Multiculture

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/22/japan-with-a-twist-the-provincial-town-that-hosts-people-from-49-countries

Oizumi is a town in Japan which has become famous for leading a new initiative in the country to make their society multi-cultural.

What does multi-cultural mean? How do you think the town is trying to welcome people who were born in other countries? What could they do to make sure people feel welcome? Think about any barriers a person might face if they speak a different language, for example.

Signs at the railway station are written in 6 different languages, the council employs teams of interpreters and there is a multicultural centre where people can ask for help about anything from paying bills to health care.

Why does the town do this?

The high street has shops selling food and drink from Brazil, Peru, Colombia, India and Nepal. There are halal butchers and South East Asian karaoke bars.

How do you think such a diverse high street impacts on the town?

42,000 people live in Oizumi and 8,000 are foreign nationals, form 49 different countries. The town proudly promotes itself as "International town" Yumi Kuroki lives in Oizumi and says, "It's a friendly community and I think Japanese people here are used to having foreign neighbours. I used to live in a bigger town and people would ignore me when I greeted them. It's not like that here."

Why choose the name "International Town"?

What is the impact when someone ignores a greeting? How can greeting someone impact on their day?

The Japanese government are encouraging more diversity, recognising that industries such as manufacturing, restaurants, fisheries, construction and agriculture cannot survive without immigration.

What is immigration?

Why do the government say immigration is needed in Japan? 

Why don't they give the jobs to Japanese people instead?

The birth rate is falling in Japan. The population is currently 125 million but in 2065 it is expected to be 88 million. 

What is the answer to that problem? (there is no correct answer, encourage the children to explore different solutions)

When the immigration first started, not everyone was in favour. Some older residents of Oizumi argued there were too many foreigners. 

Why would they say that?

How would you respond?

Masami Fukuda, who works in the town hall, says, "In the past, a lot of people hadn't even met a foreigner, but now their grandchildren go to school with children from all over the world."

How can the grandchildren help to change ideas held by older people?

The photo shows Kumar Yamanda who came to Oizumi from Nepal and now owns a supermarket. Yamanda is fluent in Japanese, Nepali and Hindi. He stands with his employee Talwinder Singh. Kumar says opposite is shop is a Turkish restaurant, a Brazilian beauty salon and a Philippine bar; "It feels like a genuine foreign community."

Fukuda says everyone is welcome in Oizumi; "Our selling point is our diversity."

- "Our selling point is our diversity." what does that mean?

- why are some people worried about immigration?

- how does immigration benefit Oizumi?

- what do we say about diversity and difference at our school? (some schools are more diverse than others, but we can still encourage children to recognise and be proud of our own differences; ask children to think how they are different from the person sitting next to them; are we all exactly the same here?)

- what can we learn from Oizumi?

- why is this about No Outsiders?

No Outsiders: everyone different, everyone welcome by Andrew Moffat

www.no-outsiders.com 

blindfold

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/bride-blind-wedding-guests-tiktok-b2417361.html

What do you see in the picture, what is happening, what is unusual, can you explain the story?

Lucy Edwards got married to her partner over summer this year. During the ceremony as she walked down the aisle, she asked all her guests to put on blindfolds. Can you guess why?

Lucy is blind and she says she wanted her guests to "live a moment in my shoes."

As the guests removed their blindfolds, Lucy's partner, Cave, kept on his, so he could feel the textures in Lucy's dress and understand why she picked that dress. Lucy says, "He was able to feel my wedding dress in exactly the same way that I felt it when I first had it on."

"This was such an important experience for us even though Ollie isn't blind, but we thought it was really important for him and all of my guests to experience what it's like for me in the most important moment of our life so far."

Lucy says when she was planning her wedding, she felt uncomfortable about people lovingly staring at her without being able to look back at them in the way she once wanted to.

"I thought, I know no one does this, but lets blindfold all my guests and we can all  not see each other and we can all live in this beautiful moment together."

Many guests came up to her after the ceremony and said it was their favourite part.

Lucy says, "I wanted to show that you don't need eyesight to have vision. You don't need eyesight to have a lovely time, to experience the milestones in our lives.  

There is a tiktok clip of this moment in the link above.

- why did Lucy want people to wear blindfolds as she walked down the aisle?

- How do you think the guests felt as they were asked to do that?

- why didn't anyone refuse? 

