Identity

Activities of the week:

Activity: “My Identity pie”

What is identity? Identity means the fact of being what a person is. This means what country and culture you are from, what religion you are part of, what kind of family you come from and much more.

What can you learn from “My identity pie”? This activity will help you realise how much of your own identity is local, national and transnational. It will give you a clear visual idea of how you are connected to the rest of the world.

What to do:

First you draw a big circle on a piece of paper.

Then you make a dot in the middle of the circle.

Now you write the first title “Local community” on the left side of your paper.

Under the title you write down all of the different people you are in contact with. This means your family, your school, afterschool activities etc.

Next you write the title “National identity”.

Underneath this title you need to write all of the connections you have around the country e.g. Facebook, blogs, online game activities etc.

Next you write the title “Transnational identity”.

You need to write all the connections you have outside of the country.

This may be friends and family who live in another countries, online chat fora or game activities where you are in contact with people from another country etc.

Now it’s time to fill out your circle where you divide it into three pieces.

The biggest piece is the one where you have the most contact to others.

Then you place the next where you have the second most contact with others and then the third most contact to others.

If you have an even amount of contact with all three of the identity groups then you divide the circle in to three identical pieces.

As you will see from my own Identity Pie I have a large local community but I am also quite connected to the world through different contact groups.

How are you connected to the world? Try the activity and find outJ

Activity: "Question on a line".

In this activity everyone stands together on a line. Next the teacher poses a question e.g. "if you speak more than one language move forward". Students who speak more than one language take a step forward. This is a great activity as we can see which questions actively affect us. The activity can be used in many ways. One could also ask a question, which forms an opinion and through this activity we may see how many students have the same opinion or a different opinion. It might be fun to start with this activity before a discussion.

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Here is 1 really great blog to follow regarding teaching multicultural education: 

The blog, Kid World Citizen has great resources and activities for teachers and parents who want to teach "young minds go global". This month's theme is "Cultural Swap". There is also a Diversity Calendar for the whole year where you can follow many of the important Holidays around the world.

http://kidworldcitizen.org

Here are 5 online films that are useful for a multicultural educational setting:

1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxi5IhpSvtY

The Diversity Center: Changing Minds, Changing Lives ( 5:54 min.)

This video tells the story of how The Diversity Center teaches students and corporate employees on how to embrace diversity in a constructive and helpful way.

”Bringing us together so that we may learn to create community wholeness”

The video introduction:

This video explains our mission of fighting bias, bigotry & racism through education and advocacy, as well as highlighting the importance of diversity, from the perspective of our staff and constituency.

2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnJPJ2xMdG8

Multicultural education (1:22 min.)

How can students learn about multiculturalism and why may it create challenges are some of the relevant questions answered in this video.

3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUnCHL3DDtE

Multicultural education (4.20 min.)

This movie will give you a short introduction to multicultural education. The literature is taken from James A. Banks’s Book called, An Introduction To Multicultural Education. It seems to be a great tool for teaching multiculturalism in the classroom

About the book:

This book gives teachers a strong background in the conceptual, theoretical, and philosophical issues in multicultural education. Cultural Diversity and Education is designed to help pre-service and in-service educators clarify the philosophical and definitional issues related to pluralistic education, derive a clarified philosophical position, design and implement effective teaching strategies that reflect ethnic and cultural diversity, and prepare sound guidelines for multicultural programs and practices. This book describes actions that educators can take to institutionalize.

 4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnZ_u5_SUJw

Teaching Tolerance (1.24min)

This movie gives you food for thought. It is a short introduction to teaching tolerance, which is a very important part in multicultural education. Here the focus is on the importance of reading appropriate books that introduce children to other cultures so that they may lack ignorance and become aware of other people's lives and traditions.

5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIvmbFKIXvE

The levels of multicultural education(4:19 min)

This movie focuses on the 5 levels of multicultural education:

Level 1.Monocultural – one dominant culture is taught and this is the superior.

Level 2. Tolerance – all students are treated equal, but the curriculum stays the same.

Level 3. Acceptance – differences are acknowledged and important and  literature with a wider range of perspectives is introduced.

Level 4. Respect – diversity is part of school and a part of the curricula.

Level 5. Affirmation, solidarity and critique – a multilingual community.

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Reflect on these quotes:

Globalization at the cultural level has brought about the fragmentation and multiplication of identities and this may require, paradoxically, a return to the familiar. (Cohen et al.)

World citizenship is to be embraced, not feared. New forms of post-national understanding, responsibility, the state, justice, art, science and public understanding can emerge. This in turn can lead to more advanced forms of democracy, liberty and mutuality. (Beck)

Both quotes are very relevant to the issues and challenges of living in a multi cultural world.

The first quote by Cohen et. al. focuses on the fragmentation of our identities when living in a multicultural society and that we may loose our identity and therefore will have to return to the familiar. This quote seems to bring fear to the notion of a multicultural society. To change this fear into a positive challenge I think we may have to focus on having a better knowledge of our own identity. When we know ourselves we will be able see where we are similar and where we are different from others. Are similarities can bring us together and our differences should be respected.

The second quote by Beck is open and positive towards multiculturalism. The important aspect in this quote is that we shall take responsibility in learning about others and finding ways in which we may come together for the greater good of humanity. It is a necessary task that we will have to overcome. A good way to start is through education!