HD-412 MULTICULTURAL

Multicultural Curriculum

Moises Ruiz

HD-412

C. Franklin

July 20, 2016

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Introduction

The following paper will be an attempt to create a multicultural curriculum for school-

age students. This lesson will be for a week worth of instruction with facts, information, arts/

craft activities, and current events. I will base some of this lesson from my actual lesson plans I

have used in the past, furthermore I will also base the lesson on Chinese culture as to be sensitive

and inclusive to the student body as a whole, since the area served is predominately Asian. This

lesson will be implemented a week ahead (or so) before Chinese, or Lunar, New Year (since the

Chinese are not the only country that celebrates it). This lesson is designed to for 4th grade

students, but can be adapted to lower or higher grades as well.

Something to keep in mind before planning is the Lunar New Year date is not the same

day like in the Judeo-Christian calendar (January 1st) that we follow, it can shift from the end of

January to early February. In 2015 the Lunar New Year fell on Monday February 8th.

Last note, it is always prudent to be inclusive to all cultures, especially those that are

reflected in the classroom. Validating all the children diverse cultures, give equal time for all

cultures (Igoa, 1995, pg. 126).

Weekly Curriculum

Starting the week on Monday the lesson will start with a Introduction to China, usually a

globe and map will help with this, and ask students where they think China is. Ask open-ended

questions and provide thoughtful clues like: China is located on the Asian continent etc

Once the location is found, I find a game of Fun Facts and/or Trivia is a great source to engage

the students. The students either listen to the information given by the teacher, take turns writing

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the facts on the board, and/or have other

students read the facts to the group. This allows

the students to participate. For example: The

Chinese flag is red and gold, and it has one large

star and four smaller stars. This is followed up

with why the flags has those colors and what the

stars represent. The red on the flag represent communist revolution and the traditional color of

the Chinese culture. While gold/yellow is the official color of the Manchu Dynasty (a revered

family). The large gold star represents the Communist part and the four smaller stars represent

social classes of the people: working, peasants, petty & national bourgeoisie (Smith, 2014).

After going through the facts children can reflect and re-call the information in many ways. One

way that help with group transitions or lining-up is to ask a question and the student that answers

correctly get to move on. This activity is valuable when

students volunteer information and tell the class something that

is not found in books or online, getting first hand knowledge is

always a good way to incorporate new ideas and makes the

students identity and validity stronger. Fortunate for the class

there are three students that participate and share ideas and

thoughts that connection the information and gives it a human

factor, I also include them in the discussions (if they are

comfortable) have allowed them to lead the discussion as well,

thus establishing their identity in the classroom.

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Tuesday & Wednesday the focus will be on language arts components of the lesson with

Chinese Characters. Students learn the basic words and numbers with an interactive lesson.

Student can guess which character means what number when they are written on the board not in

consecutive order. Usually students fold their paper into 10 spaces and write the Chinese

character and their guess as to its meaning/value (the first three are always easily guessed and

ten). Pronunciation of the numbers are easy, but even I had to be schooled by my Chinese-

speaking students on proper pronunciation. Continuing the lesson the children learn the proper

phrasing of wishing a prosperous new year and the character used. Using red, orange and yellow

construction paper, they create large banners to hang over their door, rooms or use as book

markers. Small strip of yellow paper are cut and the children write out their new year message,

with visual examples of course. Traditionally is it is said to bring good luck and prosperity to

your house (if hung at the door) said Ms. Connie Wong the Asst. Teacher for the Preschool

program.

The example on the left are students work samples

they made during this craft activity. The first

banner on the far left says Xin Nain Kuia le in

Mandarin Chinese which means New Year,

Happy (or joy, or delight). The right banner reads

Gong Xi Fa Cai in Cantonese Chinese which

means Wishing one joy and prosperity.

Generally this project is time consuming as you

may imagine so giving the students a second day

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to complete this is usually the best recourse, also some may have difficulty with he placement

and design of the characters. Using parents and colleagues are a great resource and often correct

errors that can crop up from any out dated source even books.

Thursday we take a different approach, we change gears with a critical thinking activity.

Usually a current event article (age appropriate) is selected, the students read the article, ask

questions and discuss it, followed by a written assignment with their reflections and thoughts.

Selecting an appropriate article and printing it out including some image to give visual cues is a

great way to convey the article and information.

Image to the left is take from an article on Yahoo!

News that was used this past February of 2016.

After reading the article the students are

encouraged to re-call what they just read or heard

and begin to have thought provoking idea and

discussions, including any students that might have recently travelled to China and encourage

them to share their story of their travels. the emphasis the Chinese put upon an individualss

appropriate place and behavior (Mena, 2008, pg. 147). Articles like these bring about ideas

about social justice, being informed and problem solve solutions.

Friday can be fluid with activity, such as a cooking, art, or guest speaker, using the

resources that are available. Inviting family members of the students and/or colleagues are the

first resources that may be over looked, but their real life experience and stories are unique and

enrich the lesson even more. Parent communication is essential to get them to participate in the

lesson, explaining to them that their unique stories can create a sense of inclusion and

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understanding among the various cultures. By now the students have been immersed in some of

the culture, tradition and heritage, and may have more thoughtful ideas, comments or questions

for the speaker. There have been speaker who brought in home-made Chinese cuisine, and some

that have traditional clothing or simply teach the students how to use chop-sticks.

In conclusions it is creating a lesson that is sensitive, inclusive and generally reflecting of

the students is a great way to build community and understanding among the students. Getting to

learn about other cultures, traditions and heritage is great way to build community amongst the

student. The lesson does not need to be limited to a week, it can go for 2 weeks, and it also does

not have precede a holiday or event. Introducing other cultures can be done anytime over the

school year, but there also has to be a inclusion for all cultures as well. If there is going to be a

week about the culture of China, there also has to be one for every culture, especially that reflect

the student body. To exclude, or combine, a particular culture can be very harmful, biased and

irresponsible to all students in the class.

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References

Blanchard, Ben (2015) China warns of widespread smog, Beijing issues second red alert.
Retrieved from https://www.yahoo.com/news/beijing-issues-second-ever-red-alert-
severe-smog-010839745.html?ref=gs

Igoa, Cristina (1995) The Inner World of the Immigrant Child. Yahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Assoc., Inc., Publishers

Mena, Janet (2008) Diversity in Early Care and Education: Honoring differences New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Smith, Whitney (2014) Flag of China. In Encyclopedia Brittanica Online. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-China

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