Spring Break

March 5, 2011

During the month of March most American universities have a Spring Break, a week off from school in the middle of the semester. Since my Spring Break is only two weeks away, it made me wonder if other school systems in other cultures do the same thing.

In Spain, there is no break for university students until Easter, which is in April most of the time, but I did find out about a festival called Las Fallas. The official dates for this festival are Marech 15th-March 19th, but preparations and celebrations last almost the whole month. This festival is held in honor of Saint Joseph, the saint of the carpenters. During the festival, ninots (puppets) or life size characters are made and then burned on the 19th. This symbolizes the the lamps and parots that were burned around the time of the Spring Equinox because they were no longer needed since the days start getting longer around this time of year.

In Chinese cultures, university students don’t have a set Spring Break either, but they do have two festivals in March that are important to the culture. The Zhonghe Festival (also kown as the Longtaitou Festival) is the festival of the Blue Dragon. It’s when people celebrate the begining of the farming season, and important worship rituals are performed for good harvests in the coming months. The Shangsi Festival is also celebrated around the same time as the Zhonghe Festival. The rituals of this festival are performed to promote good luck and prevent diseases. Sacrifices are made to the godess of marriage and childbirth, Gao Mei, making this festival known as Chinese Women’s Day, as well.

Despite not having a break like American students, the Spanish and Chinese cultures have other things that take place that are important parts of their cultures.

For more information go to these websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falles

http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/fiestas/lasfallas.asp

http://www.fallasfromvalencia.com/en/htm/lasfallas.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhonghe_Festival

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_holidays

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangsi_Festival

http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/14Traditions1046.html

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/public-holiday.htm

By MMiller | Posted in Cultural Celebrations, School Themes | Comments (0)

It’s Back to School Time!

August 24, 2010

It’s Back to School Time!!!

By Cierra Woodard 

August 23, 2010

It’s back -to-school time!!!!! Kids are excited and anxious to learn and meet new people. To get your child in the spirit of learning, you can use the start of a new year as the motivation to expose your family to different cultures. Children meet new friends and classmates every year from different cultural backgrounds. Learning and experiencing other cultures can help kids better interact with kids of different backgrounds.

Why is it important to expose children to different cultures? Exposing your family to a new culture can create a community of more culturally sensitive people. Based upon the U.S. Census survey in 2005, “an estimated 52 million people in the country spoke a language other than English at home.” This is a significant amount of people that have a culture different from the culture in the United States.   In 2008, it was found that approximately 2.5 percent of children ages 1-14 years old are considered “Naturalized U.S. citizens” and 7.7 percent are Non- U.S. Citizens. (Visit www.Census.gov for Population by Sex, Age, Nativity, and U.S. Citizenship Status: 2008). Many of these children that are non-US citizens may be your child’s classmate or friend—therefore, it is important to teach different cultures so that he or she may gain a better understanding of the world around him or her.

Not only is it important for children to experience a new culture, it is important for the whole family to learn as well!!! Parents can expose themselves along with their children to other cultures too. Learning as a family can help to build closer relationships. There are several FUN things a family can do together to learn about different cultures; these include:

  • Periodically, select a country that represents a culture you want to learn about; do research as a family on this country.  Learn about the language, the foods, the currency used, the weather, etc.
  • Use a recipe that represents the culture that you’re learning, (visit these websites for FUN recipes: http://library.thinkquest.org/J001272F/folklife/recipes/recipes.htm, http://www.the-cookie-jar.com/, and http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/World-Cuisine/Main.aspx )
  • Visit a cultural grocery store.
  • Visit a restaurant of a culture that you are learning.
  • Listen to music from a country different from the United States
  • Watch a family movie in a foreign language or a movie in English about a foreign country.
  • Plan a vacation to international destinations; and
  • Visit foreign embassies in Washington, DC

Overall, cultural learning can develop an awareness of other societies and traditions—such as history, language, and societal norms, and it can develop an appreciation of other cultures.  It also provides a way for you and your children to develop social relationships with many different people.

Related Links

http://www.cal.org/earlylang/benefits/benefits_of_being_bilingual.html

http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign/cps2008.html

http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-11-29/news/17320108_1_limited-english-skills-immigrants-patricia-gandara

By cwoodard | Posted in School Themes | Tagged , | Comments (0)