Remember, when developing a culturally responsive and supportive environment in your classroom, it is important to consider everything that is present in the classroom: visuals, manipulatives, reading and listening materials, computer software, children’s books, and real objects representative of the children’s cultures. Some examples of things to include in the classroom are chop sticks, a fondue pot, a wok, or salsa bottle. As you complete the following activity, be sure to think about your English language learners.
The following survey will help you to identify the ways your classroom environment is already set up to support young English language learners, and also to think of things you could do to make it even better and more effective. Take a moment to think about the individual children and families in your program, and then answer the questions with them in mind.
Environmental
Survey
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An inexpensive way to increase the multicultural materials in your classroom is to use pictures of food, clothes, homes, etc., and make them into learning games for the children. A great idea is provided in the next activity. The printable document has a variety of foods from all over the world. You could make a second set of the pictures and cut them out to use as a matching game or make a lotto or bingo board. You could also talk about the different foods and compare them to other foods that are similar in the United States. Some foods are the same in many countries, but may have a different name. You could put these picture cards in the housekeeping center for children to use as they pretend they are from other countries. Little activities like this will help children become sensitive to various cultures.
Multicultural Pictures
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