Help Your Newcomers Develop Pride in Their Heritage
by Judie Haynes
Do you know how to use the diversity in your classroom to help your newcomers develop pride in their native languages and cultures? Try some of these ideas.
Newomers offer a rich resource from which mainstream teachers and students can learn about other languages and cultures.
Some simple things you can do to develop pride are:
- Ask bilingual parents to do cultural demonstrations in mainstream classrooms.
- Encourage newcomers to share their language skills by teaching their classmates to pronounce their home-language words on the labels placed around the classroom.
- Display pictures in your classroom from the students' home counties.
- Have newcomers write in a home-language diary, read books in their home language, draw pictures of people and places in their home countries, and listen to native language music (with headphones).
You don't want to discourage the maintenance of home languages. Whatever your students learn in their home-languages will eventually be transferred to English.
Tie Culture to Curriculum
Tie the cultures of your second language learners to your curriculum whenever possible. We know that all children bring to school a wealth of experiences from their families, homes, neighborhoods and communities. Children with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds have stories and experiences that are unique. Teachers should use these experiences and the environment of their classrooms to help children begin to understand other cultures. They should build on the knowledge their students and families have of the countries they come from and the cultures they represent.
The diversity in many classrooms provides a starting point for children to begin to understand and value the many distinct cultures of the world. Teachers should take advantage of this natural resource that is in their classrooms. This helps American children to respect the cultures of other people and, at the same time, it helps children from diverse backgrounds develop pride in their heritage. When students see their home cultures and languages being studied in the classroom, their culture has been validated. This helps to develop positive self- esteem in culturally and linguistically diverse children.
Label Classroom Objects
Label things in your room. Make a separate set of labels of classroom objects for each of the different languages spoken in your classroom. Ask a native speaker of each language to translate the words and write them under the English words on the labels.You may have two or more labels on your door with the word "door" in English and in the different languages of the newcomers in your class.
Although your newcomers may not be literate in their own languages, they will recognize the written form of their language and feel proud that it is displayed in your room. Keep a collection of pictures from different countries. If they are laminated, these pictures can be shared among a number of teachers.
Ask bilingual students and parents to bring in native-language magazines. Have students cut out pictures and hang them in your room to represent the cultures of your newcomers. This helps them develop pride in their heritage and demonstrates respect for their culture.
© 1998-2004 Judie Haynes, www.everythingESL.net