Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay / Report On Cultural Diversity
Essay / Report On Cultural Diversity
What is the importance of multilingualism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay / Report On Cultural Diversity
“Literature provides many ways of encouraging children to engage with a world wider than their own, a point of view other than their own, and a commitment to issues beyond their own.” This quotation from Johnston (2010, p.637) will be discussed in the following essay with regards to literature and cultural diversity, literature and ESL students and literature and the Aboriginal culture. Children’s literature related to these topics will also be discussed. The books include: Mirror by Jeanie Baker, The Peasant Prince by Li Cunxin, Prince Cinders by Babette Cole, Ali Baba and the forty thieves by Jean Chapman, A is or Aunty by Elaine Russell and Our World Bardi Jaawi, Life at Ardiyooloon written by the students from One Arm Point Community …show more content…
In a class where there are many Indigenous children who do not speak English naturally encouraging a mother who can speak both languages to assist in the classroom or a multi-lingual teacher’s aide can really help increase the children’s experience. Aboriginal stories read in class engage Indigenous and Non-Indigenous students. Literacy and learning methods used with Aboriginal students are equally valid for non-Indigenous students. Aboriginal children’s books are important in the class room as it provides Indigenous and Non-Indigenous students with an understanding of Aboriginal Culture. (Johnston, 2010) An excellent story for children that incorporates the English language and the Indigenous culture is A is for Aunty by Elaine Russell. The story is inspired by Elaine’s childhood memories of her life and her family on the mission at Murrin Bridge in Northern New South Wales. It is alphabet book and every letter takes the reader on a journey through Elaine’s daily events such as things like being chased by emus, looking after her pet possum, picking Quantong’s and billycart racing. These are all things that would take place majority of aboriginal communities. This story is an excellent way of enriching the lives of children from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds and bring the two cultures together. (Russell, 2000) Our World Bardi Jaawi, Life at Ardiyooloon written by the students from One Arm Point Community School is an excellent story that unites children of all backgrounds with Aboriginal culture. It tells of the lives of children living in a remote Indigenous area and their lives are quite different to most Australians. The authors of this story provide the reader insight about traditional Aboriginal activities such as camping, fishing, dancing, storytelling, finding waterholes, tracking, cooking and eating bush tucker. (School,
Although the author’s words are simple, they create a mood into the illustrations that truly emphasise the emotion of the indigenous point of view. Viewers can than feel more of what they can see, an example of this is when the authors used different sized text in “stole our children.” This text with the illustration can truly create an effect on the way it is read and viewed by, making viewers feel empathy as the size of each words shrinks defining the children’s positon as they get further away from their parent. This attains the Europeans guilt on the choices they had made as the story is seen in the indigenous point of view on how they suffered due to the past horrendous choices made by the Europeans at that
Trauma, abuse, displacement, and feelings of alienation have, and is still plaguing the Aboriginal community. Author Eden Robinson and playwright Constance Lindsay Skinner address the displacement, mistreatment, and abuse the indigenous population has faced, and still faces, in Monkey Beach and Birthright. Both Eden Robinson's novel Monkey Beach, and playwright Constance Lindsay Skinner's Birthright deals with characters who are struggling with trauma and haunted with scars from the past. The authors detail these events and bring the reader into the “shoes” of the characters through characterization, imagery, dialogue, and through revealing intimate memories of the characters. These literary techniques enable the reader to see the parallel between the cyclical, ambiguous state of nature, and the ambiguity in humans and how there is a perpetuating, intergenerational cycle of violence caused by abuse and the mistreatment of the Aboriginal.
Lindgren, Merri V. The Multicolored Mirror: Cultural Substance in Literature for Children and Young Adults. Highsmith Press, Wisconsin. 1991.
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.
After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for political commentary as some might suggest or was he simply another “childhood” that had; until that time, been ignored? If so, what inspired him to move in this direction?
Jones Diaz, C. (2007). Literacy as social practice. In L. Makin, C. Jones Diaz & L. McLachlan (Eds.), Literacies in childhood: Changing views, challenging practice. (pp. 203-216).Marrickville, NSW: Elsevier.
Writing and Reading across the Curriculum. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen, Boston: Pearson 2011. 274-279
Throughout both texts, Perkins and Yousafzai aim to highlight the unheard voice, who need to be given empowerment to be heard. The disempowered voice of Aboriginals is highlighted through the carriage scene in One
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Tenth edition. Edited by Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Longman Publishers, pp. 371-377, 2008.
In "The Story of an Hour," I can relate to so many different things that go on in this short tragic story. After reading the story I almost felt like Louise Mallard and I were living the same life with different events and a different outcome. Everything about the two of us comes down to being always misunderstood and just wanting to be free.
Literature is a key component when speaking of literacy. Teachers need to provide students with endless amounts of practice experiences in reading to build their fluency rate. This should be done with different genres of texts and different levels. Reading a wide variety of literature help children develop rich vocabularies.
... (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Text and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University
There are many stories with twists and turns, and you never truly know what happens until you live it yourself. One story that has a twist in the plot is The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin. The story is about a lady whose husband is believed to be dead; but, in all actuality he is not. In addition, she is happy that he is dead until she finds out that he is alive. The theme is how she gave up on life until she heard the death of her husband, she then had her life to look forward to until she finds out he is alive and it shock her so much and she died.
“The Story of an Hour” is the story of Mrs. Louise Mallard who suffers of a weak heart. This being the first we know of Mr. Mallard, she is carefully being told that her husband had just passed away in a train accident. As every good wife should, Mrs. Mallard breaks out in grief. At first, the story goes, as it should. Then Mrs. Mallard goes into her room where she begins thinking, and her first thought is that she is free. Mrs. Mallard after years of being in an unhappy marriage is finally free to do what she wants, with no one to hold her back. Yet everything is against her, when she finally accepts that her life will begin now, her husband enters his home, unscathed and well, not having known that everyone thought him dead, a...
"The Value of Children's Literature | Education.com." Education.com | An Education & Child Development Site for Parents | Parenting & Educational Resource. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. .