Identity

WHY IDENTITY?

In psychology and sociology identity means the conception and expression of their individually or groups affiliations that people have. I think that is very important to know how our students feel and which are their identities. This can be a very interesting topic to work with in our lessons and classes and it is also a good way to make comfortable the environment of our class. In my opinion we all have to be aware of where our pupils come from in order to understand that the identity of them is not the same of our identity feeling and because it will be better to work with them in a real context.

ACTIVITIES

My own identity

This activity focuses on the own identity. You have to make a pie and divide it in the things you feel that make you like you are. You can divide those things in three big groups: local, national and transnational.

I think that it is a very interesting activity because children can reflect their own personality on things that are interesting and important to them. This activity makes them think about whom they are and why are they like this. The most interesting thing is that you can compare your pie with other’s pies and in this way you can understand that we do not think the same and that we are not made in the same way, so that we all are unique. It is very interesting to realise that some people have different cultures and this makes they have different identities. We can also work in the similarities that exist between different cultures and in this way consider what is important to us and what makes up a larger part of our identity. 

Tell me a story

The activity consists in explaining a story in different languages. First of all the teacher gives some pictures to the students. They have to put the pictures in order and create a story with them. After that, they have to tell the story to other students using the individual language of everyone.

The activity is focused in diversity. It can be a very good tool to do in a multicultural class where you have pupils from everywhere that speak different languages. The activity can help them to feel more comfortable in the group and I think that is a good and fun idea to make the group more open-minded because they have to make an effort and use some communication skills that they do not usually use, like body language, visual images, the tone of our voices, the facial expressions and so on. Diversity is something that can enrich the group and, in my opinion you have to use it otherwise you are losing a really good opportunity to learn how to act in this globalized world.   In case that your group is not a multicultural group you can do another similar activity. You can ask your pupils to tell their part of the story in an invented language that they can choose in order to create the same atmosphere than with the different languages activity. In this way the pupils work in the communication as the others but not with real languages. 

ONLINE RESOURCES

1. The butterflies circus

The butterflies’ circus is a short independent film created by Joshua and Rebekah Weigel in 2009. It talks about the damages that the society have with some kind of problematic. It is very interesting the way they show the identity of every character. 

2. The ugly duckling

“The Ugly Duckling” is a literary fairy tale by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. I think that the story can fits perfect in identity and I think that this Disney version without speech is really interesting to talk with children about what identity means.

3. Una mà de contes

“Una mà de contes” – “A lot of tales” in English, is a tv programme for kids in Catalonia which tales different tales all over the world to children. I think that it is very interesting because children can learn which tales read kids from other countries. 

http://www.super3.cat/unamadecontes/

4. Som tots els nens del món

This is a song in catalan which talks about the rights of all the kids of the world and of all the things that all the kids have in common. 

http://www.coneixelsteusdrets.cat/musica.html

5. Giraffes can’t dance

A good tale to understand how being different can influence you.

6. El cazo de Lorenzo
“El cazo de Lorenzo” is a tale writed by Isabel Carrier which explains how difference can be something good and make you unique.

REFLECTION ON THE QUOTES

Globalization at the cultural level has brought about the fragmentation and multiplication of identities and this may require, paradoxically, a return to the familiar. (Cohen et al.)

In my opinion, in some ways it may be true that globalization leads to fragmentation. Increasingly cultures are mixed and this involves understanding them and stability and sometimes is not like this. You need to be tolerant and empathetic in order to live between cultures. For this reason I think it is true that globalization leads to fragmentation. Now we are not as ignorant as in the past, we hear about how life is in other parts of the world but we do not often understand them and we do not often know them. This can mean that people tend to the family and the familiar things because in this way you do not have to do the effort to understand each other and adapt to them ways of living. A lot of people are afraid of the unknown and prefer staying in what is familiar.

World citizenship is to be embraced, not feared. New forms of post-national understanding, responsibility, the state, justice, art, science and public understanding can emerge. This in turn can lead to more advanced forms of democracy, liberty and mutuality. (Beck)

Mixed cultures means that we are all learning about what the others do while we are doing other things. World is changing and we do not have to be afraid of it. The change can be good if we know how to use it. We can use the things that work better in other cultures to improve our own culture so, in this way, all the cultures of the world can improve. For example, we all can observe what the finish do with education and we can learn a lot of them.  In my opinion this step has to be made inside the culture, so it is not good that a culture wants to impose a thing even they believe that is better because the changes have to be accepted for the population in order to become successful.