International Day at Dobie

Last week to had an International Day at Dobie. We thought it would be nice to talk to kids aged 11-13 about differences and similarities among cultures. Most Dobie students come from different ethnic backgrounds, so being able to overcome their differences, to cooperate and work with each other despite differences in ethnicities is crucial for them. We also wanted to talk about stereotypes. The hypothesis is that if kids are able to recognize cultural stereotypes, they might also realize that their perception of a group (class, for example) or each other might not be always accurate. So consequently, they should be more tolerant of each other. These are the main ideas Stephanie, Anna, and I had in mind when putting the International Day program. We also wanted to tell the kids about our cultural backgrounds, which could help us bond with hem. Besides, I remember when I was in middle school, it was always interesting for me to learn about other countries, since back then I did not have a chance to travel.

We started our International day with a brief exercise on who has traveled the farthest. Most of the kids have been out of state, and some of them as far as north of the country, and the state of Washington.  We talked for a bit about differences they noticed while traveling, and most of the kids said food and clothing.

When talking with kids about stereotypes, I realized they don’t really know what stereotypes are. We had the kids work I pairs to draw a typical Polish, a Russian, and an Italian person, as they saw them. I wasn’t really surprised that the kids have very little idea about Poland and the Polish, but little knowledge about Russia was rather shocking. All of them came up with funny drawings, and we discussed what they drew and why. A typical Russian person, of course, works for KGB, likes to ski, wears a fur coat, and is a part-time specnaz employee (I was rather astonished that a 11-year old Ricky knew that word; specnaz’ means special purpose troops). An Italian, of course, likes pizza, spaghetti, and is in mafia. And the drawing of a Polish was based on the only piece of knowledge the kids had – that Poland once was invaded, so they built it upon that (they added apartment buildings, and tanks). 

Then Anna and I talked about our countries (Poland and Russia). I showed pictures of some of the most famous places of interest (czar cannon, czar bell, largest jet, etc), and the kids seemed to be very impressed.  Then we gave the students handouts “How to say hello in different languages”. You should have seen how excited the kids were! They started practicing saying hello to each other, and trying to remember some of the words they know in different languages. It was a lot of fun!

At the end of class, we had a fun quiz on different countries. It was a group exercise, so the kids took turns reading questions and discussing answers. “In which country there are 10 sheep per person?” “Where do the tallest people live?” “Which country has the biggest airport?” – It turned out that our middle schoolers know answers to many of these questions!

As a small reward for their efforts, kids got Russian candy. While they were eating the candy, we talked about what we have learnt today. Some of the responses were:

“People are different”

“Stereotypes are not always true”

“We should be aware of stereotypes”

And, my favorite – “I want to go to Russia” (Ricky)

In my opinion, the day was a great success.

What the kids learnt:

• What stereotypes are and why it is important to recognize them
• Countries can be much different from what they know about them
• Stereotypes are not always true

Skills we practiced:

• Work in pairs, learning to work together and agree on things;
• Work in a big group: learning to listen to each other ad to agree on things
• Drawing: developing imagination