Welcoming Families From Around the World

I am working in a preschool facility and I have a brand new family that has relocated from Israel. They do not speak English and their first language is Arabic. The daughter is starting in my class and I am doing everything I can to make her and her family as comfortable as possible.

The ways that I will prepare to be culturally responsive towads this family is to:

1. I would research if there are any programs in my local area that can be present when the family arrives. This way they can translate to the family and to the daughter who might have a rough time in a new daycare with people that don't speak her native language. 
2. I would research to make sure I understand their basic culture and what might be rude and not practiced in their culture. 
3. I would research Israel school systems and see if there is a certain way that they teach or practice.  If they only learn sitting in desks I would understand that the child might be more comfortable sitting at a table and playing instead of running around outside. 
4. I would learn key phrases of things that the child might need or ask for during the day: bathroom, mom, dad, eat, nap, play. 
5. I would find books with pictures from her culture and where she use to live. We could read them together and with her family so maybe we could share stories and talk about similarities and differences. 

With these preparations I would hope that it would make the family and child more comfortable with myself and her new learning environment. I would like that this would help the family trust me with their child and know that I only want to do what is best for the child. Most importantly I would hope that my preparations would help the student feel comfortable and welcome in my classroom.