As a veteran teacher of English, literature and history, I have employed many different lessons to encourage my students to seek understanding of other cultures.
To this end, I designed an introductory lesson that focuses on identifying, defining and applying multicultural terms. I have discovered over the years that students think they know what a word means, only to discover their application of it might be flawed.
To begin, I make up a list of multicultural terms. The students are broken into groups of four to six. Each group is given the list of terms and asked to use teamwork to define the words. This activity typically takes about 30 minutes. I then reconvene the class while they are still in groups, and we share our definitions and come to a consensus for each definition. This actively involves everyone in the process.
After we have agreed on the definitions, students are given situations that involve one or more of the terms -- a situation that illustrates both prejudice and xenophobia, for example, compared with another that illustrates discrimination. These are real-life situations, and students love to "solve" the answer for each one. This typically takes up to 20 minutes. We then reconvene as a class and go over each situation to reach a consensus.
At this point, the students begin to feel more confident in their understanding and application of these terms. I then send them home to search out examples in the newspaper, television or online. The students are required to find at least two articles and defend their choice, in writing, of the terms they applied.
To fully assess the students' understanding of these terms, I give them a quick quiz in which they must match the terms to the definitions that we all agreed upon.
Terms used:
Bias
Discrimination
Stereotype
Prejudice
Ethnocentrism
Nationality
Race
Diversity
Ethnicity
Xenophobia
Culture
Susan C. Hunt
Hampton Public School District
Hampton, N.J.
