Diversity Week 2: Language

Week two introduced new languages to my Preschool classroom: Chinsese and Spanish!

At circle time I taught the students how to say a few words in each language, including "hello" and "thank you." Suprisingly enough, they retained the Chinese words much better than the Spanish ones.

For a activity diving depper into the Chinese language, the students attempted to write their names in Chinese symbols. Using an online translater, we were able to write down each child's name in Chinese. The students used black paint to recreate their Chinese name as best they could. They also write their name in English and discussed the differences. Though most of the students could not perfectly replicate their name in symbols, I was happy to see that they all used swift lines when writing it.

When learning more in-depth about Spanish terms, the students drew pictures to represent a Spanish word. They were able to choose one of the following words to illustrate: hello, goodbye, thank you, school, cat, book. The students also were to describe their picture. Many of the children did a wonderful job creating a descriptive picture.  The low group struggled and did not draw pictures that represented their Spanish word, but rather scribbled or drew something else.

Overall, I think the students gained cultural insight from learning about the different languages around the world. They now know that not everybody speaks the same language.