Amy Baskin

Community Education and Communications Director, Austin Public Schools

Austin Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) provides many classes for families to be involved with their children. Some of these classes focus on specific ages and stages of development. Some are just for fun and some target specific populations. Within the past few years our targeted classes have included a Dad and Me class that focuses on the importance of dad/child time, and a class taught in Spanish for Hispanic families.

Last year, we introduced a new class for our Karen families and in January we will begin a class for our Sudanese families. These culturally specific classes are for parents and children from these cultures. They focus on child development, school readiness, temperament, guiding behavior and sibling relationships. Language assistance is provided in Burmese, Karenni, Karen for the Karen class, and Nuer for the Sudanese class.

Parenting in the United States is very different from many cultures. An article from www.npr.org sites common parenting practices in Japan where young children ride subways alone, Danish parents who leave their children sleeping in a stroller on the curb while they go inside to shop and Argentine parents who let their children stay up until all hours. These common practices in these cultures are hard to understand for some Americans. The same can be said for some of our new immigrant families. They bring their parenting styles with them and sometimes wonder why it is not acceptable practice here.

Culturally specific classes allow us to understand unique cultures and parenting styles while introducing newcomers to the “American” style. It is a safe place to share their parenting concerns and questions and to get support in their own language. Our Spanish-language family class has been very popular over the past few years. It provides support to Hispanic families allowing them to be more comfortable in our schools and with their parenting skills. They understand how to maneuver the school system and as a result their children are more successful in school. It also allows us to understand them and be more accommodating in providing them with the support they need for their children.

Public schools are very Americanized. Our teaching and learning styles have been around for decades and if you do not know how to speak the language it is even more difficult to figure out the system. We hope that our culturally specific classes help us understand our new residents better and help them to understand us and how to support their children in our schools and community. We have learned many things from these classes and are proud to offer them in our program.