Supporting Korean American Children in Early Childhood Education

Early childhood professionals can use this one-of-a-kind work to better serve Korean American and other Asian American children in the United States. Four transnational mother-educators share the lived experiences of Korean American children and their families through candid and vivid narratives that counter stereotypical and prejudicial beliefs about these communities. Topics include parenting beliefs and practices, naming practices, portrayals in children’s picturebooks, translingual home practices, and responses to microaggressions. The text raises awareness about various dynamics within the Korean American community for a more nuanced discourse. The authors bring a wealth of hybrid positioning and experiences as former early childhood educators, first-generation Korean American immigrants, current teacher educators working with pre- and inservice teachers, and researchers in different states, as well as mothers of second-generation children.

Book Features:

• Shares original stories and experiences of Korean American children and families to dismantle prevalent narrow narratives.
• Offers practical implications and considerations for classroom teachers regarding family engagement, critical literacy, translanguaging, and social–emotional learning.
• Includes user-friendly features such as discussion questions, lesson ideas, and a list of appropriate picturebooks.

Sophia Han is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning at the University of South Florida. Jinhee Kim is an associate professor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Kennesaw State University. Sohyun Meacham is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Northern Iowa. Su-Jeong Wee is an assistant professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at California State University, Los Angeles.

Contents (Tentative)

Acknowledgments

Foreword

1. Our Stories Through Suda (수다 )
Introducing Suda (수다)
Our Background and Her-Stories
Our Positioning as Korean American Transnational Mother-Educators
Looking Ahead

2. Parental Ethnotheories Raising Korean American Children
Cultural and Historical Parenting: Tea-Kyo
Developmental Markers in Context: An Example of Sleep Training
Social-Emotional Lessons: Balancing Multiple Expectations
Disrupting a Tiger Mom Stereotype: We Are So Much More
Implications and Resources

3. “What’s Your Name?”: Children’s Names and Naming Practices
Children’s Names With Family and Cultural Values
Juggling Concerns and Desires to Decide on Our Children’s Names
Naming Practices by Others
Children’s (Trans)Naming Practices
“Hello, My Name is . . .”: Rethinking Preferred Names in School
Implications and Resources

4. “I Don’t See Me!”: Picture Books About Asian Americans
Scarcity of Children’s Picture Books on Asian American: Underrepresentation
“Not All Koreans Are Same”: Misrepresentation and Within-Group Differences
Perpetuating the Tourist Approach to Asian Culture
Implications and Resources

5. More Than English: Diverse Translingual Practices in Korean American Transnational Families
The Value of Heritage Language Learning and Our Children’s Experiences
“Do Your Children Speak Korean?”: Microaggressions Based on Language and the Perpetual Foreigner Image of Asian Americans
Challenging the Hegemony of English and Promoting Translanguaging Pedagogy
Implications and Resources

Chapter 6. Navigating Invisibility and Microaggressions as Korean American Children and Families
“Where are the Asians?”: Our Children’s Experiences of Marginalization and Invisibility
Our Children’s Experiences of Being Visible: Microaggressions and Racial Bias
From Guilty Parents to Active Advocates
Implications and Resources
Departing Thoughts about Our Suda (수다) and Supporting All American Children

Appendix

References

Index

About the Authors