Any Child Development textbook will tell you that the first 8 years of a child’s life are the most crucial to their development: the interactions they have, the lessons they learn, whether or not they are encouraged, all shape who they are to become. The importance of Early Childhood Education is influencing these experiences in the most positive way possible. Multicultural education uses strategies already employed in an early childhood classroom to educate students from and on different cultural backgrounds and creates creates equity within the education system.
Some people may say that a classroom where children are exposed to many different cultures would serve only to confuse them, or lead to topics that are too difficult to discuss; that at an early age children are already attempting to understand so much, that immersing them in multiple cultures at once is only harmful. To rebut this, look no further than students who must learn English as a second language. Bilingualism builds a bridge to connect two cultures. At a young age children who must learn English as a second language are already displaying a willingness to accept another culture. During their normal school day it is likely they will have instruction in both English and their native language. In their English-speaking classroom, their confidence would grow as they mastered the language. Because children are social creatures by nature, they would feel the need to interact with the English-speaking environment; a non-English speaker would begin to model their classmate’s behavior. The child will note the inflection of certain words and the actions that follow and attempt to do that themselves. This behavior is similar to one observed in young children, when they are becoming accustomed to language in general, and a toddler will mimics the sounds that a parent is making in an attempt to communicate. As with any learning experience with any child, it is the responsibility of teachers to adapt and continue to encourage learning. In countries all around the world, children are learning a second and maybe even a third language. Although this can be a challenging goal for educators there are many strategies that have been examined to be successful, and these strategies are ones that should already be in place in the classroom.
From Developing Biliteracy With Intentional Support: Using Interactive Word Walls and Paired Learning (2015), these strategies are:
1. Creating situations where children can develop both their first and second languages
2. Facilitate the learning of academic strategies in both languages
3. Plan for interactive learning
4. Building on children’s experience and background to help acquire literacy understanding.
The direct examples of these strategies provided were the use of word walls and bilingual pairing. The visual cues that word wall provide allow a child to link something they are already familiar with in their native language to the classroom language. For example, a Spanish-speaking child could draw a picture of an apple and know that at home it is “una manzana”, and from the picture a peer or teacher is able to help promote English vocabulary and teach the word “apple”. The student can use the word wall to build connections and fluency. Word walls seem to be a staple in Pre-K through Grade Three classroom, and even in the higher grades. A word wall in a language not every child is fluent in, when used effectively, would scaffold the development of the home language in addition to the second language.
Another large contributor to building fluency is speaking. For this, teachers can turn to bilingual pairing: allowing the student to explore their new language in a social context (Alanís, I. I, Salinas-Gonzalez, I., et al.). As children naturally do, they will begin to model their own language for the other; the more conversational partners that a child has, the better their language skills will develop. Children naturally want to understand those around them and so pairing provides the opportunity. Pairing will not only facilitate the development of their vocabulary but contribute to their social skills as they learn how to effectively interact with their peers, and learn social cues.
The country is constantly changing and experiencing cultural shifts; this being said, teachers need to be prepared to embrace this diversity. It is common in the majority of states for schools to be divided into districts, which historically has led to discrimination on some level. Effort towards multicultural education remedies this. By definition, a multicultural education seeks to build understanding and appreciation of different cultures. It is a tool that addresses differences in a safe and unbiased setting and creates self-awareness for children. These children will grow up into a world where people from various cultures will cross their path, and to prevent racism and discrimination down the line, it is absolutely necessary that they are taught acceptance.
Bredkamp’s textbook addressed the importance of avoiding a “Tourist Curriculum”, meaning teaching about other cultures solely around cultural dates of importance. As America is a melting pot of cultures, multicultural education may easily begin by sharing cultural information about ethnicities already represented. The need for multicultural education is motivated by four things (Brahim 2010):
1. To remedy ethnocentrism is a traditional curriculum
2. To build an understanding among racial groups
3. Diffusing intergroup tensions and conflict
4. To make a curriculum relevant to the experiences, traditions, and cultures of a diverse population.
Allowing students to share provides an opportunity to easily avoid a “Tourist” curriculum and involve parents (or parental figures) to contribute to a child’s understanding of the world as a whole. Learning from their peers and having the opportunity to teach their peers allows children to learn lessons they may not have otherwise learned. An ESL student may normally feel apprehensive about their English-speaking classroom, but having an opportunity to share their culture may be motivating. Encouraging students to be proud of their culture is a great way to reverse negative biases. By supporting a student’s traditions, you are giving them permission to take pride in their differences.
Multicultural education allows a child to remain connected to their family’s beliefs and encourages the child’s willingness to take on new cultural behaviors. Early Childhood Education has been a strong subject to study in respect to multicultural education. Multicultural education is important in this field because a child’s attitude toward race and ethnicity begin at a very early age, which can be influenced by the opinion and attitude of their caregivers. As young as age four a child can recognize a different skin tone. We have to make sure that our multicultural education focuses on and supports the practices that encourage equality, tolerance, respect, acceptance, and empathy for cultural diversity while extinguishing unwanted stereotypes that happen whether we want them to or not. Anti-bias and multicultural education is key aspect to a successful classroom. Literature, role playing, and sharing their own different characteristics, are ways to introduce a tolerant environment. It is inevitable to come across various challenges, but if you accommodate and explain, you are more likely to be successful.