Over
the past couple of weeks our grade two class has been discovering how we are
connected to other places in Australia and around the world! We have looked at
the connections that we have with family and friends in different places as
well as how we are connected through things that we buy or obtain.
Globalisation
Our
world is currently going through a process called globalisation. This means
that our connections and interactions with other countries are increasing and developing. For this reason it is important for children to develop
international mindedness, recognising connections that we have to other
countries and developing an understanding and respect of people from different countries
and cultures. At the end of our
recent unit of work on our connections with other places, we focussed in on our
connections with Japan. It is now widely recognised that we are living in the ‘Asian
century’ and that our children will be living and working in a world in which
Asian countries are the global economic leaders. For this
reason it is important for students to develop Asia literacy. Asia literacy
includes a ‘knowledge and understanding of Asian societies, languages,
cultures, beliefs and environments, and of the links between the peoples of
Asia, Australia and the rest of the world’.
What we’ve done…
We
started the unit by conducting a survey in our class. Our survey focussed on
the connections that people in our class had with people from other places around
Australia and the world. We then displayed our information pictorially on a
wall map. We discussed places that people have travelled, how they travelled
there and how the regularity and method of travelling to a place depends on the
distance to it.
(Picture retrieved from https://www.thewallmaps.com/)
As
we focussed in on our connections to Japan we looked more broadly at how things
that we buy or items that we have are connected to Japan. We have been
developing a list of things and items we can find that have been made in Japan –
so far we have found a range of toys from the classroom and home, certain makes
of cars, a Japanese fan and certain packaged food items. The children enjoy researching and searching for these items online, in the classroom and
at home. I have also connected each of the children with an email ‘pen pal’
from a primary school in Tokyo, in order to develop their understanding of
Japanese culture and increase their experience of people from different
cultures.
(Picture
retrieved from http://my.ilstu.edu/~hpparet/Foundations_Technology_Integration/Foundations_Technology_Integration_print.html)
What YOU can do
- With your child, discuss connections that you and your family have with people around the world. Write letters to or contact family members/friends that live in another state or country and talk about how life is different and the same.
- Keep up to date on Asia and Australians engagement with Asia.
- Help search for items made in Japan.
- Check out some books about Japan to read with your child.
References
Hoepper, B. (2014). Our globalising world:
The context for studying the Australian Curriculum. In R. Gilbert & B.
Hoepper (Eds.) Teaching humanities and
social sciences: History, geography, economics and citizenship. (pp. 20 –
42). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia.
Merryfield, M. M. (2002). The difference a
global educator can make. In Educational
Leadership. 60(2), 18 – 21. Retrieved from https://mylo.utas.edu.au/content/enforced/178687-AW_EED_16S5_12888_1_0_0_1_1/difference%20global%20educator%20can%20make_merryfield.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=wBWtkhu7D151k14yVY7ipmyOp&ou=178687
Skelton, M., Wigford, A., Harper, P.,
& Reeves, G. (2002). Beyond food, festivals and flags. In Educational Leadership. 60(2), 52 – 55.
Retrieved from https://mylo.utas.edu.au/content/enforced/178687-AW_EED_16S5_12888_1_0_0_1_1/beyond%20food%20festivals_skelton.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=wBWtkhu7D151k14yVY7ipmyOp&ou=178687
Tudball, L. (2014). Asia and Australia’s engagement
with Asia. In R. Gilbert & B. Hoepper (Eds.) Teaching humanities and social sciences: History, geography, economics
and citizenship. (pp. 370 – 389). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning
Australia.
Hi Nikayla
ReplyDeleteI like the way you have set out your blog. However, my personal preference is for pictures to be centred.
Feedback that I received from our marker has me wondering if you should consider changing the tense of your writing to present tense. For example, ‘Our grade two class is learning…’
In the paragraph titled, ‘Globalisation’ when I clicked on the highlighted link I was taken to the Utas home page for emails. You might want to check the link again.
As this blog is for parents, you need only include references at the end of your page.
Your idea for the children to write to pen pals is an excellent way for them to increase their knowledge and understanding of another culture. Well done, Nikayla on completing another interesting blog.
Kind regards
Deborah