What I have learned

I would like to use four songs to express my idea about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds.

Song 1: <Hello to All the Children of The World>

Lyric:

Hello, Bonjour, Buenos dias!

G’day, Guten-Tag, Konichiwa…

Ciao, Shalom, Do-Brey dien,

Hello to all the children of the world!

We live in different places from all around the world.

We speak in many different ways!

Though some things may be different,

We’re children just the same- And we all like to sing and play!

Hello, Bonjour, Buenos dias!

G’day, Guten-Tag, Konichiwa…

Ciao, Shalom, Do-Brey dien,

Hello to all the children of the world!

There are children in the deserts,

And children in the towns,

And children who live down by the sea!

If we could meet each other,

To run and sing and play-

Then what good friends we all could be!

Song 2: <The More We Get Together>

Lyric:

The more we get together
Together, together
The more we get together
The happier we’ll be

‘Cause your friends are my friends
And my friends are your friends
The more we get together
The happier we’ll be
Oh, the more we get together
Together, together
The more we get together
The happier we’ll be

Song 3: <It’s A Small World After All>

Lyric:

It’s a world of laughter
A world of tears
It’s a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There’s so much that we share
That it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small world after all.

It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small, small world.

There is just one moon
And one golden sun
And a smile means
Friendship to every one
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It’s a small world after all.

It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small, small world.

Song 4: <My Family Just Right For Me>

Lyric:

A Family is people and a family is love,that’s a family.

They come in all different sizes and different kind.

But mines just right for me.Yeah. Mine just right for me.

I got a friend who lives with his mom and dad with his brother and his sister too.

They got a cat and a dog and a pet bullfrog and I really glad they do.

Oh a Family is people and a family is love, that’s a family.

They come in all different sizes and different kind.

But mine just right for me.

Yeah. Mine just right for me.

There’s a girl I know who lives with her mom, her dad lives far away.

Although she see her parents just one a t a time.

They both love her everyday.

Oh a Family is people and a family is love, that’s a family.

They come in all different sizes and different kind.

But mines just right for me.

Yeah. Mine just right for me.

I know a boy who’s new,

he just moved in, he moved from Alabama.

And the person who’s the head of his family is his loving, dear old grandma.

Oh a Family is people and a family is love, that’s a family.

They come in all different sizes and different kind.

But mines just right for me.

Yeah. Mines just right for me.

My hope is that children will learn to be confident and demonstrate positive social identities. They are showing open-minded and respect towards human diversity, understanding difference makes the world flowery but not the factor of creating conflicts. I really hope all children will have a happy and safe childhood, they can have equal opportunity for learning and living, being treated respectfully regardless their family background and societal identities.

“We hope the day will come when the “anti-bias” part of [your] journey is no longer needed because all children are growing up fully nurtured and able to be fully who they are, with no barriers of prejudice, discrimination, poverty, or war”, (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010, p. 157).

The goal related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice I would like to set for is to help develop cultural and developmental appropriate curriculum for children and families living in the rural area in Southern China. Because these families are having insufficient income to support their children’s education and learning materials. Many schools in this area are not having enough budget to buy learning and teaching materials, so they can only adapt to whatever learning materials to give lessons to young children. Many of the books and other resource come from donation, some of them confused children as there are bias and inappropriate massages in the content. Therefore, in the future I hope to participate in the project of developing cultural and developmental appropriate curriculum and/or text books for children and families from the developing area in Southern China. I want them to grow up in a happy and healthy life and be able to change their situation through knowledge.

In the end I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks to all my colleagues from the courses of ‘Diversity, Development, and Learning’ in Walden. It has been an amazing journey leaning with you, and my world was enlightened by all your ideas and inspirations. Best wishes to your future studies and the journey to become an anti-bias teacher. Keep on keeping on!

