ChildhoodExplorer

Spring 2015

Exploring the Lives of Children WorldwideAssociation for Childhood Education International

Exploring the Lives of Children WorldwideAssociation for Childhood Education International

Childhood Explorer (ISSN 2377-2883) is published quarterly by the Association for Childhood Education International, 1101 16th St., N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036

Articles published in Childhood Explorer represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions taken by the Association for Childhood Education International.

Copyright © 2015 by the Association for Childhood Education International. No permission is needed to reproduce materials for education purposes.

ACEI HEADQUARTERS STAFF:Diane P. Whitehead, Executive DirectorMichelle Allen, Director of OperationsAnne Watson Bauer, Editor/Director of PublicationsEmebet G/Micheal, Accounting ManagerOlivia Kent, Communications ManagerDeborah Jordan Kravitz, Production EditorSheri Levin, Member Relations ManagerYvette Murphy, Director of Advocacy and OutreachNana Oppong, Director of DevelopmentKarin Rosenberg, Global Education CoordinatorDione Walters, Membership Assistant

Photography Credits:cover photo: BlueOrange Studio/shutterstockp. 4: karelnoppe/shutterstockp. 6: Jesse Kunerth/shutterstockp. 7-10: The Children’s Peace Pavilionp. 11: Jackie Lewis/EDCp. 13, 16: Susan Warner/Save the Childrenp. 14: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Save the Childrenp. 15: Sanjana Shrestha/Save the Childrenp. 17: Gabor Palkovics/shutterstockp. 18: courtyardpix/shutterstockp. 20: Blablo101/shutterstockp. 22: africa924/shutterstockp. 24: KPG_Mega/shutterstockp. 25-27: So Jung Kimp. 28: xtock/shutterstock

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ChildhoodExplorer

Spring 2015 Vol. 2, No. 2

Exploring the Lives of Children WorldwideAssociation for Childhood Education International

Contents

5 Child-Friendly Schools

6 The Children’s Peace Pavilion

11 Books on the Move: Mobile Libraries Bring Reading Materials to Communities in Rwanda

13 Learning to Read Beyond School Walls

17 News Rap Promotes Global Citizenship in West Africa

18 A Day in the Life of a Transgender Child in the United States

22 A Migrant Family in India: A Case Study

24 Discussing Race With Kindergartners in South Korea: A Story of Hope

28 “Let This Bubble Pop”: A LearnServe Student Spotlight

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Learn More:

Child-friendly Schools Manual from UNICEF

UNICEF’s Child-friendly Schools Portal, including videos from the Rising Voices documentary series

VIDEO: Child-friendly Schools for Life

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School is one of the most important places in a child’s life. At school, children should feel safe, supported, and challenged—they should be able to thrive. Child-friendly schools place the best interests of the child at the center of all policies and decision-making, helping children to realize their right to a quality education in a safe and supportive environment. They acknowledge and ensure child rights as designated by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Child-friendly schools promote inclusion and help children learn what they need to learn, while also teaching them how to learn.

Child-friendly schools are child-seeking; they serve all children in their communities, regardless of race, gender, background, or circumstance, in order to provide them with opportunities to learn. Inclusion of all learners is critical for child-friendly schools, which are nondiscriminatory, free of cost, and meet the needs of all children, regardless of ability. They seek out and include learners who had been previously excluded—either due to their gender, social position, familial ties, or other factors. They create individualized learning opportunities so that no child is denied their right to a quality education.

They are also child-centered, in that they place the best interests of the child first. They are holistic in their approach, considering not only children’s right to learn, but also their right to health, safety, security, and love. Child-friendly schools prioritize learning in all areas and cultivate children’s natural abilities to learn and grow through child-guided projects and interactions. A school’s responsibility to children goes far beyond basic literacy and numeracy skills; child-friendly schools help children become moral, responsible global citizens. Children at child-friendly schools are active participants in lessons and activities. When schools encourage child participation, they ensure that children feel heard and respected.

