Connecting Kids to Their World

For our April six-school tour in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, author Margy Burns Knight and I were presenting on our five nonfiction books about differences. The most recent of these titles, Africa Is Not A Country, was published in 2000, so we wanted to connect the information in our books with current world news. 

We created slide shows of recent events and people related to the content of our books. For instance, showing images from several of the African countries who celebrate their independence holidays in April, we talked about how those were like birthdays for countries. 

Then we showed photographs of Nelson Mandela's 89th birthday in 2007 with its football-themed party and cake, and connected that to South Africa's hosting of the 2010 World Cup. And we shared information about the Elders, a group of world leaders formed that same birthday, in Mandela's words, "to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is a conflict and inspire hope where there is despair.”

With younger classes, we considered welcoming traditions in relation to our book Welcoming Babies. Margy showed three different cloths that begin with the letter K: homespun khadi cloth from India, a colorful kente cloth from Ghana, and a kata from Tibet, often put around someone's neck to welcome them. In response to our questions, students identified the Hawaiian custom of welcoming people with leis. We connected that to Obama's Hawaiian heritage, and, to squeals of excitement and recognition, showed a photograph of the newest resident of the White House, sporting his welcoming lei.

This concerns-based teaching builds a bridge from the personal world of what is familiar to children - birthdays, soccer, new puppies - to the larger world.

Featuring Difference

In April, Margy Burns Knight and I spend six days in Philadelphia-area schools, presenting on the five books she wrote and I illustrated: the two Talking Walls titles; Who Belongs Here: An American Story; Welcoming Babies; and Africa Is Not A Country. As all these books concern the diversity of human experience - in culture, language, race, religion, etc. - Margy and I use every opportunity to address the topic of difference in a positive light.

We often begin our talks with information about ourselves as children. Some students in these Philadelphia suburban schools can see themselves in Margy's story of being raised in nearby Villanova and, by her description, "never going anywhere except school, church, the library and the grocery store." Her extensive international experience didn't happen until she was an adult.

Other students can identify with my story of living in the U.S. until age seven, when our family moved to South Korea and I began to learn two languages and two cultures. They or their parents may have been born in another country and moved to the U.S. 

In some classes, we open with the slide I use here on my blog, of me celebrating my eighth birthday in Seoul with Korean friends. I start speaking in Korean, telling a little about my childhood experience. 

Then, still speaking Korean, I say, "If you can understand what I'm saying, please come to the front of the room." Seated students watch mystified as a few of their classmates stand and move forward to join me. Sometimes one or several of the students interpret, telling their classmates what I'd said in Korean. 

We count from one to five in Korean, then ask for volunteers who can count to five in any language other than English. Proud students stand to demonstrate their skill in Farsi, Chinese, Arabic, French, Spanish, Hindi and many other languages.

Teachers often tell us what a special moment this is for their non-majority, bilingual students, many of whom started out in ESOL classes. For once, their difference puts them in the center rather than on the fringe. For a moment, their bicultural and bilingual upbringing is recognized as something special and valuable.

Universal Questions

It's been a busy spring, chock full of travel and school visits. Now that I'm finally getting to catch my breath and take a look back, I find I've made numerous discoveries in the exploration of race and culture through children's books. 

In January and February, author Margy Burns Knight and I 

worked  at Longley Elementary School in Lewiston, Maine, as part of a family literacy project sponsored by the Harwood Center for Community Partnerships at Bates College. 

Lewiston's population is a mixture of Franco-American families who have been there for generations and recently-arrived families from Somalia, as well as other ethnic and cultural heritages. 

We led Longley's third grade students in writing and illustrating books about "family treasures" - the activities, traditions and celebrations shared in their families. First, Margy and I met with the Bates College education students who would be assisting the Longley third graders with their project. We coached them in preparation for a Story Swap evening for the elementary students and their family members. 

We started with a list of possible topics: games, wishes, jokes and riddles, folk tales, lullabies and songs, food, holidays and celebrations, and journeys. We encouraged the college students to share something from their own lives, followed by a question to evoke a story from the third graders and their family members. It was challenging to devise questions for a diverse audience that indicated a respect for all stories as having equal value.

For instance, one of the college students tried this prompt: "I went to a concert by my favorite band recently. Do you go to music concerts?" That helped the group see that the questions needed to be open-ended so that they encouraged stories rather than yes or no answers. They

also needed to be free from cultural and other assumptions. Music concerts might be outside the experience of an adult Somali whose background included war and a refugee camp, or the experience of any third grader. 

We suggested that the college students use memories from their own childhoods, followed by a universal question such as "What makes your family laugh?"

The resulting Story Swap was a delightful evening full of lively exchanges among the Bates students, the Longley students, and their families, topped off with a shared meal of pizza. 

The month of work that followed produced proud student authors, a collection of stories, and an opportunity for families to share literacy while preserving their traditions.