Literature is a tool for helping children understand their homes, communities and the world around them. Family members, childcare providers and teachers are reading children stories about other people in far-away places with different lifestyles even before they can read for themselves. There should be an importance encompassed in learning about other cultures through literature. The best way to learn about who you are is to know about where you come from. It is important for children to learn about other cultures as a young child. Ponciano and Shabazian, authors of Interculturalism: Addressing Diversity in Early Childhood, explain “Preschool children actively construct their own self identities by examining their similarities and differences from others (Ponciano and Shabazian, 11). Young children happen to be very open-minded, and are still forming their thoughts about the world and the culture they live in. Exposing children to other cultures can open their minds to a wide array of opportunities. It can generate understanding and appreciation for alternate customs and traditions, it gives an opportunity to compare and contrast cultures, and it shows them an introduction to internationalism.
One reason it is important to read diverse literature to children is for them to have an understanding of different cultures other than their own. Some researchers state that preschoolers are able to understand cultural differences, values, and economic classes even before they know the meaning of the words (Ponciano and Shabazian, 24). This creates an opportunity for parents and teachers to illustrate cultural diversity and inclusion in a positive tone. Amour, author of Connecting Children’s Stories to Children’s Literature: Meeting Diver...
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...y elements of plot, characterization, style, theme, and point of view. Good multicultural books will also challenge stereotypes and promote a positive view of the lives of diverse groups of people. By providing children with accurate and positive representations of the many cultural groups that make up the community, society and the world in which they live, books can help children learn to identify stereotypes and biases when they encounter them (The Importance of Multiculturalism in Children’s Books). Children's literature serves as both a mirror to children and as a window to the world around them by showing people from diverse groups playing and working together, solving problems and overcoming obstacles. At its best, multicultural children's literature helps children understand that despite our many differences, all people share common feelings and aspirations.
Cultural diversity is an important element. Often times we acknowledge cultural diversity but we don’t quite understand it simply because we do not live it. With this novel, readers can understand cultural
In the article How Banning Books Marginalizes Children, the author, Paul Ringel, states that approximately fifty-two percent of the books banned in the last ten years illustrate “diverse content”, such as race, religion, gender identity, etc. Ringel believes that attitudes about which books are “appropriate” for kids to read have too often suppressed stories about different cultures and life experiences. He basis his argument around the pretext that when libraries stop the banning it will allow kids to learn how to navigate imaginary worlds filled with differences and apply those lessons to their own lives.
219-224. Library Services Institutefor Minnesota Indians. Guidelines for Evaluating Multicultural Literature: 1970, pp. iv-v. Norton, Donna. 'Through the Eyes of a Child. Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffes, New Jersey: 1995.
Books offer children a variety of learnings sometimes with hidden messages that are not explicit in nature. The book ‘My Two Blankets’ by Irena Kobald and Freya Blackwood (2014) is a good example of a story that touches on many modern day issues (societal issues). Such as displaced persons due to war, emotions that children are sometimes exposed to, acceptance of diversity and friendship. This multimodal text is a great medium for being able to open up conversations in the classroom around any or all of these important topics. The lesson is motivated by the Australian Curriculum learning area, English with the content descriptor, “discuss literary experiences with others, sharing responses and expressing a point of view (ACELT1604)” (ACARA, 2014).
