Celebrating cultures
There's always a reason to celebrate. Being unique is definitely a reason to celebrate! There are dozens of cultural celebrations that happen throughout the year, and teachers can begin with teaching about the various celebrations in different cultures.
- By using mini-lessons on various cultures and their respective celebrations you can show children that diversity exists all around. When teaching about Thanksgiving, include lessons on Native Americans; when teaching about Christmas, include lessons on Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Though keeping much of the religious components of such holidays out of lessons is important within the public school system, using other aspects of the cultural celebrations can aid in your teachings about diversity. When celebrating you must treat every holiday with the same respect so you won't offend other students. Allow each student that is participating to explain why the holiday is celebrated in their family, when it originated, how did it originated, and who established it. Food and decorations can be used to describe and highlight the holiday. Hand out fact sheets about the holiday and issue assignments about what the students have learned.
- One way to incorporate a number of students in the learning of diversity is to create a mini-Mosaic, much like the one here in Regina annually. Each classroom would be a country, each country would have citizens to represent their country and teach about music, language, cuisine, books, movies, and more. With only a few citizens in each country, the rest of the classroom populations would be able to "travel" with passports to each country. Not only does it allow students to learn from each other, but it allows the citizens to learn about one country immensely (or this would work well for students that actually come from another country) and the rest of the students to gain an appreciation for the other cultures. Parents and community members can also be included in the set-up, execution, and teaching process in regards to helping with food preparation, teaching dances or stories, and reading.
Music and Language
Throughout the year, use music and language enrichment as a way to further promote diversity in the classroom. This tactic can be enhanced in situations when children from varying cultures are present within the classroom. For example, if you have children in your class who speak a variety of languages, have those children share common words and phrases with the rest of the class to teach them about the different cultures represented within the classroom. Use music from various cultures to further show the differences that exist between groups and how even though the language and sounds are different, the music is still the same in that it tells a story or relays a message.
Literature
Using literature and books as a way to teach children about any subject is a primary method utilized within classrooms. To use books as a strategy to address diversity, add books to your repertoire that are based in foreign countries, written by foreign authors; and books about diversity, culture and acceptance of others. For younger children, read such books to them and discuss the meanings of the books. For older students, have them read the books independently and then write about their thoughts in regard to accepting and understanding other cultures.
Thanks to eHow.com for the ideas! |
Cuisine
One strategy to help show a classroom how the diversity that exists in both the class itself and throughout the world is unique and to be enjoyed is through food. You can have weekly cultural cuisine days when students make and bring in a traditional dish associated with their own culture. Make this event a routine and fun one that is themed in its presentation. For example, have the cuisine day be the last Friday of every month and each month, have the students bring in a dish or item from a list. For the first week, make the cuisine of the day be desserts and sweets; for the second week have the item be a fruit or vegetable. Continue having this event to keep promoting diversity and have the children discuss what they have learned and what foods they've eaten but never knew were from other cultures.
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