Whether you do this through visiting other countries and cultural groups, reading about them, watching youtube vidoes or documentaries, or watching television shows and movies from that culture, shopping at a grocery store that features ethnic or foreign to you foods, (and it should be a combination of these approaches), I have some open ended questions to share to help you and your kids notice and observe things. You can ask to help your children make some deductions and think through these things for themselves. HOWEVER- please don't turn this into a drill session. Look over the questions, and think about them as things to notice. Occasionally, ask one or two questions, wonder about something, notice something. Geography is important, but people are more than their geography.
Who are their heroes and why? What traits do they admire? Look at historical figures, national heroes, as well as cultural figures and contemporary sports and entertainment.
Clothing styles- note different styles based on age, gender, and/or social status. I once saw a really exhibit of the work of a photographer who took portraits of older relatives and their teen or 20 something kids or grandkids wearing each other's clothing. It was quite fascinating. I can't find it now, but this page of information on Thai culture is informative.
Food: this is a big one. How is it prepared (inside, outside, fire, stove, oven, is it sliced and diced so it comes to the table bite-sized, does it require a lot of time…); Who is most likely to prepare it? Where does it come from? What food groups are most common? What is considered a staple food (rice? bread? tortillas? beans?)? How often do they eat? How is it served (individually, or a central bowl or plate from which the entire family eats)? How is it eaten (chopsticks, fingers, forks, knives), is there something different about family seating (I notice in several Korean family dramas the women all eat at one table, the men at another; the table is low and the family sits on the floor)? What would be considered good table manners? Do they say grace before a meal? Is there a proper order for serving (in American you aren’t supposed to start until your hostess is seated and takes her first bite, in some cultures you wait for the father to take the first bite, in some you wait for the adults to finish before serving children).
Housing: What are the homes typically made of? What are the floor plans like? Size of the house? Arrangement of furniture? Furniture style? Is there a yard or outdoor space? What does it look like (a front and back yard? a courtyard? Fences?), What are the rooms and their purposes? What does the bathroom, if there is one, look like? What is the neighborhood like? Are other homes near or far? Shoes in the house or not? (here's an interesting description of one person's visit to a Japanese home)
Manners: What is considered a polite greeting? What is considered respectful? Who must show respect and to whom and how? What are some things you ought never to do in that culture (blow your nose in public? Sneeze? Discuss your bowel movements? Touch a person of the opposite gender who is not a family member? Kiss? Belch?)?
What security measures are taken for granted? (in Davao City Philippines, armed guards at schools and restaurants and grocery stores are typical)
What security measures are taken for granted? (in Davao City Philippines, armed guards at schools and restaurants and grocery stores are typical)
Where do people live? When we were in the Philippines I was surprised to see that the closer you were to the water (rivers or the sea) the worse the housing was, until you get to shanties and make-shift shacks. Rich people don't build on the seafront outside of first world countries with excellent insurance.
Family relationships: How do members of the family treat each other? What do they call each other? How are children disciplined? Family size? Age of marriage? Arranged marriages or …? Who’s the boss (if there is one)? What is a wedding like? Who has which responsibilities in the marriage ceremony and after? Is divorce acceptable? Is it common? What is the average number of children?
What can you learn about the written language, if there is one, and are there any conclusions you can draw from that. Japanese has an entire alphabet specifically for the purpose of writing foreign words or loan words- and that tells you something about the culture. What ‘loan words’ do they use (by loan words I mean words that are borrowed from another language and just incorporated almost as is into the daily speech and language), and what does that tell you about the culture? There’s almost an entire chapter on this in the beginning of Ivanhoe.
Work: What are common jobs? What are respected jobs, and what jobs are held in lower esteem? Are jobs divided by gender, if so, how? What’s a work day like? What are work safety measures for risky jobs? What are the wages?
Fun and games: What games are common? What are common leisure activities? What amusements and hobbies do people pursue, where and how? Toys? Music? Holidays and ceremonies?
What age is considered mature or grown up? Is there a coming of age ceremony or ritual? How old do the children leave home?
Collectivist or individualist? An explanation of what that means here.
Collectivist or individualist? An explanation of what that means here.
Lifespan?
How are the very young, the very old, the infirm, the disabled, or foreigners treated?
