5 events in the school calendar that encourage students to be global citizens
- Posted by Brendan Hitchens |
- Wednesday 13 February 2019, 12:36 PM (EST)
With access to the 24-hour news cycle, social media and ever-advancing technologies, our students are becoming more and more active and informed global citizens. The challenge now is how to positively harness this and nurture young minds that don’t just think critically, but ethically and empathetically.
The following five events in the calendar provide school’s ample opportunities to do just this, by actively linking the curriculum to real-world events and engaging students through empowerment.
International Mother Language Day – 21 February
With language and culture so intrinsically linked, International Mother Language Day provides a timely occasion to develop intercultural understanding across schools with one of our greatest resources: community. For example, have you thought of hosting a multilingual assembly?
International Mother Language Day is held on 21 February annually. The United Nations General Assembly has also declared 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages to raise awareness of the crucial role languages play in people’s daily lives.
“Language defines the identity that is reflected in our cultural practices,” says Faith Baisden from First Languages Australia. “It holds the tangible link to our history and to our sense of place. Without language we lose our knowledge of the land itself, our stories, songs and the way our people see the world.”
Highlighting the linguistic diversity of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, census data from 2016 found that a total of 150 Australian Indigenous languages were spoken in households across the country.
Ms Baisden offers some simple advice for teachers wanting to incorporate Indigenous languages in their classrooms: “The main thing is always to begin by contacting someone in the local language community. In some areas there may be Indigenous language teachers available, Elders who can be engaged by the school or perhaps some resources that have been created by the community that can be used to build awareness.”
Harmony Day – 21 March
Held every year on 21 March, Harmony Day is an opportunity to celebrate the nation’s diversity through actions that promote understanding, empathy and inclusion.
A day for both reflection and critical thinking, the day was started in 1999 to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Harmony Day is a day to celebrate Australian multiculturalism, based on the successful integration of migrants into our community,” says a spokesperson from the Harmony Day Team of the Department of Home Affairs.
“Australia is the most successful multicultural country on Earth and we should celebrate this and work to maintain it. Harmony Day is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.”
World Refugee Day – 20 June
Celebrated since 1986, Refugee Week takes place in June each year and coincides with World Refugee Day, held on 20 June annually.
“Refugee Week is Australia’s peak annual activity to raise awareness about the issues affecting refugees and celebrate the positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society,” says Frankie Harrington from the Refugee Council of Australia.
Be it through guest speakers, the arts, film, or literature from writers such as Anh Do’s The Happiest Refugee, Mem Fox’s I’m Australian Too and Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, there are ample ways to help students understand the many challenges refugees face coming to Australia.
Like Harmony Day, Refugee Day is another medium through which to experience and celebrate the rich diversity of Australia, while enhancing intercultural understandings.
NAIDOC Week – 7 to 14 July 2019
NAIDOC Week is a chance to recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
NAIDOC was originally an acronym for "National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee".
NIADOC Week is celebrated from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. This year’s theme is “Voice, Treaty, Truth: Let’s work together for a shared future”.
John Paul Janke, co-chair of the National NAIDOC Week Committee, says: “NAIDOC is about proudly celebrating our cultural survival. Our uniqueness as the oldest continuing culture on the planet, and our 50,000 years of survival. It’s about sharing our culture, our stories and our proud history and the contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have made to this nation.”
International Youth Day – 12 August
A day of celebrating young people and their contributions to the planet, International Youth Day is commemorated on 12 August every year.
More recently, the day has been used as an opportunity to investigate the UN Sustainable Development Goals and integrate them across the curriculum, be it critical and creative thinking, right through to health and physical education.
“The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a great framework for young people to understand global issues and what is being done to address them as well as consider how they can help create a better future for all,” says Emeline Gillingham, senior project officer at Asia Education Foundation and representative of the UN Association's Young Professionals Network (Victoria). “By learning about the SDGs, young people become more active and informed global citizens.”
Former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon echoed these thoughts in his 2012 speech to launch the Global Education First Initiative: “We must foster global citizenship. Education is about more than literacy and numeracy – it is also about citizenry. Education must fully assume its central role in helping people to forge more just, peaceful and tolerant societies.”
14 February 2019, 11:48 PM (EST)
Wonderful. Very timely resources.