Young children are naturally curious and multicultural activities are a great way to imbibe in them a sense of world history and culture. Plan programs in class where kids come dressed in simple traditional costumes, like kimonos of Japan, traditional red Indian clothes, sarongs worn by Malaysians or abayas from the Middle East. The teacher calls on each child and describes more about the particular country or region whose dress that child is wearing.
A quiz session is a great way to include students in multicultural awareness programs. Divide the kids into groups and give assignments to learn more about the food, tradition, religion and lifestyle of some countries. Hold a quiz contest between the groups in which all children participate. Students can also form teams and adopt particular countries to submit projects on them.
Categorizing is human nature. However, students should be taught not to make assumptions about the different communities around them. Divide them into groups, with each group selecting a particular trait of a community and writing adjectives about that trait on a chart. Hang the charts on the wall and allow different groups to walk up and note down more adjectives. At the end, the entire class will see typical comments associated with divergent groups and discuss how true or assumptive such notions are.
Older students are on the verge of interacting with the world independently. Multicultural activities are a great way to improve their interpersonal skills and tolerance level towards others. At the beginning of a semester, the teacher can ask the students to interview friends and class mates from different groups of nations, communities, languages and races. The interview findings can be put up on a bulletin board to highlight a particular student belonging to a specific group. Students can then partner a friend from another culture and expand the topics further.