Celebrating "foreign" holidays at school

Traditional stereotypes of the holiday season limit it to a time to deck the halls and put up a Christmas tree, but the words actually can encompass much more. With a variety of cultures in elementary schools, certain holidays should not be emphasized at the expense of others, maintains Kathy Holen, assistant professor of elementary education at Kansas State University, Manhattan.

She indicates that the most important thing for a teacher to remember is to avoid having a narrow view of what holidays are. "These days, in diverse classrooms, what have traditionally been observed as the holidays aren't applicable for everybody."

People from other cultures traditionally have been excluded with the celebration of Christmas. Some schools have taken Christmas activities out of the curriculum to avoid offending individuals from other cultures. A better approach would be to include holidays from all around the world--including Christmas--in class discussion, Holen suggests.

Learning about other cultures and their traditions is an important part of education. "The more we understand about each other, the more tolerant we will be," Holen says. "Holidays represent the celebrations within cultures, and I think they say a lot of things about that culture."

Holen offers some tips to help educators approach the holidays:

* Invite people from other cultures who live in the community to speak to students about "other" holiday traditions.

* Distribute surveys to parents, asking them about the family's culture and what holidays they celebrate. Invite parents to share these traditions with their child's class.

* Display a calendar that highlights different holidays around the world each week. Give the students some information about each. Music and food from those cultures could be incorporated into class.

* Research different cultures to find information about their holidays. With the growth and accessibility of the Internet, this is something that anyone can do.

* When traveling, bring artifacts back to the classroom to share with students.

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