Abstract
Europe is a mosaic of people from all over the world. We all have everyday exchanges with them. But have we ever gotten into their skin? Have we ever thought about the difficulties migrants and people with different abilities have? And if yes, have we been active in showing empathy?
I work as a Learning Support Educator/Class Assistant in Malta and aim to advocate for and be the voice for all innocent children who feel less or different than the typical/ordinary children for a specific reason. In Malta, we implement the Emergent Curriculum—in simple terms, this means that the implemented theme is based on the children’s interests.
During this term,, we are implementing the theme of “Home” – “Id-Dar.” Following Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it is vital that a child feel a sense of safety and belonging within his/her environment. Initially this was the initial stage of the SOI.
However, throughout my research,, I managed to retrieve and choose the scenario of Home Sweet Home: A Journey of Empathy by Athanasia Kakali published on July 12, 2021. This scenario inspired me to integrate the subject of Developing Emotional Literacy among 5-year-old students within a mainstream school and enhance the importance of our “Home” is not just the building that we live in but our community, our society, and all the world around us.
The importance of multiculturalism, diversity, and inclusion is highly important, as Malta and all the countries around the world are embracing the importance of adopting the Social Model and enhancing equity rather than equality, and people with different cultures are spreading all around the world. Thus, throughout this SOI, I intend to introduce the importance of the above-mentioned through enhancing empathy, embracing cultural differences, and supporting the students in developing their emotional intelligence at a young age through implementing a holistic and integrated learning approach – information technology and creative arts.
Overview of the classroom and its students:
Grade: Kindergarten 2
Age: 4 – 5 years
Classroom: Mainstream classroom of 17 students (10 boys, 7 girls) – different abilities and learning styles including 2 foreigners and a statement of needs.
Learning Style:
These young learners thrive on engaging within the classroom environment, especially during outdoor learning. Following the emergent curriculum and through incorporating hands-on and differentiated learning activities based on their own interest the youngsters show more enthusiasm to engage, especially when creative art is involved. In collaboration with the KGE, as their Class Assistant I try to observe their interests to enhance their curiosity, inspire and implement art through cross-curricular activities to achieve the learning outcome/s.
Introduction
As an introduction, I used an eBook to introduce the main objectives of this learning opportunity – empathy, multiculturalism, diversity, and inclusion.
QRCODE for the ebook: //drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mJ21wwtA7ytckVAgWca0NY00uqZ4UM3I
I also used WebQuest, which was prepared for the learning scenario, and in particular, using these two images from Europeana: Image 1 and Image 2. As suggested in the learning scenario, I also conducted the brainstorming activity with the young learners to create a mind map using //app.popplet.com
Main Activity
The main activity was held in our schoolyard. I preferred to conduct this activity outdoors to observe the trees and engage the children by questioning that although they have different shapes and colours, they are all beautiful and unique. I used this metaphor since the learners are only 5 years old, which helped them better understand that every living being is unique and beautiful. For a better understanding, if I had more time to prepare for this learning opportunity, I would have prepared and gone for an outing to our capital city, Valletta, to support them in observing different individuals living on our island.
After observing the trees, we painted the earth template with different colours of their choice to highlight the importance of multiculturalism, diversity, inclusion and empathy. Highlighting that the different colours represent the different cultures and differences among us individuals.
When the artwork dried, the learners were asked to stick pictures of different flags, cultures, religions, environments, foods, etc., to highlight the importance of multiculturalism.
Conclusion
Conclusion: Focusing on the result of the colourful artwork, the learners were engaged during a discussion and prompted to share their experiences, ideas, and opinions through questioning.
To conclude the activity, we have discussed:
- What is empathy?
- What is inclusion?
- What is multiculturalism?
- Have you ever helped a friend?
- How did you feel?
- How did your friend feel?
All the learners gave simple answers and shared their experiences.
At the very end, we sang together “We Are the World” – a spontaneous and additional resource, as a girl mentioned the song. From their engagement and feedback, it was clearly shown that most of them managed to engage in all the learning opportunities that were targeted.
Adaptations
I had to adapt from the original learning scenario since it targeted older learners. However, I can say that this activity was very simple but fruitful, as the learners seemed to engage throughout the entire learning opportunity.
Targeted Learning Objectives
- To develop and enhance the importance of being empathetic.
- To promote multiculturalism through learning and embracing differences.
- To promote diversity and inclusion.
- To encourage discussion, respect differences, and share various opinions.
- To enhance creativity and imaginative skills.
- To improve fine motor skills and hand and eye coordination.
Outcome
The learners were involved throughout the activity. I could easily notice their facial expressions while reading the eBook. Initially, they felt sad for Ashia, but in the end, they were all happy.
Implemented teaching scenario: Home Sweet Home: a Journey of Empathy (LS-GR-546)
Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.
PDM 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the National Maritime Museum.
