The world is constantly changing and where once classroom environments were monocultural, they are now multicultural and teachers have to get used to the diversity. Even today, in the 21st-century, skin color reveals a person’s chances and challenges. Kids should be taught how to adjust to new, multicultural classroom environments where skin tone shouldn’t be linked to positive or negative associations.
Traumatic events counseling
A traumatic event in the classroom environment poses a threat to a child’s mental and physical wellbeing. Bullying, being ridiculed, and experiencing violence can be frightening for a migrant child and their life at school is one of stress and trauma. The child experiences anxiety, fear, withdrawal, depression, and anger.
Kelowna Counseling plays an important role in counseling children. Children are vulnerable to discrimination. Part of their developmental growth depends on social interactions. With conflict and animosity in the classroom, they can’t hope to do well. Interactive Counselling has respectful and supportive counselors who offer several types of counseling sessions. It can be in person, by phone, or online and always at times that suit you.
Become familiar with some unusual traditions
Look at London today. It has always been an essentially White, English-speaking city but it has become one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Teachers have their hands full with a multicultural classroom that proves challenging when trying to keep the peace, respect, and tolerance.
To embrace this multiculturalism, teachers are encouraging the kids to become familiar with the different cultural festivals. For the festive season, people in many parts of the world celebrate Christmas in different ways with some unusual traditions.
Have a food fair with strange dishes
To encourage tolerance in the classroom, teachers can hold a food fair for just one day in the classroom to celebrate different dishes from around the world. Each child can bring a favorite dish that is commonly eaten in the country they are from.
One of the Spanish kids is bound to bring Paella Valenciana, a famous dish with rabbit and chicken or even seafood. It’s always a mouth-watering dish and eaten at lunchtime. The child can also tell the class about the origin of the dish before sharing it.
Make charts of the differences
Encourage the kids to recognize the difference with the kids in the class. Kids in the younger classes can create artwork that depicts the different eye colors, hair colors, skin color, and body types of kids. The average height of the Maasai people in Africa is roughly 6 feet, 3 inches, while the average height of Chinese people is roughly 5 foot 6 inches.
Point out the similarities and differences and explain to the kids how these differences make the world such an interesting place to live in. Teachers can even get the kids to create colorful placards with diversity and tolerance quotes such as ‘we may have differences, but we all belong to one human race.
Challenge kids to learn just some of the language
Teachers can make a point of getting the kids to learn something about the different backgrounds of pupils in the class. True, the school curriculum might dictate that the kids learn two languages in class, but it can be fun having a competition to see who can learn some of the more common sayings from each language group represented in the class.
Learning just a bit of another child’s language can demonstrate acceptance and tolerance in the classroom. It would also be a good idea to include some books from different cultures and languages. These are all great ideas to introduce multiculturalism into the classroom.