Identity

Activity 1

Pie chart : This exercise aims to describe our own identity based on different categories : local (local community, family, friends, …) national ( nation, country, politics, …) transnational ( cosmopolitan group, diaspora,…). For this activity, we make a pie and divide it into as many parts as we want, according to our identity. Then, we share with an other student what we did.

This exercise is interesting because even if we know who we are or what we like, write it on paper is something that we are not used to at all. I liked sharing my sheet with an other student and know more about him, but I also thought that it was difficult to draw the pie, especially to know how to divide it.

Activity 2

Story in different languages : This was a really interesting activity that we could do with pupils, especially when pupils have different mother tongues. 
The class is divided in two groups. First, we have to put some pictures in a correct order so that they tell a story. We collaborate with all the students of the group, we share our ideas about which story could be the best one, the most interesting one. For this exercise, we speak in English and tell once to the whole group what is the story. Then, every student take a picture and make a line in order to tell the story to the other groups.  This time, when each student tells his/her picture, he/she speaks in his/her mother tongue. As in every group there are people from different countries, a lot of languages are spoken.

This activity considers the mother tongue of every student and I think that is something we should do more with pupils. First, because we learn a lot by sharing something of our culture or our origin, secondly because it encourages pupils to be open to new experiences.

Useful links  for a multicultural educational setting

This website is full of multicultural literacy resources and it can give ideas for teaching with some books, which is a good way in order that pupils understand well the concept of multiculturalism: http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources/multicultural.htm

An other website that is based on "books to teach multiculturalism" is the multicultural minute. In this website, we can find a lot of videos where people talk about good methods to teach and advices to this subject: https://www.youtube.com/user/ShensBooks

 A good method to work on multicultural setting is to play music. We already talked about something like that in Comparative Education with Egon, and I think that is something really interesting. I found this website called "making multicultural music", which could be really useful: http://makingmulticulturalmusic.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/a-new-video-website-multicultural-kids-music-vids-shares-music-and-world-cultures-with-kids/

This following website gives also some good ideas for an multicultural teaching setting: http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/nov/07/teaching-multicutural-classroom-advice-challenges

This movie is an innovative activity that worked in USA and that could be interesting to establish if we have a class children from everywhere and with cultures' problems.

This link talks about how parents can give their children a multicultural education. As a teacher, this not exactly what we do, but when we think about it, if we know how parents could do it, it would help our teaching or our understanding about this main topic. And if we want to set up a project in our class, parents could be involved so I think that it is important to link our teaching and the entourage of the child. http://www.multiculturalfamilia.com/2011/08/24/how-to-give-your-child-a-multicultural-education/ 

Reflect on this quote

Globalization at the cultural level has brought about the fragmentation and multiplication of identities and this may require, paradoxically, a return to the familiar. (Cohen et al.)

Everyday, we face different identities from different cultures. All these cultures, identities, languages are mixed and we must confront its. For some people, it is really easy to deal with, but some others are lost in this mixture or they are afraid to it. That could be the reason why persons would like to return to the familiar, to refocus on something that is in their background, in their origin. It could also help to feel more secure. Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to go through the fear, so we look for something that reassure us.

World citizenship is to be embraced, not feared. New forms of post-national understanding, responsibility, the state, justice, art, science and public understanding can emerge. This in turn can lead to more advanced forms of democracy, liberty and mutuality. (Beck)

Instead of being afraid of what is in our society, we should work on that and accept the challenge to mix the different identities. This is how globalization can work. We should  also go forward with what are the trends. Citizenship is progressing in all over the world and if everyone want to understand the world in which we live, we should put our fear away and dare and look at the topics of our citizenship.
  
Core concepts 
 Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. It is defined as the viewpoint that "one's own group is the center of everything," against which all other groups are judged. Ethnocentrism often entails the belief that one's own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_definition_of_ethnocentrism

Identity: "Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Personality:  Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person who uniquely influences his or her cognition, emotions, motivations and behaviors in various situations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_psychology