory motor learning can be stimulated through activities that use cultural elements within the home. Using typical art and music is also an effective way to develop culturally relevant learning experiences.
The Bakers of Chino Valley are an example of this type of approach. They proudly teach the Navajo and Anglo cultures to their two older children and to 3-year-old Leah, a Head Start enrollee. For example, Mr. Baker's pride in the care of his 37-year-old horse, and Leah's grandmother's skill in Indian beadwork reflect the family's Navajo heritage. Asking Leah to feel the texture of the horse's coat or to string beads helps her to learn about her Navajo heritage, and develop sensory motor skills.Mrs. Martinez, another home-based parent, further illustrates this concept by modeling for her children. She grinds corn on a metate and makes tortillas. Both of these activities are experiences that meet the program's nutrition information objectives, and encourages sensory motor learning in her children.
At NACOG, sensitivity to all cultures is stressed as the most effective means of working with multicultural families. Hiring of an ethnically diverse staff is promoted, as well as cultural awareness training. Families, staff, and other organizations are also resources that can help meet families' needs. But most important at NACOG is respect for each families' rich culture and incorporating it into the learning experience.