Child-friendly schools also understand their responsibility to their community. They serve as champions of education and child rights in local forums and mobilize community support for education. These schools recognize the importance of family and community in the optimal education and development of children. Families are active participants in school life and collaborators in learning.

Child-friendly schools support and encourage teachers as they explore a variety of teaching methods and approaches. Teachers are the most important factor in the creation and preservation of a warm, supportive, and inclusive classroom environment, and child-friendly schools recognize their vital role. All staff members at child-friendly schools are warm and welcoming to the children and conscious of their health and emotional well-being.

The characteristics of a child-friendly school should be incorporated into all learning environments in which children are present. When children are supported and loved, and learning is prioritized in their lives, they will draw on their natural curiosity and desire to learn. In this way, they will be best equipped to truly flourish.

Child-Friendly Schools

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The Children’s Peace Pavilion

By Barb HarmonDirector,

Children’s Peace Pavilion

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“If we are to reach real peace in this world, . . .we shall have to begin with the children.” — Mahatma Gandhi

The bus doors open and 35 excited 2nd-graders bound down the stairs. At their teachers’ direction, they line up in two orderly lines to await directions to visit the Children’s Peace Pavilion.

The Children’s Peace Pavilion in Independence, Missouri, USA, is a unique, interactive children’s museum designed to teach concepts of peace through creative, hands-on learning activities. Every element in the museum is designed to empower children to incorporate peacemaking skills into their everyday lives. The mission of the Children’s Peace Pavilion is to engage the pursuit of peace by promoting peaceful learning, living, and action.

Children begin their exploration of the Pavilion in the Puppet Theater. They are introduced to a simple way to resolve conflicts using the words “Stop! Think! Peace!” as problem-solving tools. Volunteer staff members engage children through a puppet show that encourages them to think about different kinds of conflicts, from physical fighting to excluding someone else from play, and to consider how to reach peaceful solutions.

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The conflict today is between puppets Sam and Bailey. Sam has invited Bailey to play at her house. She has a new video game that she is anxious to try. But Bailey doesn’t really like video games and would rather play Jenga. A loud verbal argument ensues as Sam tells Bailey it is HER house, and Bailey should do what she wants. Bailey counters that she is the guest, and SHE should get to choose. Their argument is interrupted as 35 children loudly shout: “STOP! THINK! PEACE!”The children offer suggestions about how Sam and Bailey can STOP fighting, THINK about how the other is feeling, and find a way to PEACE. Their ideas range from taking turns doing the preferred activities to doing something different both children would enjoy, like playing outside.

Children leave the Puppet Theater with a solid understanding of how to solve problems, which will be reemphasized as they explore the Pavilion exhibits. Volunteer docents often hear children reminding each other as they navigate the activities, “Stop! Think! Peace!”

The exhibits and activities in the Pavilion focus on four significant aspects of peace: Peace for Me, Peace for Us, Peace for Everyone, and Peace for the Planet. From personal choices to awareness that each person is part of a global family, the exhibits in the Pavilion seek to provide experiences that teach lessons about being a peacemaker.

Peace for Me helps children recognize that peace begins with managing feelings and self-care. The choices they make impact how they feel about themselves and how they treat others.

At the Emotion Commotion game, a child activates a spinner, which lands on the word, “Frustration.” Through two-way mirrored glass, he tries to demonstrate this feeling with his facial expressions. The child on the other side of the glass tries to interpret his expression and pushes a button that lights up the word, “Anger.” “No, that’s not it!” The child guesses again and pushes the button for “Confidence.” “Nope, that’s not it, either!” On the third try, he pushes the button “Frustration.”

The exchange provides the volunteer docent an opportunity to interject. “It’s not always easy to know what someone is feeling. Sometimes we think we know, but we might get it wrong. Sometimes we can have conflicts when we misunderstand how someone is feeling. We might think someone is angry at us, and we might react to their anger. But maybe they are frustrated about something that happened at school that had nothing to do with us. It’s important to talk about our feelings, and to ask other people how they feel.”

