How can we transform cultural diversity into valuable resources at home?
I liked this challenge, because we got to know many different activities, which we can use in our teacher practice. The activities were about how we can clearly show the pupils diversity in a simple way, organizing processes and groups and how to use the diversity.
Bank's Levels of Integration showed us the steps, which are important for every teacher who has cultural diversity in the class. The first step ist to recognize contributions of other cultural groups (for example: the food in one country). The second step is, to add themes to the existing curriculum (for example: to take a look at the food in every country). The third is, to develop a curriculum around the themes. The children examine a variety of issues from the perspectives of different cultural groups. The fourth step is, to allow children to ponder and take action on diversity.
Furthermore, we collected ideas of how we can transform cultural diversity into valuable resources in the class:
- Carneval: Dress up as people of other countries.
- Cookbook: Collect recipes from other countries, cook them and make a book.
- The pupils should write all thei knowledge of another culture on a common paper. Discuss the thoughts of the pupils.
- Ask the pupils, which languages they speak at home?
- Every student should make his own profil on a paper and exhibit it in the classroom.
- Fairy tales of other countries.
- Traditions of other countries: dances, holidays, clothes ...
It is a big challenge working with a class with many children from different countries. In my school practices in Austria I have been in classes with a lot of different nationalities. In the last school practice, the children were not allowed to speack their own language during the school day. There were two reasons for that. The first was, that the other children believed, that somebody is talking bad about someone and the second reason was, that they had to learn German. The idea of that worked most of the time good.
In my opinion it is also important as a teacher, to have a good communication with the parents. It is necessary, that also the parents have a good feeling when they come to the school or speak with the teacher. Otherwise they would get a negative attitude to the school and the child would feel it. So it is necessary to involve the partens in the cultural activities of the class.
This poster makes parents and children from other countries feel welcome to the school, if it is attached to the door of the class or school.
