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(Unit 4) Topic 1: Cultural Competency and Responsiveness

3 Clock Hours of Early Childhood Education

How to Integrate Diversity

Many of strategies below can be used to promote diversity in your classroom.

Topic 1 Page 10

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Adapted from the article How to Integrate Diversity into a Preschool Classroom, Parker Janney

Post pictures of your families throughout the classroom.
This is the easiest way to make sure your classroom is diverse and representative of the children in your group. This also makes children feel more secure and families feel more welcome.

Incorporate world languages.
You don't have to be fluent in another language to teach your students "Frere Jaques" or "Feliz Navidad." Learn some songs, poems or phrases in American Sign Language to teach to your students.

Host guest speakers.
The best way for children to understand new information and appreciate diversity is for them to see it with their own eyes. Invite speakers to your classroom who can talk about the culture, religion, race or country that they represent. Open the discussion to questions from students.

Teach geography.
Decorate your room with maps and globes and get your students excited about their world. Daily exercises should include pinpointing the country, state and town where the class is located.

Play music from other cultures.
Music provides students with a fun way to learn new languages. The preschool child's brain is a sponge, ready to absorb all kinds of new information. While children are busy doing crafts, eating snacks or napping, play music with diverse cultural origins. Before you know it, they will be reciting French nursery rhymes or African jams by heart.

Celebrate global holidays, not just those celebrated in your country or community.
Children love parties, so give them an excuse to celebrate by introducing a wide variety of world holidays. Play games, eat food and sing songs typical of the holiday.

Play dress-up.
Dressing up lets children literally step into someone else's shoes. Provide a variety of traditional costumes from all over the world. Children are going to dress up anyway, so you might as well make it a learning experience.

Serve a variety of foods from all over the world.
Cooking ethnic cuisine is one way to get kids excited about new cultures. During snack time, why not experiment with culturally diverse foods? Children love to cook, and this is a hands-on way for them to appreciate a new culture's cuisine.

Explore different family structures.
During a "family" theme week, have the children draw pictures of their families and then share their drawings with the class. Students will see that families come in all sorts: single moms, single dads, same-sex couples, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and foster and adoptive parents.

Experience different disabilities.
A wheelchair ride can help children understand disabilities. Blindfold children and have them attempt to conduct a simple activity. Bring in a child-sized wheelchair and have them experience first-hand what it is like to not have use of their legs. Teach basic signs to orient them to the deaf experience.

Dolls and action figures should represent different races.
Decorate your room with diversity in mind. Letters of the alphabet should have a corresponding American Sign Language version. Dolls and action figures should represent a variety of races, ages and abilities.

Books in your classroom should reflect a wide variety of experiences.
Keep a diverse library. Books should reflect a wide variety of experiences, featuring themes and people of different races, religions, countries, ages, abilities and family structures. Foreign-language or bilingual books are especially fun as children are learning to read.