Yokota, Junko. "Issues in Selecting Multicultural Children's Literature." Language Arts Multiculturalism and the Language Arts. 70.3 (1993): 156-167. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
Children within this age group however are on the path of becoming young adults with their own identities. Finding your own identity when not being exposed to any negative thought provoking subject matter is difficult. Exposing a child to such topics that are out of their comfort zones is difficult enough without having to worry how the child will take in the newfound information. But through literature, parents and educators are able to expose children to difficult subjects such as abuse, religion, drugs, and so on and guide them into making the positive choices in life. Some are lead by example, and it is much easier to lead with a fictional character the children can relate to than just expecting them to know what to do when life takes a turn for the
Increasing your knowledge in many cultural backgrounds can be beneficial to you and to understand how life is for other people with different cultural upbringing than you. Three stories I found that would be really interesting to not only the students but also to the other teachers that I could be working with are “From Shadows of a Childhood” by Elisabeth Gille, “From Catfish and Mandala: A Two-wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam; Last Gamble” by Andrew X. Pham and “Shadows on the Wall” by Charles Mungoshi. I have chosen some articles that will provide more information on the topics and to help understand and explain that learning about other cultures will help the children become more educated with other cultures that
Hughes-Hassell, Sandra. “Multicultural Young Adult Literature as a Form of Counter-Storytelling.” The Library Quarterly 83.3 (2013): 212-28.
One of the main issues that has been a result of representing the under-represented in children’s literature is essentialism. Essentialism is the idea that members of a specific ethnic group should be the only ones to represent their culture in literature because they will give an accurate portrayal of their culture. Essentialism is a very sensitive issue because whole cultures are being represented and those cultures do not want their ethnic group to be portrayed in a negative manner. Furthermore, while essentialism is a matter of opinion and personal beliefs there is one novel that gives a good account as to why essentialism may be preferable to most audiences. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is a novel that displays stereotypical images of Asians and shows how three main characters
What are Literary lenses? The term acts a figure of speech. The lenses are used to view a piece of literature from different angles in order to find multiple themes. This has been a relatively new expression in the last few decades as literary lenses have grown to be taught in high schools and colleges throughout the United States and the world. Since the terms creation in the late 20th century, students now learn many of these lenses in school to analyze pieces of literature. The lenses can help a reader understand why something happened, or where it is taking place. They can help to bring discriminatory things to light and cast them aside to better appreciate the work. In the University of Minnesota’s College in the Schools Literature class
American ethnic literature is known today because of the many authors like Cathy Song, Ralph Ellison and Audre Lorde. These authors have made what is today, from the education of children as well. Children are now able to have a political understand of things. We are now able to have the understanding of our world’s cultures and have a greater intelligence on it. Today we have presented an improved understanding to the American society, in the political and economic that today’s world has
At a young age, third culture kids gain an expanded worldview by living in a country and culture that is different from their home culture. They observe many geographical differences around the world, and they learn that people view life from different philosophical and political perspectives. For example, people in some parts of the world think of Saddam Hussein as a hero, while people from other parts believe he’s a villain. Western culture is very time oriented, while relationships are of far greater importance in Eastern lands....
Multicultural literature is a way of increasing cultural awareness. Through multicultural books many young readers are able to make a connection with their own culture
“The greatest threats to our future isn’t in disease or illnesses, but in learning and social problems which are a direct consequence of modern living conditions, lifestyle and ignorance of children’s biological needs perpetuated by a culture of political correctness.” Goddard, S. (2011) In other words, our children aren’t being exposed to culture, to literacy in the same way. Instead of reading them Fairy Tales, instead of culturally diverse nursery folk songs they are being put in front of TV’s that regurgitate an endless cycle of Sesame Street clones. A poor substitute for parents. Children need this exposure to grow up to be healthy well-adju...
Studying of cultural literature will promote an individual to become open-minded. Learning about other cultures and their development, which would be impossible to understand by simply reading the pieces of work, will allow the individual to see and appreciate new things in all regards. In that process, it can be easy to understand how unique individuals are around the world and relate easier. Noting differences can also lead to showing similarities such as certain events that shaped literature itself. When one is knowledgeable about the reasons behind why certain pieces of literature were created, it opens the door to studying the very development that occurred over time. It becomes clear to see the thought development as time progressed like in instances such as women’s role in society and how they have changed. Cultural literature can not only explain such things in a deeper connection that history can provide, but how the very same topic can be in another country anywhere in the world. It is clear how everyone experienced some of the same events that changed how things were viewed at the time and compare the outcomes to how they are now. Literature can provide a more humanized version of what we already know, which is essential for all individuals in s...