Like so many other institutions in New Brunswick, early childhood learning centres are also embracing diversity and promoting multiculturalism.
Wee College has placed an increased focus on cultural awareness as more children attend their facilities from various backgrounds.
Executive director Patricia Worthington-LeBlanc says adults can certainly take a few lessons from children, “They don’t even realise that there’s perhaps a difference between them and their friends in the first place. All they see is a friend. They don’t see colour, they don’t see religion, they don’t even see a different language.”
In some cases, Worthington-LeBlanc says children who have just immigrated here don’t even speak the same language as their peers.
But she adds young children are like sponges and can quickly learn and adapt to new environments.
“Certainly there are some things that I’m sure they’re not really understanding about what is going on around them, but they pick it up pretty fast. Children are so good about welcoming new faces to the classroom and making others feel included,” Worthington-LeBlanc adds.