 

 

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and

ourselves.Washington, DC: NAEYC

“Hello to All the Children of The World”, (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Wee-Sing/Hello-to-All-the-Children-of-the-World

“The More We Get Together”, (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lldmkrJXQ-E&list=RDlldmkrJXQ-E#t=31

“It’s A Small World”, (n.d.). Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9YqCP_B7EU

“My Family Just Right For Me”, (n.d.). Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZbNlsoncoM

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: Creating Art

What is diversity? Every time when I ask myself for its definition, there are always new words add on it. I guess many of us may think, diversity is about the cultural difference. Yes and no. Beyond culture, there are more about human diversity. Such like different race, color of skin, nationality, ethnicity, languages, belief, family structure, sexual orientation, abilities, and so on. In the week7 of my course study, I learned about children’s identities and development and how each of them is impacted by bias, discomfort, and trauma. These are also the factors that having impact on diversity, which I didn’t realized before.

This week I have created a photo collage to express my understanding on diversity. It includes the diversity of race, religions, economic status, and social status, and family structure, children with varying abilities, language, nationality and ethnicity. Through this photo collage, it presents a general idea of what “diversity” is like. And also what calls for an anti-bias educator to strive to.

Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010, p.3) indicated,

“Anti-bias education is needed because children live in a world that is not yet a place where all of them have equal opportunity to become all they could be. We know children need to feel safe and secure in all their many identities, feel pride in their families… they need tools to navigate the complex issues of identity, diversity, prejudice, and power in their daily lives so that they may learn, thrive, and succeed .”

I also attached the link for the song Hello to All The Children of The World as the background music. It is one of my favorite children’s songs, it brings the idea about “We are different, We are one”. Difference is a gift to everyone, it brings us into a flowery world and seeing the beauty of diversity. Hope you enjoy!

Background song:

Hello to All The Children of The World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpTR1wF4M6k

 

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.Washington, DC: NAEYC

Hello to All The Children of The World. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpTR1wF4M6k

 

 

“We Don’t Say Those Words in Class!”

Recently I have heard my colleague told me an incident that happened to her and her son in the metro. There was a Black man sitting on one side of the seats, my colleague’s son saw so he turned to my colleague with a pointing finger, “Mummy, look! That uncle’s skin is like chocolate color!” My colleague said she was very much embarrassed at the moment so she quickly told her son not to speak out loud about a person, and whisper to her son that is the skin color of people from Africa. My colleague said she was surprised about her son using the “chocolate color” to describe a person’s skin color, and it was the first time he openly talked about skin difference in public.

My colleague’s response might have communicated to her son that, when seeing someone have the black skin color, it will be better to “ignore” and or tell secretly. The child may be afraid of talking about or be hesitate to acknowledge human diversity in front of his parent, in order not to be reprimanded.

As an anti-bias educator, I would try to bring in a persona doll in the circle time and talk about human’s different color of skin. Mentioned by Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010, p.49), “one of approach for anti-bias educators is using storytelling with persona dolls to introduce stories relate to the children’s lives, as well as to broaden their awareness of various aspects of diversity.” I will ask all students including the little boy if they have seen or heard anyone has different skin color to us? How do they feel and what do they think? And I will bring in the bias or the discomfort that my persona doll have when hearing some children talk in some ways. We will also look for the appropriate way to acknowledge human diversity while we still maintain good manners, such like we don’t talk loud in the public, or pointing at someone with finger.

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC

 

Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

Two weeks ago, one day I went into the 2-3 years old classroom at their nap time to grab a book. It was at beginning of the rest time so the kids were stilling active. When I was about to leave, a boy started crying for something. The new teaching assistance answered impatiently, “You cannot take the pink blanket! Do you want to be a girl?!” I was shocked hearing this conversation. So I stepped in and whispered to the TA, “We don’t say this. It’s nothing to do with the gender.” Later I found out there was another boy also wanted to take the pink blanket. I asked if the two boys would like to take turns so they will not miss any chance. They both agreed and the cried boy let the other one take the blanket first. “Young children also show signs of absorbing whatever societal norms, stereotypes, and biases surround them concerning various aspects of their own and others’ identities (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p.14)”. Although I understand the TA was frustrated at that point, her words reflected the perspective of homophobia: a boy chose pink color because he wants to be a girl. What I heard makes me worried about the development of these children’s views on gender difference.