Peace for Us helps children understand they are part of many groups. In groups, we often have conflicts or

School Harmony Hopping Rain Forest

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problems. Peace for Us introduces the skills of conflict resolution, communication, cooperation, and dealing with bullying behaviors.

A volunteer docent sits across from a child at the Block Talk table. They are separated by a black screen that allows them to hear but not see each other. The child builds a structure with the blocks in front of her and gives instructions to the volunteer on how to place her blocks. The goal is to build the same structure. When all the blocks are placed, they look at each other’s structures to see how they did. It is clear that while the volunteer was following all the directions, some of the blocks were going different directions.

Block Talk helps children understand that communication requires both talking and listening. Even then, understanding isn’t always clear. A directive as simple as “Put the blue rectangle lying down in the middle of the table” could be understood several different ways. Block Talk illustrates how not understanding each other can cause conflict.

Peace for Everyone encourages understanding of what every child needs to survive and thrive, along with the realization that not all children have what they need. Peace for Everyone also promotes appreciation of diversity among groups, cultures, and societies. Children have an opportunity to travel to a village and

visit a reproduction of a school, home, and working well typical in many parts of the world. The village was built to be as authentic as possible and was constructed through a partnership with Outreach International, an organization dedicated to finding long-term solutions to poverty through participatory human development.Children role play what a typical day might be like. A volunteer directs the boys to go to school, and assigns one girl to work at the store and barter with people who come by on the road, another girl to watch the younger children, and sends another girl to the well to haul water. Not going to school sounds like a good option at first, until the girl lifts the bucket. “This is heavy!” she remarks. “And you are big enough,” the volunteer pronounces, “that you would carry two buckets!”

After exploring the village, children are encouraged to take action to connect with a child in Zambia through a partnership with Health Ed Connect, an organization that empowers women and children through evidence-based health, education, and advocacy programs. Visitors to the Pavilion write letters that are hand delivered to schoolchildren in Zambia by Health Ed Connect staff.

“I would like to see you!” writes Ammon.

“Hi, my name is Taylor. I am in 2nd grade. I bet you are awesome!”

Puppet TheaterBlock Talk

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“I like peace because I don’t have to fight and argue with everyone. Thank you for reading this. Sincerely, Xileah.”

Peace for the Planet encourages children to recognize that the earth gives us what we need to live, so it is our responsibility to help care for it. Children listen to an informative video by a former guest to the Pavilion, Jane Goodall, as she describes her work with chimpanzees in the forests of Tanzania. Children are encouraged to connect with projects to care for the earth through Jane’s organization, Roots and Shoots.

Children learn about how they can care for the earth by their actions, including “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” Older children learn about energy and climate change. Children have an opportunity to make a recycled

rain stick from a paper towel tube and catalog paper.

A staff member, an excellent storyteller, captures the children’s attention as she relates one of Jane’s encounters between a young female chimpanzee, her baby brother, and a snake. After the story, several of the 2nd-graders are attracted to the lifelike chimpanzee puppets. As they reenact the story, another child comes up to them with a life-size boa constrictor puppet. “But remember,” a child with a chimpanzee puppet notes, “this is a peaceful jungle. Stop! Think! Peace!”

The Children’s Peace Pavilion is located in historic Independence, Missouri, home of U.S. President Harry Truman and across the street from the United Nations Peace Plaza. The Pavilion receives an average of 3,000 visitors a year, including school field trips, child care centers, home school groups, preschools and Head Start programs, adults with developmental disabilities, scout troops, church groups, community organizations, and families. Since the Pavilion opened in 1995, over

180,000 guests from the community and around the world have visited.

