• A prerequisite for developing interest in and appreciation for others (including different races, cultures, religions) is to help a child develop a strong and positive self-image. To this end there should be activities centering around the child, his/her family, neighborhood, friends, school and town. Booklets, photographs, murals can be made by each child including information about himself/herself. "I am Special" buttons can be worn. A page for each of the following sentences can be illustrated by the child and made into a book: I like to _____, I like to _____, I like to eat ______, I look like _____, I can _____.

• Young children must be taught the necessity of sharing supplies as well as the teacher's attention and time. This doesn't come naturally, but must be modeled and discussed daily. A very graphic example of the value of sharing would be to give a group of 4-6 children one large mural to color or paint. But each child may use only one color. (What would the picture look like if only one child colored it?)

• Respect for others and their belongings must be taught also. This is shown by actions and words. Laughing at others--their looks, their efforts, their work, is unacceptable. It helps a child when he/she is asked to stop and think how he/she would feel if the particular behavior in question had been directed at him/her.

• Communication skills must be taught and practiced. A child must learn to express his/her own feelings, needs, and ideas with appropriate vocabulary and in appropriate ways. Next would be attention to listening skills: looking at a person while that person is speaking and listening without interrupting--knowing thathe/she will have a turn to speak. It's important for a child to learn that how he/she speaks may affect how another person feels and acts.

• As a result of living in a violent world and seeing excessive violence on television, a child would naturally think that differences and conflict are settled with fists, kicks, knives, and guns. Therefore the teacher must introduce and reinforce non-violent alternatives such as "talking through a problem," trying to see how the other person feels, walking away from a confrontation, or asking for adult help. "Time out" (when a child is placed alone in a safe but secluded spot for varied number of minutes) until he/she can control his/her behavior is effective.

• Competition should be minimized or eliminated in classrooms. If one thinks competition is an incentive to improvement, then structure the competition against one's own achievements. On the positive side, encourage cooperation in as many tasks and activities as possible. Examples would include shared construction projects, partner reading, assisting with make-up work, classroom chores, reading to younger children or handicapped children, working with another to make a "get-well" card for a classmate, a holiday card for a nursing home resident, or assembling a very large floor puzzle where every child in the class has a piece to put in to complete the puzzle are very helpful.

• Using the cycle of seasons, holidays and festivals, children and adults can share traditions and rituals. Compare the ones children are familiar with to ones from other cultures and discuss how traditions are alike and how they are different. Guests from other countries or language groups can be invited to the classroom and encouraged to show clothing, toys, household items. Foods from different traditions can be eaten. Games and songs from other traditions can be taught and sung. Homees and houses from various climates can be pictured and the reasons for the variety of styles and construction materials can be discussed.

• Children are usually fascinated with the study of a globe. Use of a globe is preferable to flat maps. In addition to reinforcing the shape of the world, it is easier to talk about the bodies of water and areas of land as well as convey distances when using a globe.

Gretchen P. Stuempfle
Retired Elementary School Teacher

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