Submitted by participants at LIFT OFF Schools' Forum March 08
Concerns/Issues around this right
Why? If they live in NI/ RoI they should celebrate this culture
There are not always opportunities for them to enjoy their own culture
How about Traveller culture and identity?
How about promoting the culture of this country?
We focus on the external signs of culture whereas a lot of what constitutes a culture is embedded in individuals.
Curriculum links
Curriculum Area Learning Intention
Arts Education To know more about traditional music;
To appreciate
different dress styles from around the world;
Collage work to depict different countries
The World Around Us/ To appreciate differences in how we live
SESE
ICT To use the internet to find information
Language & Literacy To listen to and read a range of stories from different
countries
Sample Whole School Activity
Hold a ‘World Day’ or even a ‘World Week’ in your school where the children get to learn more about their own culture and the cultures of the other children in the school and of people in their community.
Music: Bring in local musicians to demonstrate e.g. Irish dancers, Ulster-Scots musicians, West African drummers, Indian classical musicians.
Explore percussion instruments from around the world
Teach the children a simple song e.g. ‘Happy Birthday’ in several different languages.
World Around Us: If you teach in a multicultural school, use photographs from the various communities represented in your school as ‘pins’, to illustrate a large world map.
Get each class to research some of the cultural aspects of a particular country (e.g. food, music, dress, celebrations) and put the results of this research into a school display.
Research the origin of place names.
Language & Literacy: Learn how to meet and greet in different languages and discuss the differences in how people from different cultures greet each other.
Look at traditional stories from around the world, look at common themes and differences.
Discover the origins of common English words.
P.E.: Research and play games from other countries.
PDMU/ SPHE: Invite speakers from different cultures to talk to the children about particular aspects of their culture.
Visit a local church/ mosque/ synagogue/ temple or other place of worship.
Focus on the theme of ‘Respect’ from ‘The Right Start’ and ‘Valuing Difference’, Unit 6 from ‘Me, You, Everyone’.
ICT: Use the Internet to research in order to compile a factfile on various countries.
Maths: Data handling activities to represent favourite foods in the class,
Assemblies: Use the school assembly time to showcase some of the work that the classes have been doing on cultures represented in their school/ community or in countries that they have been studying.
