Comments on: Multicultural Activities in Class (by Vicky Loras)

By: Vicky Loras

Vicky Loras — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:11:47 +0000

Hi Ashton and thank you for your questions!
1. Regarding your first question, there are so many resources on the web and so many books to choose from, in order to find materials concerning various cultures. At the school I work, we made it into a research project for the children themselves and they really enjoyed it!
2. Culture is becoming an important feature in the classroom I believe, as many projects from publishing houses come up and are very interesting for students and teachers (an example is the Dream In Color project by Scholastic Books, promoting Hispanic culture).
3. Well, I always try to make use of learning opportunities whenever I can: be it Martin Luther King Day, Christmas (when countries have various celebrations), Mardi Gras….you name it! You can use cultural education almost any time you like! And the kids are very receptive and learn so much!
I wish you all the best in your future teaching career and thank you again for reading the post and for your questions!
Kindest regards,
Vicky

By: ashton

ashton — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:00:44 +0000

hi vicky,
im a students in education course.can i ask for you opinion?

1.how a teacher could prepare teaching aid/materials to suit the culture of each student(multicultural classroom)

2.is culture become one of the features for a teacher in the process of preparing/creating teaching aid/material?

3.can you suggest one way on how teacher can create a teaching material/strategy in a cross culture ‘community’ of students?

hope to hear from you soon,
ashton(bach.education MSU)

By: Vicky Loras

Vicky Loras — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:39:14 +0000

Hi Emma and thank you for your wonderful words!
You are right in saying that kids love multicultural books and things in general – they are so open to everything that has to do with diversity!
Anna’s Flat Stanley idea is great, isn’t it? I loved it too!
Thank you so much for visiting Emma!
Kindest regards,
Vicky

By: Emma Herrod

Emma Herrod — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:48:05 +0000

Hi Vicky

What a great post with some really interesting ideas. I mainly teach adults but these are still lovely ways to encourage cultural learning in the classroom.

I would’ve loved a shelf of such books at my school when I was younger but it wasn’t very fashionable then. Now however, in this area anyway, with such a high immigrant population, all the libraries and schools have books from around the world and the kids love them.

The Flat Stanley idea from Anna has got me thinking!!!

Well wishes from the UK
Emma

By: Vicky Loras

Vicky Loras — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:00:09 +0000

Hi Anna!
Thank you for your great contribution!
Show and Tell on class blogs is a great idea! I am sure many teachers will adopt that idea.
About the “Flat Stanley” project, thank you so much for the link and for your wonderful personal experience that you shared – all the kids participating in your “Flat Stanley” project surely learned a great deal and must have enjoyed themselves a lot! To tell you the truth (and probably because I just stayed in Canada the first eight years), I hadn’t heard of it….but you gave me great ideas for my students!
Thank you so much for the ideas, Anna! I am happy you enjoyed the post!
Kindest regards,
Vicky

By: Vicky Loras

Vicky Loras — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:53:23 +0000

Hi Mike!
Thank you very much for your nice comments!
It is wonderful to see that multiculturalism is celebrated around the world – it is great that your college organizes these events! It brings everyone closer, makes us more aware that diversity is beautiful and as you mentioned….you can try specialities from many countries!
Thank you Mike!
Vicky

By: Vicky Loras

Vicky Loras — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:50:11 +0000

Hi Eva and thank you for your comments!
You are absolutely right, it is great to be able to share things online! I have discovered many things from other teachers around the world. I am glad you find these ideas interesting!
Thank you again,
Vicky

By: Anna Pires

Anna Pires — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:19:34 +0000

Lovely blog post, Vivky! This brings back memories of my own childhood in Toronto. I’ve incorporated many activities from my school days into my own teaching, for instance Show & Tell on class blogs, which my students love.

While reading this post I was reminded of the “Flat Stanley Project” in primary schools in Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley). A friend of mine once asked if I she could send me her son’s Flat Stanley and show him around Portugal. I actually had “Flat Stanley” join one my classes and my students were the tour guides. We then sent back to Canada a diary of his stay and all the material we’d created to be put on display. It was a wonderful cultural exchange.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

Anna

By: Mike Harrison

Mike Harrison — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:06:40 +0000

Hi Vicky and Barbara

A really nice post with great ideas for celebrating the multicultural environment that an English language classroom can be.

At my college, we always have a Christmas and end-of-academic-year party and at each we encourage our students to bring music and food from their countries (the thing we most encourage is the food!). It’s always great, and creates such a different vibe when compared to the classroom setting we usually see the students in.

All the best

Mike

By: Eva Büyüksimkesyan

Eva Büyüksimkesyan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:01:53 +0000

Hi Vicky

Great post with lots of interesting ideas. One of the advantages of all these online stuff is that we are able to share all these activities after doing them in our classrooms and enable our students to learn about other cultures. Thanks a lot.

And a big Thank you to Barbara for this great blog where all of us come together and share, share and share…

Eva