Diversity, A Key to Success for Our Children
Integrating diversity in our classrooms means more than enrolling students from a variety of multicultural backgrounds; it means, including lessons about their heritages, languages, and customs. When teachers create an environment that not only acknowledges diversity but celebrates what makes all of these cultures unique, then students can grow socially and academically with a better grasp on multicultural histories and subjects as they move up in school. “The origins of our preschool are founded in our community. The community decided they wanted to put a preschool together for their bilingual needs, that’s pretty much our DNA as a preschool—it’s all-around community and community building,” explained our Senior Program Director, Rafael Medina. “We focus on five pillars – physical, socio-emotional, linguistic, cognitive and cultural development of children.” By building our curriculum around these pillars, we’re able to teach our students important lessons and concepts that they can carry into the rest of their lives. These lessons include:
- Cultural Awareness - Students who are exposed to a variety of cultures, religions, and ethnic backgrounds are taught awareness, how to integrate their cultures, and feel comfortable with their peers despite recognizing their differences.
- Tolerance and Acceptance - Being surrounded by students who are different from themselves everyday teaches students to recognize, understand, and accept their peers.
- Knowledge of Language and Culture - When students share insights about their own languages and cultures with one another it provides lessons that go well beyond the classroom - making them excited about new languages and cultures unfamiliar to them.
- Positive Problem Solving - Students learn to work together in a positive manner when faced with conflicts because they are used to being surrounded by diverse individuals and ways of thinking.
- Diverse Knowledge & Skills - Students learn how to work together by seeing how their individual knowledge fits into the team as well as how their teammates' knowledge can benefit the exercise.