One day several Chinese children were discussing the upcoming Chinese New Year, and sharing what they knew of it. What they were most interested in their conversation was the year in which they were born. Poppy said that she was born in the year of the rat. Kimmie said that she was also born in the year of the rat. More and more children came over and joined in the discussion. Some teachers also joined the conversation and shared what year they were born. At this time, educator Sue asked, "Do you know what the upcoming Lunar New Year of 2024 will be?" The children looked at her with wide curious eyes. Sue said that the 2024 Lunar New Year is the Year of the Dragon in China, sparking the children to talk about dragons with one another. Based on this situation, our class launched a series of activities related to the Lunar New Year. First, the children learned to write the Chinese character "龙" for dragon, to demonstrate how Chinese characters are very different from characters in other languages as they are not made up of letters. Chinese characters are made up of hieroglyphs. Each character is like a picture. The children showed great interest in the Chinese characters. Educator Sue proceeded to write them on paper. Dots were used to form the character dragon on the lantern, and the children were encouraged to trace the dot to dots. Many children were very interested in tracing it with colored crayons. After Kimmie finished tracing a dragon character, she said, "I don't need to trace it. I can write it myself." Then she took out another piece of paper and carefully drew it. Poppy said, "I can also write it myself." She very quickly wrote "龙,“ for “dragon." More children said that they would also write it themselves. After the children finished writing, they also shared their joy of their work with each other. Second, we made a big dragon out of cardboard. The children decorated a cardboard box with red and yellow paper into a dragon head, and then glued the cut long crepe paper on a long cardboard to form a colorful dragon body. The children danced with their created dragon, chanting as they danced, “Dragon, Dragon head and tail are so long, move up and move down, to the big drum." Thirdly, the children also used their hand eye coordination and sense of direction to cut paper in a circular motion, creating a long dragon. The last activity to promote the learning was that we invited a few grandparents to make dumplings with us as they are a major traditional food during the Lunar New Year. To make dumplings, they pressed the dough into flat discs with their hands under the guidance of the educator Sue, and then kneaded them along the edges with their hands. Cillian not only participated in the activity of making dumplings with great interest, but also enjoyed eating them during lunch. In addition, educator Mia also shared with the children traditional stories about the Lunar New Year in South Korea. She guided and helped the children learn to make traditional South Korean clothes. The children also experienced wearing the traditional South Korean clothes she brought and danced happily. Through this series of activities, there are many benefits for preschool children.
The significance of multicultural education for preschool children is to help them build awareness of respect and tolerance for different cultures, enhance cross-cultural communication skills, and promote harmonious development of society. It helps to expand their horizons and make them aware of the existence of different cultures in the world.
Also, by participating in holiday celebrations, they can learn about the traditions, values and customs of other cultures, promoting cross-cultural understanding and respect. In addition, celebrating the holiday also provides preschool children with hands-on opportunities to develop social skills, teamwork and creativity through participation in the various activities. To sum up, celebrating important festivals in different countries is of great significance to the education of preschool children and promotes multicultural exchanges.
Next step is celebrating Black History Month in February. We will do relevant activities to continue to learn and cultivate respect and tolerance for all.