In my school’s curriculum, one of our learning profiles is “open-minded”. It is defined “Students understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience (International Baccalaureate Organization, 2011)”. A parent/family that is going to send their child to my school is considered as they show understanding on our school’s curriculum and projects for each student. Therefore, if this is the case of the parent/family member would not want anyone who is LGBT to be involved in the school educational program, this maybe not the right school for their child.

When I was in middle school, there was a boy in my class had been labeled as “sissy” all through the three years study. He was shy and wordless, when he spoke, his voice was soft and tender, and as he was very slim. I remembered a boy started calling him “gay” in the beginning of the year 7. Then later, it became a nick name for him. I was one of the other students calling him this name, even though I didn’t really know what “gay” means. Girls stared giggling when they heard his voice answering question in the class, and some boys were meant to him when having PE. Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010) pointed, if children keep repeating words of ideas they heard from others to describe and make fun of a specific identity but without a clear understanding, it is considered such language exploration as pre-prejudice as it have the potential to transform into real prejudice. When we were in year 8 he changed his name, he said that people used to laugh at him because of his name, so if his had a better name people would think of him as a nicer person. The homeroom teacher also had a whole class meeting talked about how to show respect to each other. However, the rest of the middle school years, everyone still saw him as “sissy”. That was a disaster for him. He never attended any of our gatherings after the graduation or turned down our invitation. I feel really bad for him, He could have had a happy and positive middle school life if any of us could be stopped or guided by teachers to rethink about the issues of sexism and LGBTism.

One of my concerns is how children see themselves through children’s books and videos. Because children form their pre-prejudice through hearing and observing what the other adults do and say. Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010) mentioned, children pay close attention to how the important people (e.g. teachers, parents) in their lives respond to human similarities and differences. Yesterday I told the story I Am Invited to a Party, in the story there is an elephant and a pig dressing up to a pool party. When they saw the page showed at the pig dressed in skirt, a boy comment: “Why the pig is a girl? And it behaves not like a girl, it dance like a boy.” At that moment, I did not explain more but just tell the student, “Yes, she is a girl and they are just dancing in this way.” After the class, I kept thinking why the kids thought girls could not dance in a “boy style”. Perhaps somebody has been teaching them the rule of this, or condition the behavior about what a boy or girl should be. With these views, children may see themselves in a frame, and see others with biases.

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC

International Baccalaureate Organization, 2011. Making the PYP Happen, UK: International Baccalaureate Organization.

Laureate Education Inc., (2010). Start seeing diversity: Gender [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Laureate Education Inc., (2010). Start seeing diversity: Sexual orientation [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Time Well Spent

I have learned and gained more than I expected from this program over the past two and a half years. I am very thankful that right after I entered the field of Early Childhood, I received great support from this program on all aspect of my job working with young childhood and colleague. The first thing I learned from this program is you should never give up your dream and just keep walking. It is not easy for me as a none-English speaker to do an advanced course, and on top of that I have merely early childhood academic background in my Bachelor and Master degree. There were several times I thought I was going to quit, because of the huge stress from work and my health condition. But I was not. I am very thankful that my professions and advisors in Walden have giving me supports and advice on my academic approaching, my closed co-workers and mentor support me at work, and my boyfriend and families showed great understanding in my life. Although I am a slow reader, I like reading the articles provided by the program, those are the energies provoked me to keep walking and reminded me of my dream and hope for my students as well as for my future career development. Learning this program has given me the opportunity to closely understand the study challenges immigrant students and families are having. It is an invaluable experience for me to connect and work well with these students in the international school, and showing them the positive example that you should never give up what you are dreaming for so quickly. Keep on keeping on, and when you really go for it, there are many people here to support you, you are never alone.

me & my mum

     I really like the courses about learning and teaching in diversity, and anti-bias education in this program. I learned a lot about “who am I” and what the people around me are like. Part of my personalities, I am a person hesitating to express my feelings and ideas when I feel insecure. When I studied about social identity, I reviewed all my social identities and understood what my biases are and how did they form. I also learned how to deal with the bias and prejudice from children and families, like the way how to speak with them about the topic appropriately, and how to respond the issues as an anti-bias educator without giving own judgement. This program has grown me to become an early childhood educator presenting as professional, confident and mature.