As the children line up to head back to their bus, they offer lots of hugs and “thank-you”s to the Pavilion docents. This team of 2nd-grade teachers from inner-city Kansas City brings their class to visit the Pavilion each year. The lead teacher commented, “In the past, students have shared that they use the concepts in their homes to solve problems. Every student should have an opportunity to visit!”

As the children march out the door, she rallies them one more time. “How are we going to solve problems when we get back to school?” The children loudly respond, “STOP! THINK! PEACE!”

Mask Making

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“A person who does not read is like a field left untilled.”These are the words of Bosco Nshimiyimana, an agronomist in Rwanda who

employs five people to work his farmland. He understands that just as the soil must be fertilized for crops to grow, so must the love of reading be nurtured if

literacy is to take root. Nshimiyimana was present when the first visitors came to the new mobile library in Gicumbi, a district in Rwanda’s Northern Province. He now leads a committee of volunteers who manage the library and encourage

children and community members to visit and borrow books.

By Heidi LaFlecheEducation Development Center

Books on the Move Mobile Libraries

Bring Reading Materials to Communities in Rwanda

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By 2016, at least 80 community mobile libraries like the one in Gicumbi will be established across the country by the Literacy, Language, and Learning (L3) Initiative, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Many of the libraries are also being managed by civil society organizations, parishes, and community organizations, some with the support of Peace Corps volunteers.

The rollout of the mobile library project is being facilitated by local volunteers and organizations in partnership with Education Development Center (EDC), the Rwanda Education Board, and the Rwanda Reads program. “The libraries will be shared by neighboring communities,” says EDC’s Jackie Lewis, who is based in Kigali.

“The communities are really receptive to the libraries, especially the kids,” Lewis says. “When I went to the library in Gicumbi, more than 200 books had been signed out. Other people were coming in to read without borrowing. That was just about a month after the library opened.”

In 2013, Lewis attended the opening of a second mobile library in Nyamagabe, a district in the Southern Province. To say that the community welcomed the books would be an understatement. “Many people crammed themselves into the library room, with little hands grabbing books off the shelves!” recalls Lewis. To date, 60 libraries have opened in 30 districts of Rwanda and others are on the way.

Creating Communities of ReadersThe community libraries are an extension of work with Rwandan education leaders to improve literacy teaching and learning in Rwandan classrooms. The L3 Initiative also has distributed improved curriculum materials for grades 1, 2, and 3 in English, Kinyarwanda, and math to all public schools across the country, and is developing similar materials for grade 4. But reading outside the classroom is an important part of improving literacy.

In resource-lean countries such as Rwanda, children’s reading experience is often limited to textbooks at

school, with few books available for parents and other community members to enjoy. Mobile libraries bring books to rural communities in districts such as Gicumbi and Nyamagabe, where families have few reading materials to share.

“What’s so great about these libraries is the quality of the books,” Lewis says. “They were carefully selected so that the themes are consistent with Rwandan culture. It’s important for children to have access to books that are appealing and age-appropriate, so they enjoy reading. This can lead to improved academic achievement.”

Reading Beyond the ClassroomThe hope is that the mobile libraries will encourage parents, teachers, older siblings, and community members to model the habit of reading for young children. “Since the library is run by the community,” says library volunteer Niragire Elisabeth, “it shows that reading isn’t only for school.”

In Gicumbi, Nshimiyimana has already seen the impact on his daughter, Laissa, now in kindergarten. “When I come to the library, she wants to come with me and take a book,” he says. “She likes it a lot!”

Laissa isn’t the only one. On the library’s busiest days, groups of children will line up outside the crowded library, eager to read and to have the adults explain their favorite stories. “When they see me reading,” says library volunteer Leocadie Nyirabihinda, “they are also encouraged to read.”

Primary school student Divine Uwimana says she would like to read these books with her older siblings: “When you read, you know everything.”

This story is adapted from one originally published on 23 April 2013, by Education Development Center (EDC), a global nonprofit organization that designs, implements, and evaluates programs to improve education, health, and economic opportunity worldwide. EDC manages 250 projects in 30 countries. Visit www.edc.org.

