The scenario shows how students have the lack of cultural appreciation of others. The school and teachers need to create a program which ensures that students understand the difference in cultures and how people need to work and live in harmony. It is important that school take initiative and educate students about different cultures and how they are crucial to Australian survival. The scenario highlights how some students feel that others are inferior because they belong to different religions.
The school has developed an integrated planning matrix. It has ensured that planning processes from macro to micro levels from school to classroom or program to lesson. Thus, the scenario shows that the school needs to implement the guidelines of intercultural understanding through the design of lessons. The school has designed five lessons, two English, one maths, one biology and one history lesson. Each lesson contains concepts about cultural understanding, in order for students to appreciate other cultures.
Intercultural understanding draws on students’s growing knowledge, understanding and critical awareness of their own and others perspective(Intercultural, 2012). In the scenario, it can be seen how students are not aware of each other culture and how some are stereotyping against other for no valid and just reason. The five lessons are aimed to increase the intercultural understanding of the students. Thus, the main aim is to avoid students discriminating against each other and to enhance a permanent harmony among them. Furthermore, the main aim is to make the students celebrate the fruits of multiculturalism among themselves. It is worth mentioning that the intercultural understanding is more apparent in some learning areas than others(Intercultural, 2012). However the school has decided to include intercultural understanding components in all the learning areas.
One of the causes of racism in the scenario can be owing to the fact that the curriculum does not reflect the spirit of multiculturalism and intercultural understanding among students(Calder, 2000). It is essential that the Australian curriculum does contain information about others cultures, otherwise NESB students will be left out in the dark. Students in Australia deserve to be treated with justice and integrity. Thus, it is inappropriate to ignore the new composition of Australian population. It is important that the Australian curriculum adopt some of the proposed curriculum in this project for the sake of correcting the inbalance in the current curriculum. It is worth mentioning that every student needs to know that he or she has to right to discriminate against anyone based on race or religion.
The lesson plan is developed according to the hypothetical scenario about students discriminating against each other which was based on religions. It is worth mentioning that the matrix used NSW board of studies curriculum for English for year 3 and 4(English, 2012) and the Australian curriculum that is known as acara(acara, 2012)
Lesson 1
The key issue from the lesson is to familiarize students with Christianity and Hindu religions. Thus; students need to know in depth about others religions in order to appreciate it. The main aim of the lesson is to promote intercultural understanding among students in the classrooms, in order for them to behave better when they leave their schools. The lesson aims to make the students to value their own culture, their languages and beliefs. Furthermore, the lesson has aimed to value the culture and religions of others. Students have an opportunity to learn about two of the major religions in the world, such as Christianity and Hinduism. If students learn about other religions, then they will start to appreciate each one religion and culture. The lesson aims for students to achieve the following objectives:
To understand the Australian culture.
To appreciate the achievements of Australian pioneers and migrants.
To value the English language.
To practice the language with NESB classmates.
Understand the culture and beliefs of Christian and Hindu.
The activities for the lesson are aimed to introduce students to each other religions, in order to avoid the events in the scenario. The classroom is ought to be free from racism and discrimination.
Lesson 2
The key issue from the lesson is to familiarize students with the Islamic religions. Thus many Islamic students are populating many schools. Furthermore, the Islamic community is normally facing discrimination. It is important that students learn about all religions and not to belief any rumour about any religion. The aim of the lesson is to promote intercultural understanding between all cultures in the classrooms, in order to prevent friction between students as the case in the scenario. The lesson has aimed to achieve the following objectives:
To understand the Muslim culture.
To appreciate the teaching of Islam.
To value the English language in the context of Islam.
To understand the culture and beliefs of Islam.
It is so crucial that the activities educate students about major religions as Islam which makes up about 2% of the Australian population. The students have a chance to view a video about Islam which contradict the wrongful myth that Islam foster terrorism in the world. It is good to see that one of the activities ask Muslim students to pair with non-Muslim students in order to explain their own language, religion and culture. The events in the scenario could be avoided if students are briefed about each other religions
Lesson 3
The key issue from the lesson is to familiarize students with the fact that Mathematics is basically the same. It is important that students are aware of the fact that Maths is not made only by Anglo-Saxon scholars but by other scholars from other cultures. The curriculum has to become a tool to promote the intercultural understanding in the classroom. The objectives of the lesson are as follow:
To show that Maths is common in most culture.
To show that all measurement units means the same but in different language.
To show that similarity in Maths eases intercultural differences.
The activities of the lesson are structured in the way that students need to compare units of measurements in both English and their native language. The main aim of the lesson is to show that Maths has been to explain to students that in all subjects which they do at school highlight the importance of intercultural understanding and the need to appreciate each other culture. It is worth mentioning that intercultural understanding in mathematics can be enhanced when students are exposed to a range of cultural traditions. Thus, students need to understand that mathematical expressions use universal symbols, while mathematical knowledge has its origin in many cultures(Curriculum, 2012).
Lesson 4
The key issue from the lesson is to familiarize students with the fact that there are species of different shapes and functions. Furthermore, it highlights the fact that people are of different skin and colour and religions but they all share this earth as leaders over all living species from animal to vegetables. The objectives of the lesson are as follow:
To show that species are different but they do need to live with each other.
To show that the human body is same for each male and female counterpart despite that they have different skin colour and different cultural backgrounds.
To show that everyone need to live in harmony even if we are all of different species.
The activities of this lesson is so interesting where one of the activities is about how students are given an opportunity to look at one black and one white cat in order to prove that even they have different colour but they do have the same functions. Thus, the students will learn to live together in harmony with each other in the classroom and in the outer classroom. It is worth observing that there are opportunities in the science learning area to develop intercultural understanding. Thus, the students are given an opportunity to appreciate the contribution that diverse cultural perspectives have made to the development and diversity of science knowledge and application(Diversity, 2012).
Lesson 5
The key issue from the lesson is to familiarize students with the fact that Australian history is a mix of white settlers, Aboriginals and the migrants who come from different countries. The history lesson is aimed to teach students about the importance of learning about how all cultures worked together to create this new state of Australia which is no longer just an Anglo-Saxon community but a community which embraces many cultures. This lesson is created to help students to avoid teasing each other and to enhance harmony between all students. The objectives of the lessons are as follow:
To understand the creation of Australian state.
To recognise the Aboriginals as the native Australians.
To understand the contribution of Chinese and Africans in Australia.
To understanding the concept of multiculturism in the classroom.
To appreciate the history of the inclusion of many food from different cuisine across the globe.
One of the activities of the lesson is the fact that students are to watch a DVD about the history of migration in Australia. Furthermore, the students are given a task to write a brief letter to their friends about the history of multiculturalism in Australia. It is worth mentioning that each lesson accompany a flowchart of the planning process and an integrated planning matrix. The majority of activities in all lessons aim to highlight the importance of intercultural understanding in the classroom.
