Session 2

Session 2: Respecting Cultural Diversity

Inquiry 2: Respecting the Diversity of Families Who Have Recently Immigrated

Appreciating Differences

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Over your life, you’ve probably learned the following:

• People are alike in many ways and different in many ways.
• People might feel uncomfortable around people who dress, talk, or act differently than themselves.
• Various factors (e.g., interests, capabilities, values) contribute to the shaping of a person’s identity.
• People have different interests, motivations, skills, and talents.

The combination of similarities and differences is what makes a community. For example, there can be many people who share a desire to work with children. While some of these people may be interested in science and choose to become pediatricians, others might love literature and decide to teach language arts to children. Still others might choose to become child care providers or social workers. Together, their different interests combine to form a community that values and cares for children.

Consider the following reasons cultural diversity should be promoted in child care environments:

• to recognize every person as special and valuable
• to promote high self-esteem in children
• to support children in learning about their culture
• to encourage children and families to respect other cultures
• to teach children how to respectfully interact with others who are different from themselves
• to encourage children and families to live happily and cooperatively in a diverse world

Teaching Activity

To further develop your understandings about how to teach children to respect cultural diversity, you may wish to try the following activity with children at least five years old. This is a simple activity to look at how people can appear different on the outside yet be the same on the inside. This activity will help create sensitivity about prejudice or racism. Ask your teacher whether this is a required learning activity.

Materials

• one brown-shelled egg
• one white-shelled egg
• one bowl

Directions

Step 1: Show children aged at least five years old the brown-shelled and white-shelled eggs.

Step 2: Have the children discuss the similarities and differences in the eggs.

Step 3: Break each egg into the bowl and dispose of the shells.

Step 4: Ask the children questions such as the following:

• Can you tell which egg yolk came from which egg shell?
• Why do you think it is hard to tell which egg yolk came from which egg shell?
• How does this activity relate to people?
• How are people alike and how are they different?

Alberta’s Population Continues to Become Increasingly Diverse

The following statistics, which are as of July 1, 2006, were retrieved from The Daily, an online newsletter produced by Statistics Canada. The article was written on September 27, 2006. You might want to check the website for more recent information. To find the website, search the Internet using the terms “The Daily + Statistics Canada.”