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Learning To Read Beyond School Walls

By Amy Jo DowdSenior Director of Education Research, Save the Children

Picture yourself flipping through a book only to see pages full of symbols, unaware of their meaning or the stories they tell. For more than a third of the world’s elementary school-age children, that’s a reality they face every day. Even though more children are enrolled in school now than ever before, 250 million children around the world cannot read or write, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and Education for All Global Monitoring Report. That is 10 times the number of all the children in elementary school in the United States.

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Without a strong foundation in reading, children have little chance of learning the skills they will need to succeed in school and in life. By the time children reach 4th or 5th grade, it is assumed that they are able to acquire information through reading. Those who are still struggling to read at this point are at risk of repeating grades or dropping out entirely. After 4th grade, special catch-up reading classes—if they exist, as they do in the United States—succeed much less often than hoped; therefore, it is important that children master reading and writing skills in the early grades.

Ramping Up Reading SkillsResearch has shown that certain groups of children are more at risk for illiteracy than others: those living in extreme poverty, girls in some contexts, and those with few books or no one to read to them at home. These children need an extra boost to gain basic reading skills. Save the Children is addressing this problem through its Literacy Boost program. The program helps children learn by measuring their reading skills, training teachers in how to teach reading skills, and getting communities involved by establishing reading camps and providing

educational materials and mini libraries called Book Banks.

The program is currently run in more than 30 developing countries in Africa, Asia, and South America and is having success with many children living in poverty, like Kuma, 10, from the village of Necho in Ethiopia. Kuma attends the Saturday Literacy Boost reading camp, a weekly community activity designed to: enable access to readers for children who may not have anyone at home who can read, help children practice reading outside of school, and make reading fun. Along with 60 other children, many of whom have few books or readers at home, Kuma comes to the weekly reading camp held under the trees in a neighbor’s yard to sing songs, practice his ABCs, and read books in the local language of Afaan Oromo.

A typical session is packed with a steady stream of activities. After a story is read aloud and discussed, they play letter or vocabulary matching games, draw pictures to represent letters, and read in small groups. At the end of each session, the children select books from a mobile

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library donated by Save the Children to borrow and practice reading at home. “I like books with stories about sports,” Kuma says.

At a reading camp in Baglung, Nepal, a similar scene plays out. Sita, age 10, says, “My favorite book is Chootera Moote (Short and Fat). It’s about two mice, one who lives the country and one who lives in the city,” she explains. Until Literacy Boost was introduced in this remote area, where the nearest market is a 90-minute car ride away on rough, one-lane roads and where books and the time to read them are a luxury few can afford, the only books to which Sita had access were her school textbooks. Now, like Kuma in Ethiopia, she looks forward to selecting stories from a trunk full of books to take home and read after she has finished collecting firewood and finding food for the family’s goat. “I can read fast now, and I can also remember new words from the books,” Sita says.

Giving Girls a BoostThe program is also tackling illiteracy in countries where school enrollment of girls behind that of boys, as in Pakistan and Zimbabwe. In these two countries, girls started Literacy Boost with much lower scores in reading words correctly than girls from other countries. But in just one year, the program has helped these girls catch up and move ahead of girls not in the program. Kadihja, age 8, from Peshawar, Pakistan, is another success story. She struggled to read and had little hope for success; her parents were illiterate and couldn’t help her. She finally received the help she needed when she joined her school’s reading buddy program, a component of Literacy Boost. In this program, 5th-graders are paired up with 1st-graders, so that the older students can help the younger ones with their reading. Most children are matched with reading buddies who live close by so that they can read together after school, too.

The program is helping ensure girls’ consistent attendance, too. A cross-country analysis of the impact of the program, undertaken in early 2013, showed that girls participating in Literacy Boost are more likely to be present in school than their peers who are not in the

program. In Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, for instance, girls enrolled in Literacy Boost are 43% and 33% more likely to be in school, respectively, than those who do not attend Literacy Boost.

