While we lived in Japan we were so fortunate to be surrounded by so many cultures. I know America is a "melting pot" but seldom does it get celebrated in a way that really teaches kids. The school that Hannah went to had several celebrations through out the year. I was so happy to return home but sad that once the kids started school they wouldn't get these experiences here. Well was I sadly mistaken! Where we live is so saturated with culture and at school they celebrate diversity in such a good way! The PTA sponsored an International Night. For 2 weeks the school halls were laden with flags from all over. Families could choose to share their culture on the set night with a display board, food, music, clothing, what have you. Since we lived abroad I decided that I would represent Japan. There are few Japanese families at the school but they are a little shy.
The kids received a little notebook(passport) and pencil on the night of the event and were to tour each country and write down the word "welcome" from each stop in their book. They then received a flag sticker representing that country. It was great. So many families showed up and there were 13 destinations! I was very proud at how nice an event it turned out to be.
The 2nd grade classes sang a few songs in different languages and others dance, read stories, etc. all in different languages. How cool! I wished I had had these experiences when I was in grade school.
So I guess coming back to America was good in more ways than I thought!
4 comments:
That is really great! I used to love the multi-cultural week that our school in brazil had, each day celebrating different countries represented at the school. It terminated with a parade around the track with representatives (kids) from each country holding their flag (kind of like the olympics). It always made me cry.
That is a fantastic idea! I might pass that along to our school. Good for you for taking charge of Japan. Where are the pictures???
That's wonderful! When we went to Disney World several years ago, we went through their cultural area, and we really loved it. I wish our school did something like this! There is absolutely no diversity here at all. I hate it.
Martie
Such a great idea! That would be a fun Primary quarterly, too!
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