me and my boyfriend

I also learned from this program that, working in the Early Childhood filed is a life long journey, you must go fully with your heart, your love, your passion, and your professionalism. Many people think working with young children is just “a piece of cake”—no need to use much of energy and professional knowledge. The fact is absolutely opposite! Teaching in early childhood is a unique job that requires teacher to have knowledge of interdisciplinary, high level of passion, and great energy for engaging with all the activities that young child would do. It is a sense of rewarding when I saw my former students are able to do more than a year ago, such like from not being able to speak in English, to later communicate with others in fluent English, or from being quite to be active in the group, even just a proud voice calling “Ms. Vivian!”, those are the wonderful moments in my career as an early childhood teacher, and kindle me to keep going and striving for the well-being of young children.

me & my mentor

     My long-term goal is to work as an early childhood multilingual teacher to help immigrant students overcome their culture clash in between the home culture and the dominant culture, as well as to educate students to become an international-minded global citizen through implementing the well-designed curriculum.

I would like to take this opportunity to give my thanks to all my instructors and advisors who have been giving uncountable supports in this program. Thank you Dr. E (Capstone Project instructor) and Linda (Academic advisor), it was an amazing journey walking with you! I also have built many good connections with colleagues we studied in several courses, thank you very much for all your supports and your brilliant feedback. All the best to you and wish you all succeed in the future!

I will keep this blog updated in the future, please feel free to connect me via: vivianlouyan@gmail.com

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

(1) International Step By Step Association (ISSA)

International Step By Step Association (ISSA) is a Community of Practice involved families, communities, and professionals working together to empower every child to develop her or his unique potential and embrace values of social justice and equity (ISSA, n.d.). The leadership of ISSA is formed by the leading experts in the early childhood field in Europe and Central Asia. The mission of ISSA is to “unite professionals and partners to deliver high-quality early years services equitably, as well as challenge existing knowledge and practice and co-construct new approaches and models (ISSA, n.d.)”. One of the goals for ISSA, “Be a leading network and learning community that promotes quality, equitable and integrated services for children, families and practitioners (ISSA, n.d.)” resonates with the goals for my Ideal Community of Practice, which is:

To ensure early childhood teachers will consistently interact with children and families in emotionally supportive, developmentally appropriate ways, including addressing culture heritage and diversity, concept of global minded, and anti-bias education.

I like ISSA provides online portal for all members to exchange information, networking, sharing relevant news, and accessing to the online library. Partners who have common interest can also conduct collaboration through this portal, and also develop joint initiatives. This function reflects one of the characteristics a community of practice should have, which provides opportunities for members to develop a shared repertoire of resources, and being able to consistently practice and keep them updated (Wenger, 2006)

Vacancy: Early Childhood Development Specialist

ISSA as a portal provides career opportunity information of other international organizations. The Bernard van Leer Foundation is seeking an Early Childhood Development Specialist to join their team.

The position requires early childhood expert/specialist in a relevant discipline and has 6-10 years or above work experience; 3 years of experience as minimum in the implementation of child-related projects in the field; excellent in navigating early childhood development- related networks and early childhood development specialists; be creative and open to new ideas, applying early childhood expertise to non-traditional sectors, and develop strategies for the professional advocate of BvLF; candidate also is expected to demonstrate strong   analytical skills, project management skills, as well as communication and networking skills.

(2) UN Women

UN women was created in July 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly, it is the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. UN Women exclusively focuses on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The main roles of UN Women includes (1) to support inter-governmental bodies; (2) to help Member Stated to implement the relevant standards; (3) to lead and coordinate the UN system’s work on gender quality as well as promote accountability (UN Women, n.d.).

I have been paying attention on UN Women in the last two years as it provides useful data supports one of my previous project, it is about the learning equity for young girl children in the Southern China rural area. UN Women training center provides high-quality training course, programs and resources on main issues related to UN Women’s priority and emerging topics, for advocates who are thriving for the women’s rights. Besides the training center, UN Women also provides eLearning Campus, Training for Gender Equality Community of Practice, and Gender Training Experts Roster for members to explore and upgrade the knowledge related to the gender equality.

