As a reminder to you, when it comes to teaching your students to be globally-minded citizens who not only respect but celebrate diversity, it’s not really what you teach – it’s how you teach it. However, it’s important to find good resources for teaching cultural diversity!
Part I and Part II of this series were mini-workshops around understanding the importance of cultural belonging and mindset around bias you may have as a teacher. It’s important that you are able to find ways to reach students in your class who feel a belonging to a different culture. If you missed those two mini-workshop episodes you can find those here.
Now we are moving on to Part III of How to teach cultural diversity in your class. This is all about how to find resources to teach cultural unit studies or lessons – and this is where the fun comes in!
You can get super creative and do so many fun things for your students to explore and engage with other cultures. However, sometimes we forget the bigger picture of the culture because we are focused on factual type statistics that don’t really move the needle on creating a truly global citizen. For example, you can allow your students to color the flag of a country, know the name of the capital and locate it on the map, but this is not the type of engaged learning experience that allows your students to empathize or connect to another culture.
What can you provide that will be centered around student learning and cultural exploration? My favorite place to start is by exploring cultural Stories – especially legends that share historical characters and events. For a deeper dive into the power of stories, you can check out episode #32 ‘The Power of Storytelling‘.
I use several legends and stories in The Scotland in the Class unit and The Ireland in the Class unit. You can check out some of those free resources by clicking on the images below.
How to find Resources for teaching cultural diversity in your classroom
Poll your parents.
Parents are always honored to be asked about their own
cultural traditions. Use this opportunity to learn more about the families in your school and about their culture.
Reach out to international teachers
One of the best ways to find Resources for teaching cultural diversity is to find international schools in the country you want to teach about. Search for facebook groups of teachers at international schools. Build a relationship teachers you find so that you can a mutually beneficial cultural exchange between your classes.
When using the internet, go to the official country’s website.
You can find trusted links to cultural resources and even to the national tourist board.
Find a cultural expert
Search for dancers, musicians, artists, and storytellers from the
culture you have chosen. These types of industries are rich in culture, history, and traditions so you will get a lot of information from them.
Connect with other global minded teachers inside the Cultural Classroom Facebook Group.
We’d love to connect more teachers who are interested in celebrating diversity in the classroom! https://www.facebook.com/groups/diverselearninginschools
Download the full blueprint on teaching about cultural diversity in your classroom so you can work through the entire workshop with pen and paper. It will make the entire process more effective.
Don’t forget to checkout our free downloads page where you can find some great content and resources for teaching cultural diversity.