Lesson 7: Diverse Expression of Culture Know Your Classmates

Objectives Students will be able to define culture and discuss different ways that culture can be expressed. Students will be able to reflect and evaluate the effects of feeling excluded because of cultural differences. Students will be able to list examples of different cultural aspects that they have in their own identity, and evaluate which aspects others see the most and which aspects might be hidden. Students will be able to engage in conversations with their classmates about their cultural identities. Students will be able to listen to aspects of other classmates’ cultural identities and show respect and appreciation by sharing out what they learned about their peers.

Culture Think about all the different ways you express your ‘culture.’ Talk to the person sitting next to you about your culture, and see if you can come up with a list of things together that make up culture. For instance, I might share what celebrating a holiday with my family looks like and determine that in my family religion and food creates our culture.

Culture Culture: the beliefs, the way of thinking, behaving or working, the customs, arts or the way of life, etc. for a particular society, group, place or time. Culture is important; it gives us a way to connect with others, but if we are not inclusive of others’ culture it can also feel very alienating, exclusive and isolating.

Journal Reflection Have you ever felt like others didn’t understand you or your culture, or see you for who you are? Think of a time when you might have experienced this and journal about the following: How did it make you feel? What were the aspects of your identity that you felt they didn’t understand? (Perhaps your interests, your culture, language, gender, etc.)   If you haven’t felt like this, then think about a time when you might have not understood someone else’s culture and journal about the following: What were aspects of their identity that you didn’t understand, and how did you see them as different from yourself?

Activity As you watch one of these two videos, think of the ways that either you might have felt excluded before, seen others be excluded, or excluded someone yourself. Try to relate those experiences to the way the main character might feel. “Immersion” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Y0HAjLKYI&featu re=youtu.be “This is Me- Misbah” https://vimeo.com/181123125

Journal, Share and Discuss How do you think Moises/Misbah feels in this video? How do you know? What might people not realize about Moises/Misbah? What are his/her peers missing out on? What are ways that you express your ethnicity and culture?

Activity There are aspects to our identity that others might not know or might not see. In Moises’ experience, his peers could not see how intelligent he was simply because he could not express himself in English. In Misbah’s experience she felt like people could only see her scarf and not her. Sometimes there are aspects of our identity that we too don’t show to everyone around us. In the next video, think about what aspects of the main character’s identity might be hidden or not shown to the whole world. Think about why she might do this. “In the Ring with a Muslim Muay Thai Champion” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Bst168aRQ

Journal, Share and Discuss Why do you think Ruqsana hides some aspects of her identity below the surface? How do you think this affects her?

Activity Things people notice right away Things just below the surface Things that are deep below

Group Activity Share: One thing you think others can see immediately Two things that are below the surface The object of this exercise is to learn about one another. When you are done sharing in a group, each one of you will be responsible for sharing out one aspect of a peer’s identity that you thought was interesting. Make sure you are listening to everyone in the group, so when it comes time to share as a class, you can feel confident.

Diversity, Empathy and Connection The more we know and learn from one another the more we can appreciate the diversity of our class. It enables us to grow in empathy and contributes to our overall knowledge of the world.