In Pakistan and elsewhere, the program has had a domino effect in the community. Kadihja is now helping her neighbor, Saira, age 11, to read. Saira moved to Peshawar recently to escape violence in her hometown. Like many girls, she had not been attending school because of safety concerns. “Kadihja helps me read and now I have learned the alphabet and can even count to 100,” says Saira, the only literate member of her family. “When somebody delivers a pamphlet to our home, I can read it. I feel really proud and so do my parents.”

Training Teachers in New TechniquesA key component of the program is teacher training. In many impoverished communities, trained teachers are a scarce resource. Through Literacy Boost, Save the Children provides regular, local, small-group training for all teachers in a given school, mapping the training to the government curriculum and linking the lessons to the textbooks used by the school. Training emphasizes the five core reading skills of phonological awareness, letter

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knowledge, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Authoritative studies have identified these skills to be critical in children’s reading skills’ development.

The training is having a positive impact. At Kanyati Primary School in Zimbabwe, for instance, most of the school’s 310 students arrive barefoot and hungry for lessons taught by a staff of only nine teachers. Of these, only four had received any training in education before attending the training modules introduced by Literacy Boost. Teachers were provided with techniques that have proved invaluable. Grace Tsiga, one of the teachers at the school says, “I learned a technique called echo reading, where a teacher reads a sentence and the student reads the same line. This technique helps a teacher to note a student’s reading ability and to also track the student’s improvement. When students practice reading as a group, some students tend to dominate the reading. Echo reading allows for one-on-one reading practice with the teacher. It also helps my students to quickly grasp what they have read,” Grace explains.

“I also noticed that pairing a child who can read with one who cannot read boosted the confidence of those children who could not read. Most of these children are now actively participating in class,” adds Grace.

Even veteran teachers benefit from the training. In Ethiopia, 3rd-grade teacher Meseret Zerihun, who has taught at the same school in Ginchi for 28 years, says, “I implement what I learned in the Literacy Boost teacher training in my classroom every day.” She has noticed changes in her students and their parents as a result of the training.

“Before, parents were not willing to send students, especially girls, to school. Now more parents send their children to school because they realized the benefits and can see that the students are learning,” she says. “Literacy Boost has helped me become more committed to my students. They no longer just repeat words orally, but are really beginning to read fluently and understand what they read.”

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Inspiring children and youth to be interested and en-gaged in world affairs is crucial to promoting global citizenship and a positive human future. Learning about people in other cultures, communities, and situations builds empathy and compassion in children, and helps them see themselves as part of a larger whole. In Dakar, Senegal, two fathers are reaching for this worthy goal in a unique and delightful way, tapping into youth’s enthu-siasm for music. The pair, Xuman and Keyti, have created a rapping news program called Journal Rappé, which is distributed via YouTube. (https://www.youtube.com/jtronline)

Xuman and Keyti have been performing short raps (5-10 minutes) about global and local news since April 2013. Their raps have been viewed over a million times by chil-dren and youth all over the world. As Xuman and Keyti are passionate about preserving native languages, many of their videos are available in Wolof, a West African native language spoken by approximately six million people in Senegal, Mauritania, and the Gambia. The creators of Journal Rappé call it “edu-tainment,” and use their voices to fight ignorance and damaging stereotypes about Af-rica and Muslims. They hope their program will empower youth to work toward creating a better future for all.