Vacancy: Consultant for developing Policy Brief on Gender and Migration

This position requires good understanding on migration and development process in national and international level and knowledge on inter-governmental forms on migration; at least 5 years of experiences in developing content and design of knowledge products, education and communication; having work experience in UN agencies as an asset.

(3) The Global Fund for Children (GFC)

The Global Fund for Children is a nonprofit organization found in 1994. The mission of GFC is “to advance the dignity of children worldwide, through making small grants to innovative community-based organizations working with many of the world’s most vulnerable children and youth (GFC, n.d.)”. One of GFC’s strategies is to invest in grassroots organizations (i.e. small, emerging nonprofits) and help them to grow and become sustainable resources in their communities. Besides, GFC is also the part of the Nike Grassroots Girls Initiative, particularly focus on girls’ education. GFC also gather grants through receiving incomes from selling children books and the royalties from its book publishing venture. This interests me the most and I would like to purchase some books from GFC.

Vacancy: Associate Program Officer—West Africa

This position requires master’s degrees in a related field (e.g. Africa regional studies, international relations, international development, international education) for at least 2 years, or bachelor’s degree with at least 4 years of relevant professional experience; demonstrate professional experience in nonprofit management/ social entrepreneurship and organizational development and effectiveness; experience working with community-based organization in West Africa; has well trained knowledge on child and youth development, social protection, and education; excellent leadership competencies, such as interpersonal and communication skills, management and organizational skills, and international minded.

 

References

Bernard van Leer Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://bernardvanleer.org/

International Step By Step Association (ISSA). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.issa.nl/index.html

The Global Fund for Children (GFC) (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/

United Nations Women (UN Women). (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.unwomen.org/en

Wenger, E. (2006).Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from: http://www.ewenger.com/theory/

 

Jobs/ Roles in the ECE Community: National/ Federal Level

(1) Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families

Zero to Three was established in 1977 by excellent representatives from the fields of child development, health and mental health. It is a national nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policy makers the knowledge and the know-how to nurture early development. The mission of Zero to Three is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life (Zero to Three, n.d.). The organization provides different areas of expertise for different types of readers to consult, such as “Journal” for early childhood experts and early childhood professionals, “Free Parent Brochures and Guides” for parents who are looking for parenting strategies. My most interests of Zero to Three is the information about “Behavior and Development” they provide. It is helpful to me to learn analyze some behavior my young students act, and knowing the strategies of dealing with the challenges.

Vacancy: Content Specialist, Early Childhood (EC) Workforce Innovations

The position requires 5 or more years of relevant work experience; strong operational knowledge and expertise related to early childhood development, research and promising practice related to professional development, and early childhood workforce issues and systems; strong interpersonal and communication skills, organizational skill,  excellent written skills, as well as computer software skills.

(2) The Division for Early Childhood (DEC)

The Division for Early Childhood was found in 1973 by a group of early childhood advocates who contribute to the development of young childhood with special needs. It is an international membership organization for early childhood care givers who work with or on behalf of young children with varying abilities/ special needs and their families (DEC, n.d.). Today DEC has become one of 17 divisions of the council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and servicing for the educational success of children with varying abilities. The mission of DEC is “promotes policies and advances evidence-based practices that support families and enhance the optional development of young children (0-8) who have or are at risk for developmental delays and disabilities (DEC, n.d.).”

DEC provides different communities for early childhood professionals and care givers with their particular needs for support, such as the Special Interest Groups is to engage members to share and discuss on a specific topic of interest, the DEC Councils are workgroups for collaborating with Executive Office to finish certain specific projects (e.g. national programs and events) and associated with meeting the criteria of DEC’S Ends Policies (i.e. strategic vision for DEC) (DEC, n.d.). As an overseas educator, it is helpful for me to connect with early childhood professionals all over the world through a forum/organization. I am interested in learning more about children with special needs, and learning through other cases and experiences can help to expend my understanding on Special Needs Education.

