Superdiversity Paper
Topic.......................................................................................................................................................2
Why did I chose this topic?.....................................................................................................................2
Analyze the topic....................................................................................................................................2
Where to start?..................................................................................................................................2
Article.................................................................................................................................................3
21st century: “the age of superdiversity”............................................................................................3
Exercises for the pupils.......................................................................................................................4
Sources:..................................................................................................................................................5
, Topic
The multicultural holidays in the classroom
Why did I chose this topic?
When I did my internship in the first year (kennismakingsstage) I encountered something
“interesting”. When I was observing an English lesson in secondary school, the teacher
talked a bit about the holidays from different cultures. A bit of context: there were 2 pupils
in the class that were Flemish but also had Moroccan origins, the rest of the class was
Flemish. When the teacher mentioned the Ramadan and asked the pupils if they knew what
the holiday consists of, one of the pupils of Moroccan origin raised her hand, but the teacher
wanted to pass the question to a Flemish pupil to test their knowledge about the holiday. So
the teacher appointed a pupil and he said that Ramadan was a period where u don’t eat as
much as when you do in the rest of the year. You could sense that one of the pupils with
Moroccan origins was a bit irritated with the answer and gave an (almost) correct
description of Ramadan. When she was done, the other pupil told her that “he would not
eat because of a religious holiday. I got the feeling that he didn’t care about the view of
people that believe in other religions. It was a bit of an awkward situation. You can’t really
blame the pupil who doesn’t know much about Ramadan because it probably wasn’t
mentioned enough to him, but you could blame him for not showing any interest in the
holiday. This situation really is a situation of intercultural miscommunication. When I’m
going to be a teacher I want that my pupils are a bit more aware of the concept of
multicultural holidays because I think it’s a topic that is very interesting, and very fun to do a
few exercises on.
Analyze the topic
Where to start?
The first thing all teachers need to do is trigger their awareness of the importance of
encouraging the topic of diversity. The second thing they need to do is indicate how
important diversity is to the pupils, they can do that by regularly mentioning or talking about
the topic in various ways. I’ve chosen to make a paper on (in my opinion) one of the most
fun and interesting ways to introduce them to diversity, which is learning about the different
cultural holidays. In my explanation of why I chose this subject, I recognized an intercultural
problem in the class where I was observing.
How can I link this with the course document?
I link this ‘problem’ situation with David Pinto. David Pinto created a method that could help
teachers handle an awkward intercultural situation. When a pupil isn’t respecting another
pupil’s religion or in my context religious holiday, you can make a clear comment to that
pupil to let him/her know that in some religions people take many values in holidays like
Topic.......................................................................................................................................................2
Why did I chose this topic?.....................................................................................................................2
Analyze the topic....................................................................................................................................2
Where to start?..................................................................................................................................2
Article.................................................................................................................................................3
21st century: “the age of superdiversity”............................................................................................3
Exercises for the pupils.......................................................................................................................4
Sources:..................................................................................................................................................5
, Topic
The multicultural holidays in the classroom
Why did I chose this topic?
When I did my internship in the first year (kennismakingsstage) I encountered something
“interesting”. When I was observing an English lesson in secondary school, the teacher
talked a bit about the holidays from different cultures. A bit of context: there were 2 pupils
in the class that were Flemish but also had Moroccan origins, the rest of the class was
Flemish. When the teacher mentioned the Ramadan and asked the pupils if they knew what
the holiday consists of, one of the pupils of Moroccan origin raised her hand, but the teacher
wanted to pass the question to a Flemish pupil to test their knowledge about the holiday. So
the teacher appointed a pupil and he said that Ramadan was a period where u don’t eat as
much as when you do in the rest of the year. You could sense that one of the pupils with
Moroccan origins was a bit irritated with the answer and gave an (almost) correct
description of Ramadan. When she was done, the other pupil told her that “he would not
eat because of a religious holiday. I got the feeling that he didn’t care about the view of
people that believe in other religions. It was a bit of an awkward situation. You can’t really
blame the pupil who doesn’t know much about Ramadan because it probably wasn’t
mentioned enough to him, but you could blame him for not showing any interest in the
holiday. This situation really is a situation of intercultural miscommunication. When I’m
going to be a teacher I want that my pupils are a bit more aware of the concept of
multicultural holidays because I think it’s a topic that is very interesting, and very fun to do a
few exercises on.
Analyze the topic
Where to start?
The first thing all teachers need to do is trigger their awareness of the importance of
encouraging the topic of diversity. The second thing they need to do is indicate how
important diversity is to the pupils, they can do that by regularly mentioning or talking about
the topic in various ways. I’ve chosen to make a paper on (in my opinion) one of the most
fun and interesting ways to introduce them to diversity, which is learning about the different
cultural holidays. In my explanation of why I chose this subject, I recognized an intercultural
problem in the class where I was observing.
How can I link this with the course document?
I link this ‘problem’ situation with David Pinto. David Pinto created a method that could help
teachers handle an awkward intercultural situation. When a pupil isn’t respecting another
pupil’s religion or in my context religious holiday, you can make a clear comment to that
pupil to let him/her know that in some religions people take many values in holidays like