Art and architecture? What styles would be considered typical? Why?
Religion: What do they believe about a deity/deities/ worship? An afterlife? Death and what happens afterward? A soul? Burial rituals? What is a ‘good person?’ Monotheistm, polytheism, atheism, or ….? What do they believe about what is requires of them by their deity? Where do they worship and how? Religious books? Leaders? If there is more than one religion typical of the region or culture, how do they get along? What do they believe about human beings and where we come from, our purpose (if any) in life? Our relationship to God (or gods, or…?)?
Religion: What do they believe about a deity/deities/ worship? An afterlife? Death and what happens afterward? A soul? Burial rituals? What is a ‘good person?’ Monotheistm, polytheism, atheism, or ….? What do they believe about what is requires of them by their deity? Where do they worship and how? Religious books? Leaders? If there is more than one religion typical of the region or culture, how do they get along? What do they believe about human beings and where we come from, our purpose (if any) in life? Our relationship to God (or gods, or…?)?
Government: What form of government? Who rules, how, and why? What attitude do people have toward that government?
What do the people look like? Is the society is homogeneous. What do they admire when it comes to personal appearance You can find this out by looking at plastic surgery rates and typical cosmetic surgeries, by looking at the cosmetics and skin care products used and sold and advertised, by looking at advertisements. Do this with your own culture, too, asking yourself if a stranger came to visit, what conclusions would that stranger draw from your culture's popular entertainment? In other words, what are their standards of beauty? How do you know?
For instance…. (I would screen this first, it isn't all family friendly)
One woman sent a photograph of herself without makeup to photoshop experts around the world and asked them to make her beautiful. Here she compares the results and shares a few stats on beauty standards and make-up practices.
Most of these come from Kathryn Stout’s Guides to History Plus (Design-A-Study)
And you really want to have the audio or video sessions of David Livermore's Cultural Intelligence series (at audible or Teaching Company)- not the books. There's a huge gap in information and interest and I consider the books inferior.
What do the people look like? Is the society is homogeneous. What do they admire when it comes to personal appearance You can find this out by looking at plastic surgery rates and typical cosmetic surgeries, by looking at the cosmetics and skin care products used and sold and advertised, by looking at advertisements. Do this with your own culture, too, asking yourself if a stranger came to visit, what conclusions would that stranger draw from your culture's popular entertainment? In other words, what are their standards of beauty? How do you know?
For instance…. (I would screen this first, it isn't all family friendly)
One woman sent a photograph of herself without makeup to photoshop experts around the world and asked them to make her beautiful. Here she compares the results and shares a few stats on beauty standards and make-up practices.
Most of these come from Kathryn Stout’s Guides to History Plus (Design-A-Study)
And you really want to have the audio or video sessions of David Livermore's Cultural Intelligence series (at audible or Teaching Company)- not the books. There's a huge gap in information and interest and I consider the books inferior.
These are just a few of the questions you can ask, and it’s merely a beginning. From there you might ask, “Why?” and “What does that mean for daily life?” and “How is it different here?” Studying the geography and climate of a country is important too, for understanding the customs and culture. Naturally, island nations depend more on the sea than on large scale animal farming for dinner, for example.
How do people spend their money? How much does it cost to live?
You can ask these questions about modern cultures and countries you are studying, and you can ask them about historical cultures.
Learn at least a few phrases from the language. E. A Parish, in her excellent article on imagination says: "teacher and taught must be inspired by the sympathy towards those who are strangers to them and whose language has hitherto been but a sound in their ears."
Learn at least a few phrases from the language. E. A Parish, in her excellent article on imagination says: "teacher and taught must be inspired by the sympathy towards those who are strangers to them and whose language has hitherto been but a sound in their ears."
"It is by the aid of imagination that a child comes to
love people who do not belong to his own country, and as he learns the history
of their great deeds and noble efforts, he is eager to learn something of the
country in which they lived… of the causes that made the people what they are. "
Other Resources:
You may also find the book What the World Eats
a useful resource.This is a project done by the same team who did the book Material World
, another book that I highly recommend for studying other countries and cultures. In Material World (you can see some photographs here), they traveled the world and took photographs of an average family in various countries with the family’s possessions.
a useful resource.This is a project done by the same team who did the book Material World, another book that I highly recommend for studying other countries and cultures. In Material World (you can see some photographs here), they traveled the world and took photographs of an average family in various countries with the family’s possessions.
