Learning about other countries through books

Learning about other countries has always been fun and interesting, but in this day and age, has become increasingly importaint. Fortunately there are a number of wonderful children's books that can help children get a glimpse of what it is like to be a child in another culture.o

Listed below are seven of them, along with various suggested activities and snacks.

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NORTH AMERICA: CANADA, INUIT

Book: Nessa's song. The story of a young Inuit girl's search for a story of her own. Lovely pastel pictures.

Suggested activities:

Continued stories: One person begins a tale, stopping at an exciting place. The next person then picks up the tale. This continues until all have had a turn. The last person finishes the story.

Seal Racing: based on an Inuit tradition, all participants lie down at a starting line. At go, all participants wriggle across to the finish line - trying not to use their arms to help propel them.

Suggested Food: bannocks. According to elook.org, bannocks are a favorite among Inuit children. A good recipe can be found following the link.

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SOUTH AMERICA : AMAZON RAINFOREST

Book: Antonio's Rainforest. This story follows Antonio and his family in their life on a rubber plantation. Illustrated with photos.

Suggested activity:

Play the South American game "Cops and Robbers." Divide children into two teams. The first team are the cops, who attempt to catch the robbers and put them in a prison base. The robbers try to evade the cops and to free their comrades by tagging them.

Food suggestion:

Inca Cola, if it is available.

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AFRICA: MALAWI

Book: When Africa Was Home. This is a story of a multi-cultural child who lived part of his life in Africa. It givs a nice taste of life for two village youngsters in a Malawi village, as well as a glimse of what it is like to change countries. If you are a TCK from somewehre in aFrica, it might just touch a heartstring. Lovely picturs.

Suggested activity:

Improvise toys. Hold a race with tires. Stand them upright and push them with hands or stick. Or, as one enterprising young man did when I tried this out, lay them down, ask a younger child to get in, and hold a race that way.

Food:

peanut butter sauce with rice or nsima (or crackers) Personally I find this delicious. Peanut butter soup is actualy found in many places in Africa, and aroudnd the world Nsima also tends to .be found all over AFrica, under differnt names. Traditionally, hands are washed, then food is eaten with right hand only.

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EUROPE: FRANCE

Book: The Butterflly Based on a true story, tihs book tells the story of a little French girl living in Nazi Germany who discovers she hsa another little girl idding in her own house.

Suggested activitity.: Allow for processing of story.

When children are ready,, play "boys against the girls" It is vefry similar to Cops and Robbers from South America, only one team is composed of boys and one of girls.

Foxes vs. hens vs. Snakes. Divide children into three grouus. Foxes catch hens, hens catch snakes and snakes Scatch foxes. Continue unil one animal is left alone.

Food:

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MIDDLE EAST : ISREAL

Book Snow in Jerusalem. A sweet story of hope of peace in Jerusalem, between an Arab boy and a Jewish boy.

Suggested activities: blind'sman bluff. One person is blindfolded and tries to find the others.

Jacks, using stones. Jacks are a unirversal game, though often played with bones and stones. A stone is thrwon up, and the others are picked up. Inititially one at at time, followed by twos, threes, and so on.

Food:

Falafels, a deep fried bean cake.

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ASIA: JAPAN

Book: How My Parents Learned to Eatt. A fun story about a multi-cultural family, and the mishaps it had in its formation.

Suggested Activities

Learn how to use chopsticks. Then hold a chopsticks relay.

Play Rock Paper Scissors. It is Japanese in origin.

Play Mr. Daruma fell down. It is similar to REd Light, Green Light. When It has his back turned, all may advance safely. When he turns around, shouting "mr. Darouma fell down," all have to freeze, or go back.

Food: Try Pocki. It can be found in some international aisles in grocery stores.

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AUSTRALIA

Book: Possom Magic. A silly story of an invisible possum who must travel all over Ausstralia, eating various Australian tucker (food), in order to turn visible again.

Suggested activities:

Hold a Grandma Poss and Hush obstacle course, ffinding some of the 'magic' foods mentioned in the book along the way.

Food:

Eat some of the treats in the books: vegemite sandwhich, (marmite might do in a pinch, but it;s not the same), lamingtons (older pound cake cut, rolled in chocolate, tehn coconut, pavlova (merengues with furit topping), minties.

Have fun!