News Rap Promotes Global Citizenship in West Africa

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A Day in the Life of a Transgender Child in the United States

Jamie1 is a cheerful 5-year-old kindergarten student who lives in a rural community in the northeastern United States. While Jamie’s sex at birth was assigned male, he sometimes likes to be identified as a male (he) and sometimes as a female (she). Jamie’s parents and teachers follow his lead in this regard. For as long as Jamie’s parents can remember, he has expressed a preference for feminine-associated clothing and toys. While Jamie has always liked to wear pink clothing, he only recently stopped cutting his hair and felt comfortable enough to wear his dresses to school and other public places. He insists that he is part boy, part girl, and always “fancy.” Jamie uses the pronoun “he” most of the time2. Jamie may be called “gender fluid” by some professionals and “transgender” or “gender-nonconforming” by others.

By Sally Campbell GalmanUniversity of Massachusetts-Amherst

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Notes:1 All names are pseudonyms 2 For purposes of clarity, I will use the pronoun “he” throughout this piece as that is the pronoun “Jamie” uses most frequently in real life. However, I do so acknowledging the rigidity of English language pronouns. Jamie would probably prefer a thrid option..

This morning, Jamie wakes up in the brightly colored bedroom he shares with his 7-year-old sister, Rachel, and their sprawling collection of dolls, trucks, Legos, stuffed animals, books, and art supplies. Jamie goes to his closet to choose what he will wear that day. Jamie’s parents feel strongly that children should be able to express themselves freely in their choice of dress and hairstyle. Hanging in the closet are an array of options: sundresses, sparkly leggings, polo shirts, ballet tutus, cargo shorts, skirts, and t-shirts decorated with everything from soccer balls to camouflage to glittery Disney princesses. Most of the time, Jamie opts for the more feminine-associated clothing, but he always has a choice. When he was 2 and 3 years old, and his closet only contained more masculine-associated clothing, he would borrow clothing from his sister. Eventually, everyone decided it would be better if Jamie had his own things. Jamie and his mom go shopping together and he chooses his own clothing. He especially loves his belt collection; today, he chooses a flowing pink and white skirt, black t-shirt, and a belt with pink, shiny stars on the buckle.

At breakfast, Jamie’s dad tells him how nice he looks and gives him a kiss and a hug before Jamie and Rachel dash outside to catch the bus. Jamie’s mom watches him run down the driveway, his long blond ponytail swinging behind him. She is proud of him for being true to himself, but she sometimes worries about how other children and adults will react, and also about what the future might hold for a child who is gender-non-conforming. She knows that she will check in with her online support group later today. The group is made up of other mothers of transgender and gender-noncon-forming children around the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It’s been a lifesaver for her, as there aren’t many children like Jamie in her small community. Even though she has strong support from the school and community, she often doubts herself and has ques-

tions, especially when the family travels. She sometimes gets tired of explaining Jamie to new camp counselors, teachers, babysitters, parents, and others. Even though most people are very accepting, she does feel some anxiety about how people will respond.

Jamie sits at the front of the bus with the other younger children. Rachel sits immediately behind him with her best friend. Earlier in the year, the first day Jamie wore a dress to school, a group of older boys began to tease him. Jamie began to cry and tried to hide behind his backpack. Rachel stood up for her brother, telling the older boys that they were being cruel, and she told the teachers at school about the incident. There hasn’t been any trouble since then, but she is always watching him. She told the school counselor, Mrs. Weston, that it is sometimes stressful having to worry about Jamie when they are at school or with friends. Her parents listen to Rachel and ensure that she has a lot of time on her own, doing her own activities. She frequently notices that girls tend to “police” each other’s bodies for meeting certain “feminine ideals” and is able to explain why that’s not okay, and also to defend her own self-expression and short, spiky haircut. “I can be a girl,” she says, “and not be feminine.” This summer, Jamie, Rachel, and their parents will attend a special family camp for transgender and gender-nonconforming children and their families. Mrs. Weston learned about the camp when Jamie’s pediatrician and a group of social workers specializing in transgender children’s health visited the school to provide support and resources before Jamie began kindergarten. She recommended it to Jamie and Rachel’s parents as a good resource for both children. Jamie’s father is especially looking forward to the camp. Unlike Jamie’s mother, he doesn’t have peer support from other fathers. He feels like he needs tools to navigate some of the more troubling aspects of American masculinity as they play out for boys like Jamie and their fathers.