In What The World Eats, the photographer and journalist went to 24 countries and photographed 30 families with one week’s worth of groceries, most of the families the same families who were in their first book.You can look at a short story about it with some of the photographs here. You can see other photographs from the project here. They include data about how much the food costs, how some of the food is prepared, recipes, and a list of the food.
At Audible.com, look for : Customs of the World: Using Cultural Intelligence to Adapt, Wherever You Are
At the Teaching Company, wait for it to go on sale. Everything in their catalog goes on sale a couple times a year, it's their business model. I listened to this before we moved to the Philippines and I found that I often was able to explain situations to missionary friends who had been there for 20 years thanks to the information in this course. Invaluable.
$5.00- Education for All, vol 2- the Imagination (and more) issue!- transcript of the imagination talk from the AO Camp meeting, with additional material I had to cut to save time.
$5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal, Feed Your Mind! This issue contains several articles on handicrafts, outdoor play, nature study and science. See sidebar for purchasing options if you are in the Philippines.
$3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3, carefully selected with an eye toward finely crafted sentences, lovely bits of writing pleasant to picture in the mind's eye, and practice in copying some of the mechanics of grammar and punctuation typically covered in these years.
$3.00 Aesop's Fables Copywork for Year One! Carefully selected with an eye toward well written sentences, memorable scenes, and some practice copying sentences that model the basics of capitalization and punctuation. Suitable for use with children who have already mastered the strokes and letters for basic penmanship.
Picture Study! Miguel Cabrera's beautiful, diverse families, painted in 18th century Mexico this package includes 9 downloadable prints along with directions for picture study and background information on the artist and his work. $5.00
Common Kitchen: What's for lunch? Isn't that a common problem in homeschooling families? What to fix, what is quick, what is frugal, what is nourishing? How can I accomplish all those things at once? We homeschooled 7 children, and I was a homeschooling mom for 29 years on a single income. I collected these recipes and snack ideas from all over the world. These are real foods I used to feed my family, my godsons, and sometimes my grandkids. Includes some cooking tips and suggestions for sides, and for a variety of substitutions. I think every family will find something they can use here. $5.00
At Audible.com, look for : Customs of the World: Using Cultural Intelligence to Adapt, Wherever You Are
At the Teaching Company, wait for it to go on sale. Everything in their catalog goes on sale a couple times a year, it's their business model. I listened to this before we moved to the Philippines and I found that I often was able to explain situations to missionary friends who had been there for 20 years thanks to the information in this course. Invaluable.
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| My husband carrying our disable daughter down the steps to our church when we lived in the Philippines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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$5.00- Education for All, vol 2- the Imagination (and more) issue!- transcript of the imagination talk from the AO Camp meeting, with additional material I had to cut to save time.
$5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal, Feed Your Mind! This issue contains several articles on handicrafts, outdoor play, nature study and science. See sidebar for purchasing options if you are in the Philippines.
$3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3, carefully selected with an eye toward finely crafted sentences, lovely bits of writing pleasant to picture in the mind's eye, and practice in copying some of the mechanics of grammar and punctuation typically covered in these years.
$3.00 Aesop's Fables Copywork for Year One! Carefully selected with an eye toward well written sentences, memorable scenes, and some practice copying sentences that model the basics of capitalization and punctuation. Suitable for use with children who have already mastered the strokes and letters for basic penmanship.
Picture Study! Miguel Cabrera's beautiful, diverse families, painted in 18th century Mexico this package includes 9 downloadable prints along with directions for picture study and background information on the artist and his work. $5.00
Common Kitchen: What's for lunch? Isn't that a common problem in homeschooling families? What to fix, what is quick, what is frugal, what is nourishing? How can I accomplish all those things at once? We homeschooled 7 children, and I was a homeschooling mom for 29 years on a single income. I collected these recipes and snack ideas from all over the world. These are real foods I used to feed my family, my godsons, and sometimes my grandkids. Includes some cooking tips and suggestions for sides, and for a variety of substitutions. I think every family will find something they can use here. $5.00
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