Vacancy: Young Exceptional Children Journal Editor

This position does not state the years of related working experience. However, it has a list of “Qualifications” as the standards for potential applicant to refer before they apply for the position. For example, you are a member of DEC and have strong background and experience working with infants and young children with special needs and their families; have passion and be creative to the development of YEC journal; have relevant experience in editorial work in professional publication(s); committed to the work and enjoy working collaboratively with others, being organized and sharing.

(3) Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)

Children’s Defense Fund was found in 1973 as a nonprofit organization supported by individual donations, foundation, corporate and government grants. The mission of CDF is “to ensure every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start and a moral start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities (CDF, n.d.)”. CDF particularly pay attention to the welfare of children in poor, children of color, and children with disabilities. The organization is also calling for the investments for the prevention of sickness, dropping out of school, suffering family breakdown or other issues that affect young children’s development.

The research reports what CDF provides evoke my passion with the issues about children in poverty and the violent growing environment they are exposed to. There are bias and stereotypes on children growing in America that, they are receiving the best and high quality education in the world, and many people do not realize numbers of children in the U.S. are suffering poverty, maltreatment, or racial discrimination every day in their lives. Working in CDF is challenging, but also a place of passion-driven for children’s right for living in a healthy, peaceful, and fair world.

Vacancy: Foundation and Corporate Partnerships Officer

This position requires a minimum of three years of grant-wring and corporate/ foundation relations experience; well performance on writing and communication relative with nonprofit marketing and fundraising; willing to be an advocate for CDF’s mission and work, as well as a passion-driven professional; demonstrated skills in organizing multiple projects and priorities.

 

 References

Children’s Defense Fund. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.childrensdefense.org/

The Division for Early Childhood. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.dec-sped.org/

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.zerotothree.org/

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

picture retrieved from Open Walls website

The first organization that appealed to me is United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). I have been following the updated on the UNESCO website in the last two years study on my Maters in Early Childhood Studies program, and the mission of UNESCO evoke my passion in strive to the learning equity for all children.

Among the goals for UNESCO, the following two resonate with my passion:

“Mobilizing for education: so that every child, boy or girl, has access to quality education as a fundamental human right and as a prerequisite for human development (Introducing UNESCO, n.d.).”

“Building intercultural understanding: through protection of heritage and support for cultural diversity. UNESCO created the idea of World Heritage to protect sites of outstanding universal value (Introducing UNESCO, n.d.).”

UNESCO also reevaluates the new situation of the social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainable development, and reinforces the founding principles of the organization (Introducing UNESCO, n.d.). These principles reflect the goals and destination for the community of practice for whole human beings, and call for a worldwide connection in a peaceful and sustainably form.

I am also interested in knowing about the UNESCO Youth Programme. It is a programme that “aims to work with and empower young women and men, and helping them work together to drive social innovation and change, participate fully in the development of their societies, eradicate poverty and inequality, and foster a culture of peace (UNESCO Youth program, n.d.).” It related to the topic I am focusing, which is about culture contradiction and inclusion for migrant children and families. I think through the information provided by UNESCO it can help to support my further study on my project as well as other professional studies.

Job opportunity (deadline by 30 March 2016): Associate Project Officer

Skills and experience I would need to competently fulfill: this positon requires strong competency of organizing events and workshops, reporting writing related to the events affairs, have good sense and skill of financial management, and competent communication skills. Individual who works at this position is expected to demonstrate professional communication and coordination skills, and to establish and foster a good relationship between the UNESCO team and other partners within to project. For the criteria above, I think of myself need to enhance the communication skills of dealing with conflicts, and the experience of writing reports.

The second organization I am interested about is United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). I knew this organization since I was in the middle school, and for the last two years of study in the Mater’ programme, I have paid close attention to some of the programs that UNICEF is working with. Among the mission of UNICEF, it states that “we (UNICEF) promote and uphold the principle that nurturing and caring for children is the cornerstone of human progress. Contributing to a world in which children can grow up free from the obstacles of poverty, violence, disease and discrimination advances the wellbeing of humanity… we fight against discrimination and work to ensure equal treatment for children and young people, and girls and women in particular (UNICEF Mission, n.d.)”.

