Page 35 - Diversity in Action

Developing Linguistic and Cultural Awareness at an Early Age

The model operates on an open framework, allowing exploration of cul-
tural diversity through themes like sports (Slovenia), food (Italy), sea animals
(Croatia), clothing (France), and transportation (United Kingdom). These top-
ics serve as entry points to learning about cultures and languages through
music, movement, and visual analysis.
Children learn that some cultural traits are universal, while others differ
widely. Examples include:

• Eating habits: Children explore various ways of eating, such as enjoying
continental or English breakfasts, eating traditional dishes (e.g. jota in
Slovenia, pasta in Italy, Sacher cake in Vienna), using chopsticks (China),
eating with hands (India), or with forks and spoons (Europe). They also
learn cultural nuances, such as slurping noodles being polite in Japan
but considered rude in Western countries.
• Clothing: Traditional attire like the sari (India), kilt (Scotland), kimono
(Japan), hijab (Muslim cultures), and national costumes are introduced.
They also discuss school uniforms, common in many schools around
the world.
• Customs and practices: Children discover cultural greetings, such as
cheek-kissing in Latin American, Romance, and Arab cultures, bow-
ing in Japan, and celebrations of festivals and religious events like Pust
(Slovenia), Zagreb Folk Fest (Croatia), Sanfermines (Spain), Easter, Pe-
sach, Qurban Bayram, etc.
• Languages: They learn that some regions, like South Tyrol (German, Ital-
ian, Ladin), or countries, like Switzerland (German, Italian, French) have
multiple official languages.
• Sports: Unique sports such as cross-country skiing (Norway), sumo
(Japan), or caber toss (Scotland) are explored.
• Transportation:Childrenlearnaboutmodesoftransportthatvarybyre-
gion, such as gondolas (Venice), suspension railways (Germany), Coco
Taxis (Cuba), dog sleds (Alaska), and reindeer sleds (Lapland).

These cultural traits are best explored through collaborative projects and
activities tailored to the children’s linguistic and cultural backgrounds and
the communities they live in. This culturally rich content encourages cu-
riosity, active engagement, and participation, supporting social, emotional,
and literacy development. Additionally, it allows teachers to create dynamic
learning environments that foster child-initiated activities (Ahn & Kim, 2009).
The results of the piloting of the model showed that children embraced

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