- "live a moment in my shoes." what does that mean?

- "This was such an important experience for us" why was it?

- why do you think Lucy asked Cave to keep his blindfold on to feel the textures of her dress?

- why do you think guests told Lucy the blindfold bit was their favourite part of the wedding?

-  "you don't need eyesight to have vision" is that true? What does Lucy mean? Do you agree?

- Does Lucy want people to feel sorry for her? Explain your answer.

- How is Lucy protected by British Law? (Equality Act)

- Which British value is this story about?

- what can we learn from Lucy?

- why is this about no outsiders?

No Outsiders: Everyone different, everyone welcome by Andrew Moffat

www.no-outsiders.com 

Finding ways to talk about war with children.

 

Lots of children in my school are talking about what is happening in Israel this week and many are worried about it. Some children are scared about war happening here. I have tried to create an assembly to help children make sense of the world and conflict.

What does the map show? What countries do you recognise?

What do you know about the history of Europe? Have countries in Europe always co-existed peacefully?

How many battles ands wars do you think there have been in Europe in the last 1000 years?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_in_Europe

This wikipedia page lists over 800 battles and wars that took place in Europe in the last 1000 years. 

What does that figure show about people throughout history?

Have battles and wars been fought here in England? Who was England fighting against for most of the Middle Ages in to the 1700s? 

England and Scotland had many battles throughout history with many lives lost. The biggest battle is thought to be the Battle of Flodden in 1513 in Northumberland. Thousands of soldiers (who were ordinary people) were killed including the Scottish King James IV. 

Is England at war with Scotland today? What does this show about wars?

The largest battle on English soil was the battle of Towton in North Yorkshire, in 1461 during the Wars of the Roses. This battle was to change the King of England; Edward IV deposed the current King Henry VI to become King. An estimated 12,000 people died in the battle.

What can we learn from history? Why are all those battles not still going on today in Scotland and in Yorkshire? 

Does hope exist? How can peace be achieved?

Oliver Jeffers has written this short story about battles and borders. In the story, Oliver writes about our big earth being divided into smaller bits: "It seems we humans have always fought each other over space." In the story, Oliver takes his two young children on a trip through space in his car and as they look in to the rear view mirror, they see earth going back in time and people fighting over land throughout history. 

What do you think this story is about, why did Oliver write it, what can we learn from this story?

What is happening today in the news today? How does war affect people? 

It's ok to feel anxious or worried about things happening in other parts of the world. You are not the only person to feel this way and adults also feel worried or upset sometimes. 

Is there an easy answer to war? If there was, would there still be wars today? 

What can we do when we hear about wars in other places? 

We can listen to different opinions and share our feelings. We can listen to and help people around us who are affected. We can make sure everyone knows they are welcome here and everyone is safe, whatever they believe and whoever they are. In our school, we welcome different ideas and opinions; sometimes we can change our mind and sometimes we don't, but we can still listen and consider the views of others. In our school we can disagree and still get along. We can co-exist and respect each other even if we disagree.

What does co-exist mean?

Why is this about No Outsiders? 

Have a moment of reflection to think about all those affected by the situation today.

No Outsiders: everyone different, everyone welcome by Andrew Moffat

www.no-outsiders.com 

Bathroom

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/someone-asked-if-my-8-year-old-was-using-the-wrong-bathroom-heres-how-i-responded_uk_6501caede4b04bad69ec258d?fbclid=IwAR2wkMzpttLTn5tz61rugsexqxMCapmbxmUgNDwF7gR0pkpuVEv5cj7Sjeo

A Mum who lives in America has written a letter to a newspaper to express her anger about someone asking her eight year old son if he was in the right public bathroom. In America, people call toilets 'bathrooms' and like in the UK, often toilets are labelled male and female.

The mum doesn't want her son to be named in the letter so calls him Z.

Mum says, "One of the most remarkable things about Z is that he throws tired gender norms out of the door. He has beautiful long hair, his favourite outfit is rainbow leggings paired with a pink bomber jacket. He openly cries, plays the flute, articulates his feelings and rocks out to Dolly Parton. He also loved football, lego, vintage cars and biking."

Mum asks, "Do any of these things define his gender? Of course not!"

The incident happened when Z was leaving the boys bathroom and someone asked him if he used the wrong bathroom. Z replied, "No, I'm a boy!"