In the session of “UNICEF in China”, UNICEF collaborated with the government of China and operated several pilot projects in help young children in China to be able to access the benefit for their health development, nutrition and education support, preventable illness protection, water and sanitation supplement, and emergency response.

Through the website of UNICEF, I am able to access some resource and data which is helpful to my professional development and my early childhood studies.

Job opportunity (deadline by 29 February 2016): Education Officer

Skills and experience I would need to competently fulfill: this positon requires competency in educational research, data analyzing for program designing and strategies making. It also demands for administrative management knowledge and experience, be confident in collaborating with internal and external colleagues and partners to discuss operational and implementation issues, provide solutions and recommendations. Candidate is also expected to demonstrate skill in monitoring and reporting program process and reviews. Good communication and collaboration skills, professional knowledge on researching and data analysis, good sense of team development, minimum 2 research paper published officially in either Chinese or English, above are the skills and experience that I need to competently fulfill this position.

The third organization I would like to explore more is Guangzhou Huiling. It is a Non-Governmental Organization found in 1992 February in Guangzhou, China. It provides caring service, special needs education, and vocational training for young children and youth with learning difficulties, and varying disabilities. By far, Huiling has established several branches communities and departments, including nursery centre, kindergarten, primary school, vocational training centre, as well as home-visit service. The mission of Huiling is to educate young children and youth with varying abilities within an affirming learning and vocational environment, through the mode of community service, in order to improve their viability and the value to the communities of practice (Guangzhou Huiling, n.d.).

Last year during the unite learning of community helpers, my K1 (age 3 to 4 years old) students had visited the farm run by Guangzhou Huiling. It is an organic farm as one of Guangzhou Huiling’s vocational training centre provides employment opportunities to youth with learning abilities. Through visit, my students had the chance to meet some children who are special to them but also making contribution to the community of practice. And also, it had given the hope to one of my special need student’s parents that people with varying abilities are seen first as whole human being, and disability it is the aspect of the person. Guangzhou Huiling provides useful local information of children and families with vary abilities for teachers and social and educational professional to know about the situation of these children’s life development. It is also helpful to my further studies in the field of early childhood, and the Capstone Project that I am doing at the moment.

Job opportunity: Early Childhood teacher (Chinese)

Skills and experience I would need to competently fulfill: this position requires well performed skill for report writing and learning program planning; experienced in classroom management, early childhood teaching methods, and learning resource application. It is expected Montessori teaching experience and special needs education experience the asset; being competent in dealing with emergency, and high efficient at work. For me, the Montessori teaching experience is one that I am lack of, and I would like to learn more and gain some experience in the next two years. And also, I would like to learn more and gain more experience in dealing with emergency in my teaching journey.

 

References

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), “Introducing UNESCO”, retrieved from: http://en.unesco.org/about-us/introducing-unesco

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), “About the Youth Program”, retrieved from:

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/youth/about-youth/

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), “Careers” , Associate Project Officer, retrieved from:

https://en.unesco.org/careers/sites/careers/files/P1%20HED-Shenzhen%20Project%20Quality%20Assurance%20version%20PDF.pdf

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) , “Our Mission”, retrieved from:

http://www.unicef.cn/en/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=lists&catid=27

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), “Career”, Education Officer, retrieved from: http://www.unicef.cn/en/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=37&id=4561

Guangzhou Huiling, retrieved from: http://gz.hlcn.org/

Guangzhou Huiling Career, retrieved from: http://gz.hlcn.org/zhaopinxinxi/144.html

 

 

 

