Diversity Activities

Why Multicultural Education Activities are Important

Activities allow students to experience new things and to express their feelings. Using activities can: 

• Help educators reach students who may benefit from a more hands-on or practical learning experience.
• Allow students to become actively involved in the learning process.
• Encourage students to critically think about and analyze information themselves, rather than being passive recipients.

 

How to Incorporate Multicultural Education Activities Into Your Classroom

• Consider teaching techniques that increase the success and effectiveness of the activity.
• Encouraging all students to participate (especially during discussion).
• Plan adequate time to process the activity.
• Ask open-ended questions.
• Foster a feeling of emotional safety in your classroom by respecting every student's opinion encouraging all students to be respectful of one another.

 

Links:

Activities That Foster Cultural Sensitivity

The Iris Center Activities

• This website provides downloadable PDF files that teachers can use in their classroom to help foster understanding of cultures and increasing cultural sensitivity.

Awareness Activities

• With readings, quizzes, facts sheets, data bases of relevant movies, and activities this site provides educators with tools to foster dialogue among students.

What is culture

• This website provides lesson plans that can be adapted for any age group. These lesson plans include topics on defining culture, patterns of culture, and application of cultural knowledge.

Culture for Kids

• This site reviews and organizes cultural resources for children. Their library of information includes books, language textbooks, videos, audiocassettes, software, CD-ROMs, dolls, games, posters, crafts, t-shirts and resource materials for parents and teachers.

Multicultural Calendar

• With information divided up by month, holiday, and country, this site provide educators a searchable index of many of the major world holidays.

World Area Studies

• This site provides internet links to virtually any culture or region of the world.

Area and Regional Studies

• Organized by country, this site provide educators with many resources for researching cultures and regions.

Activities That Foster Critical Thinking About Diversity

Awareness Activities

• With readings, quizzes, facts sheets, data bases of relevant movies, and activities this site provides educators with tools to foster dialogue among their students.

Lesson plans for teaching tolerance

• This website provides many resources for teaching about tolerance. Topics of lesson plans include Sept 11, respect for differences, and language diversity.

Multicultural Lesson Plans

• This website provides a variety of multicultural education lesson plans. Lesson plans are geared toward younger age groups, but may be adapted as needed.

Lesson Plan for Teaching about Stereotypes

• This website contains lesson plans, discussion topics, and other classroom activities about stereotyping.

General Multicultural Education Activities

Awesome Library

• This website provides information, activities, lesson plans, and classroom resources about many topics in multicultural education.