Ethnicity and Race
Definitions:
ethnicity- the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.
race- each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics.
As you can see from the definitions above, ethnicity and race usually go hand-in-hand in daily conversation, but do not have the same meanings. In order to be accepting of all people, we must first understand the meanings of these terms so that we can use their definitions correctly. We often find that people view belonging to a diverse community as a negative thing because everyone is not the same. Just think of how boring life would be if we all were the same! Instead, we should teach people to be proud of their ethnicity and race! It is essential to expose our students to a variety of ethnicities and races so they can learn to appreciate that everyone in this world is a unique individual.
Definitions:
ethnicity- the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.
race- each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics.
As you can see from the definitions above, ethnicity and race usually go hand-in-hand in daily conversation, but do not have the same meanings. In order to be accepting of all people, we must first understand the meanings of these terms so that we can use their definitions correctly. We often find that people view belonging to a diverse community as a negative thing because everyone is not the same. Just think of how boring life would be if we all were the same! Instead, we should teach people to be proud of their ethnicity and race! It is essential to expose our students to a variety of ethnicities and races so they can learn to appreciate that everyone in this world is a unique individual.
Helpful Strategies
1. Be a positive role model 2. Celebrate and honor 3. Be a multicultural 4. Teach respect for
for acceptance. all holidays. education advocate. all people.
1. Be a positive role model 2. Celebrate and honor 3. Be a multicultural 4. Teach respect for
for acceptance. all holidays. education advocate. all people.
Class Activity: Gallery Stroll
Objective: The student will be able to synthesize the information they gained from creating their cultural snapshots and to share it in a way that others can learn general trends of how different cultural groups are portrayed in the media.
Materials: Poster paper, markers, students‘ cultural snapshots
Process: Students should form groups based on the cultural group they studied for their cultural snapshot (or assign each group a culture for this activity). Some cultural groups may have only one person. These groups may combine and talk about their individual groups. Each group should discuss trends and patterns they found. Each group will then make a poster to describe the trends from the media.
When students finish, hang the posters around the classroom. Give students a few minutes to walk around and to learn about the other cultural groups and the media messages about them.
This activity was borrowed from:
McKay School of Education
301 MCKB, BYU Provo, UT 84602
http://education.byu.edu/diversity/activities.html
Objective: The student will be able to synthesize the information they gained from creating their cultural snapshots and to share it in a way that others can learn general trends of how different cultural groups are portrayed in the media.
Materials: Poster paper, markers, students‘ cultural snapshots
Process: Students should form groups based on the cultural group they studied for their cultural snapshot (or assign each group a culture for this activity). Some cultural groups may have only one person. These groups may combine and talk about their individual groups. Each group should discuss trends and patterns they found. Each group will then make a poster to describe the trends from the media.
When students finish, hang the posters around the classroom. Give students a few minutes to walk around and to learn about the other cultural groups and the media messages about them.
This activity was borrowed from:
McKay School of Education
301 MCKB, BYU Provo, UT 84602
http://education.byu.edu/diversity/activities.html
Reading Material
Local Resources
1. Tri Valley YMCA607 Crisscross Road
Fleetwood, PA 19522 Phone: 610.944.6515 Fax: 610.944.6517 |
Youth Development Center (YDC)
3564 Heindel Road York, PA 17402 (717) 840-7570 |
Turkish Cultural Center Harrisburg
Cultural Center 500 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA 17101 Phone:(717) 317-9657 |