subject: Including Multiculturalism in a Preschool [print this page] Including Multiculturalism in a Preschool
It is vitally important that all cultures be acknowledged and accepted in early childhood education services. Multiculturalism then becomes an exciting and rewarding way to learn and to teach.
New Zealand is accepting more and more different cultures into its society every year. As a result, ECE services are enrolling more and more immigrant and refugee children. It is important for staff members of these services to be welcoming of new religions, languages and customs ensuring a smooth transition into the centre.
Teachers are required to work with children and families from diverse cultures whether they agree with their own personal beliefs or not. Therefore it is vital that to better understand a child their family and culture is to be understood as well. This can be achieved by building meaningful relationships with the caregivers of children, where teachers can gain greater insight to the lives of the children they teach.
There are many other ways in which a preschool can incorporate families' cultures within the learning environment such as:
Making a family tree with photos from every family in the centre Making a world map/globe with the children and placing family names or photos on the countries where different families are from Playing music and singing songs from the children's countries Making the flags of different countries with the children Inviting parents to come to the centre to cook the ethnic food of their country Have a cultural day once a term asking all the children to come dressed in traditional clothes from their country Learn a greeting in a different language every week Celebrate the significant holidays of different cultures, not only Easter and Christmas Include clothes from around the world in the dress up box Provide books from countries around the world many will have the English text as well as the foreign text. Display posters and pictures of children from around the world Have family members come and share something special at group time Have family evenings where families get the opportunity to meet others in the community Use the notice board to provide useful information to newly-arrived families
These are only a few of the many wonderful ways early childhood education services can meet the needs of new families enrolling into centres.
"People can only live fully by helping others to live. When you give life to friends you truly live. Cultures can only realize their further richness by honoring other traditions. And only by respecting natural life can humanity continue to exist." -Diasaku Ikeda.