Reflecting on Learning

My hope for my future as an early childhood professional is that, to make contribution to the learning equity for all children in diversity. I am passionate to create a learning environment that children feel safe and loved, they are encouraged to explore their enquiry in all aspects of learning area, share their ideas and understanding on how the world works, make recognition to who they are and what/how they can contribute to the community, have pride of their similarities and be open-minded to the differences. In the past two years study on various course of the M.S. in Early Childhood Studies, I have known many cases and the facts of children living in the environment that lacking of love, healthy food, parenting,financial support, and equity for learning opportunities. Children are treated in different manners because of their different social identities and family backgrounds. As an early childhood teacher, I strongly believe that to help children thrive with their fullest potential is one of our career goals. In the latest course ‘Strategies for working with Diverse Children’, I learned the four goals of anti-bias education, that calling for anti-bias educators strive to children be confidence in their social identities, be caring and understanding on human differences, to recognize unfairness and demonstrate the skills for resisting the unfair languages and behaviors, and also to learn to empower others to against prejudice and/ discriminatory actions (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). In this week’s media segment, anti-bias educator Julie Olsen Edwards said that “Addressing something that hurts children is a proud and fulfilling moment… Those goals for children, they’re the goals for us too (Laureate Education, 2011)”. It is lifetime journey for anti-bias education, and it is an ongoing project that keeps us moving.

In the end of this course, I would like to take the opportunity to thank my instructor Dr. Janet Kien, a knowledgeable educator and be rigorous with the academic performance. I learned a lot from her and appreciated for all the academic advice she provided. Additional, I would like to give my appreciation to all my learning colleagues who gave supports in the learning journey. I am thankful to be in the allies with you all and learn all the awesome ideas, methods, and strategies for teaching and learning in the early childhood field. Thank you very much and I wish you all succeed in achieving your professional goals!

References:

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J.O.  (2010).  Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.  Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Your commitment to anti-bias work. Baltimore, MD: Author

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

On the UNICEF (originally called the “United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund”) website, I chose to know further about the challenges in the region “East Asia and Pacific” that would affect the emotional development of children who live in this area, and the specific country is “China”. Because I am from a big city of China and thankfully have got the opportunity to pursue my advanced study, I am willing to use my knowledge to contribute to my society (e.g. China) and strive for the fairness and equity to children’s learning and living opportunities in this area.

Reported by the UNICEF website, these days many young children living in the remote countryside are facing the challenges of lacking of education, parenting, and financial support. In the article ‘In rural China, an innovatie solution to reaching to vulnerable children’ by Yang Liu, a case was introduced as it typically represent many families in the rural area in nowadays China. Children were left to live with their grandparents in their early ages, and their parents have to work in the city and seldom come back for the family union. “Grandpa has a lot of things to worry about. He doesn’t have much education, so he doesn’t know how to teach her, and sometimes the money they earn is not enough for all their expenses (UNICEF, 2014).” As the model of mother and/or father has been missing throughout many children’s early childhood, these children lack of the emotional support from their immediate family. Recently I saw news was about a 13-year-old boy together with his three brother and sisters committed suicide, because these children were out of caring by any adults, as well as suffered by physical and psychological abuse from outside for a long time. It is sad to see children who are raised in the environment that lacking of love and caring. It can possibly lead to having some of the social problem later in their lives.

In the article, “the Barefoot Social Worker” has been helping many lovely children and their family to change the situation of lacking parenting, financial support, and education. These people are working for the program of Child Welfare Project, and particular helping eligible local children below 18 and about 2 years old to register the program and receive supports from the government and local NGO. As a person I feel sad for children who are having such poor situation, I can’t believe how the parents could abandon their children and pursue for money. As an early childhood educator, I feel that my responsibility is not only just for the students who are able to come to school and learn, but also for the equity to whole children’s learning opportunities. Since I was in the university, I sponsored children from rural area for their tuition fee; I have been paying attention to, as well as joining the NGO-Couleurs de Chine project on giving financial and educational support on girl children from rural minority area in the Guangxi Province, China. What I have done is just a little bit of light in the darkness and only if everyone can give a little light, together we can light up the world.

 

References

Couleurs de Chine http://cdccanton.canalblog.com/pages/———-/27479042.html

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)- China:

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/china.html

Yang Liu, (2014, May 27), In rural China, an innovative solution to reaching to vulnerable children [web newsline], UNICEF, received from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/china_73613.html

白皓, (2015，06，12),贵州4名留守儿童死亡，疑似集体喝农药自杀[网络新闻],中国青年报, retrieved from: http://edu.sina.com.cn/zxx/2015-06-12/1007472957.shtml