Mum says she and her family are really careful about their use of pronouns and if they see someone walking down the street that they don't know, they will not assume and use the pronouns he or she. They will use 'they' until they they know differently. 

Z said he was offended that someone questioned his bathroom use; "Why do they care? It's ok that I have long hair and I am a boy."

Z felt embarrassed to go back to the person, but Mum went and spoke to them for him. Mum says she went and spoke to the person because, "I truly believe that if approached correctly, conversations such as these can lead to positive change."

- what is gender?

- Ze "throws tired gender norms out of the door." what does that mean?

- why do you think someone questioned Z as he left the male bathroom?

- is it ok to do that? You could argue they were trying to help. Z could have made a mistake... what do you think?

- why was Z offended?

- why do Z's family take care about the pronouns they use when they meet someone new?

- do pronouns matter? Why? (or why not?)

- "Why do they care?" why might the person have cared? Does it matter which bathroom people use? explain your answer.

- why was Z embarrassed to go and talk to the person with mum?

- "I truly believe that if approached correctly, conversations such as these can lead to positive change." what does mum mean by this?

- How do you think Mum talked to the person? Did she shout? 

- if we have bathrooms that are labelled male and female, is there a challenge here? What if people do not look like traditional males or traditional females? Where do they go? Who decides? How do you think Z might feel next time he visits a public bathroom? 

-what is the answer? (there is no 'correct' answer, but this could be a great discussion where children listen and consider and give their points of view. Children might suggest we have gender-neutral bathrooms; children might suggest we work to change attitudes about what a boy looks like and what a girl looks like...perhaps Z should cut his hair to look like a traditional boy... )

- how would Z be treated if he was in our school?

- what can we learn from Z?

- Why is this about No Outsiders?

No Outsiders: Everyone different, everyone welcome by Andrew Moffat

www.no-outsiders.com

Mothers day

 

https://www.upworthy.com/single-dad-shows-up-to-mothers-day-event-in-dress

What do you see in the picture, what is happening, where are they, how do you think these two people know each other and can you think of an explanation for the story?

In Thailand, Mothers day is celebrated a bit differently to the UK. On August 12th each year, people usually have the day off and schools will hold special Mothers day ceremonies. At the ceremony, children kneel in front of their mother and present them with Jasmine flowers to show their love, respect and appreciation. 

That is a lovely celebration to have, but what is the problem with it, who does it exclude, what do the organisers assume about all families if they hold such a ceremony? Do all families have a mum? How would a child feel at the celebration if their family did not have a mum?

Nong Cream is a 11 year old girl who was adopted by single dad. How do you think she felt as the ceremony got closer and closer and she saw all her friends preparing?

What did her dad do on the day?

Dad came dressed up as a mum on the day. As soon as she saw him, Nong Cream leapt in to his arms. You can see a heart-warming short tick tock video in the link above.

Dad said he had no regrets doing this because he knew the most important thing was that his daughter was not left out. He said, "Personally, I'm not ashamed because I love my child."

 Nong Cream said, "This year's mother's day I want to say I love my father. Thank you father for raising me and making me happy. This life doesn't feel like a lack of anything."

- How do you think dad felt as he walked in to the school wearing a dress?

- look at the faces of the people around him, are they accepting of his decision?

- why didn't dad just show up as himself, why did he choose to wear a dress?

- is that because all mums wear a dress? 

- Can dads wear dresses if they want? Are clothes gender-specific?

- so, did he have to wear a dress to support his daughter?

- Do you think the dress was a symbol, was it important, would the gesture have had the same impact if dad had worn a suit?

- the school could have said he was being disrespectful to mums and refused to let him in; do you think there was a conversation at the door when he turned up?

-"Personally, I'm not ashamed because I love my child." suggests there might be some shame. Where might that shame come from?

- "This year's mother's day I want to say I love my father." can you celebrate a father on mother's day? What can we learn from Nong Cream from this statement? 

- "This life doesn't feel like a lack of anything." what does she mean?

- In 2023 should we be having separate celebrations for mothers day and fathers days? Are families the same today as they were 100 years ago? What is the problem with these celebrations? (perhaps you think there is not a problem at all - discuss)

- What can we learn from dad in this story?

- what can we learn from Nong Cream?

- why is this about No Outsiders?

No Outsiders: Everyone different, everyone welcome by Andrew Moffat

www.no-outsiders.com