netTrekker Blog

Ethnic Identity in a Multicultural World …

The importance of ethnic identity in coping with a variety of life situations has been a major focus of current literature. While identity development is a difficult task for all adolescents; it is particularly complicated for adolescents belonging to ethnic groups. Teens feel a pull between their “home” and “school” identity – caught between parents’ ethnic beliefs and values, and that of the mainstream society.

To help your students understand our multicultural world, you may want to use a story to provide context and understanding.  A great example of such a story is a semi-autobiography by Julia Alvarez titled, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

This story spans 30 years in reverse chronological order of four sisters that fled from the Dominican Republic with their family.   They were forced to adapt to American life which proved to be difficult and embarrassing as they met friends, and tried to fit in.  They experienced identify confusion as they adjusted to life in New York and trips back to Dominican Republic. The story is told in a series of episodes beginning in adulthood and moving back to their early life as a wealthy family on the island.   Themes on family life, character, and love are intertwined in the story as topics of immigration and ethnicity are addressed through Hispanic eyes.

To extend these topics in the classroom check out netTrekker’s Multicultural Pavilion
It provides geographic and cultural information on continents, countries, and regions. Resources on ethnic identity, acculturation, cultural sensitivities, diversity, cultural heritage, and social justice issues are also included here.

To provide a multicultural experience for your students, check out these netTrekker resources:

PBS: Beyond the Border
A companion site to the PBS site that explores the story of 4 brothers who leave their family in Mexico to seek a better life in Kentucky – and find a different version of the American dream.

BrainPOP: Faces
Face the facts as Tim and Moby introduce you to the wonderful world of the human face! In this BrainPOP movie, you’ll learn about some of the many roles the human face plays in your life, and you’ll find out how faces differ from each other. Discover a few reasons that facial features vary from person to person, and why where your ancestors came from might affect how your face looks. Finally, you’ll see why the face is so important for communication, and you’ll find out which emotions look the same on faces all over the world. Are you ready to put your best face forward?

Lower East Side Tenement Museum: We Are Multicolored
Explore the multicultural influences on your life by creating a flag that combines flags of different countries. Also learn the symbolism of colors and shapes in the flags of the world.

Education World: Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month!
Lots of activities that can be done in a classroom to celebrate the month. Includes biographies of Hispanic Americans in History, graphing from the US Bureau of Census, trivia questions, and more. Site also provides a long list of related sites about Hispanic Heritage on the Internet.

Tags: ELL Channel, literature, Multicultural Resources

Time for a Theme

‘Tis the time of year where kids are getting excited about the holidays, whether it’s because they believe in Santa, are expecting gifts, or just because they will enjoy two weeks off from school. I remember my days in the classroom of planning lessons around the theme of the winter holidays to keep my students interested and on task. netTrekker d.i. has some wonderful resources if you are planning lessons for this multicultural season.

We’ll start our exploration in the Elementary Tab. How many of you knew that you could do a search by theme in netTrekker d.i.? If you scroll to the bottom of the Elementary page, there is a section to either type in a keyword or to browse themes. With over 100 themes, we’re sure to have a topic for you. If you have a multi-cultural classroom, or are teaching on a multi-cultural theme, you can find resources on Hanukah, Kwanza, and Christmas. There are other holidays to explore too, for later.

When I taught middle school, I used the holidays to teach technology skills. We created spreadsheets on how to celebrate the three major winter holidays, a team PowerPoint on a selected holiday, and other computer activities centered around the holidays. We even divided Christmas up with regions because Christmas is celebrated different all over the world, and within our own country. With netTrekker d.i., your students can click on the ELL Channel and explore the holidays in the Multicultural area. This is a perfect starting place.

 

Happy holidays, and may this season of cultural celebration exploration be even more engaging and enlightening with netTrekker d.i. Share with us how you plan to teach with the holiday season by leaving a comment below.

Tags: ELL Channel, Holiday, theme