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Many of Jamie’s friends in kindergarten have known him since he was a preschooler, and do not even notice when he comes to school in feminine clothing. Esther, one of his best friends, explained it to her parents, saying, “Jamie is part boy and part girl. That means he plays with everyone.” For Jamie’s birthday last year, his friends knew that Jamie liked dolls and rainbows and princess movies more than more masculine-associated toys. Jamie has one friend he especially loves and often makes drawings of kittens with rainbows as presents for this other child. They also play pirates on the playground at recess. Jamie is the mermaid. After recess, the children have lunch in the classroom. At bathroom time, Jamie uses a special bathroom in the nurse’s office. Earlier in the year, a fellow kindergartner began following Jamie to the bathroom. It turns out this child, who was new to the community, was curious about Jamie’s gender and innocently wanted to see what kind of genitals he had. Jamie’s mother plans to speak to the principal about creating a gender inclusive, or unisex, bathroom at school.

Jamie’s teacher, Mr. Pearl, had a lot of questions for Jamie’s parents at the beginning of the year. He wanted to know what kind of pronouns to use with

Jamie, what he wanted to be called, and the way that Jamie’s parents wanted him to answer other children’s questions. Jamie’s parents, Mr. Pearl, and Mrs. Weston worked together to make a plan. Having Jamie in his class has helped Mr. Pearl realize how much gender figured into his classroom. He had never before noticed how many kindergarten routines rely upon asking children to identify as boys or girls. He works with his early childhood colleagues to find new ways to organize classroom routines.

Jamie’s mother arrives after lunch to take him to a doctor’s appointment. Jamie suffers from chronic upset stomach related to anxiety. The pediatrician works with Jamie and his family to help him learn relaxation techniques, and is happy to observe that Jamie seems to have fewer incidents since he has begun wearing feminine-associated clothing in all areas of his life, not just at home. The pediatrician will be attending a conference at a larger New England hospital in the coming months that focuses on care and hormonal treatment for pre-pubescent transgender children. Neither the pediatrician nor Jamie’s parents know if he will eventually undergo surgery or hormonal treatment.

Spring 2015 21

He may or may not be transgender. He may be playing with gender expression, he may be gay, and he might just be gender-nonconforming. Time will tell. They will listen to Jamie and watch him carefully. They will resist the urge to label him.

After school, Jamie and Rachel have swimming lessons at the community center in a nearby town. Jamie and his family receive the key to the family changing room without having to ask, or explain why they need it. Jamie changes into his favorite swimsuit—a blue bikini—and hurries to the pool. He feels very strongly about not wearing more masculine-associated swimwear. Rachel is on the swim team, so she wears a team uniform suit. Next year, Jamie hopes to try out for the swim team. Will he be able to wear the girl uniform? Will be able to compete as a girl? Jamie’s mom admits it doesn’t seem fair—he seems already so much stronger and bigger than girls his age—but also wants Jamie to be comfortable. She tells herself she will wait and see.

After swimming, the children and their father stop in at the grocery store. While they are there, Jamie needs to use the restroom. His father watches Jamie approach the two doors marked MEN and WOMEN. Jamie’s eyes drift from one door to the other. He frowns. After some deliberation, he chooses the women’s room. His father realizes how ordinary things he himself takes for granted—like choosing a restroom—become a daily assault against fluid identity for children like Jamie. He wishes that more places had a family bathroom available. When they are done shopping, the cashier smiles, saying, “What a lovely pair of girls you have!,” and gives each child a piece of candy. The children’s father politely thanks her, ruffling Rachel’s hair and kissing Jamie on the head. Jamie smiles sheepishly. When they leave the store, their father asks Jamie if that was okay, or if he would have preferred for his dad to correct the cashier and explain that Jamie was a boy. Jamie said that it was fine. “I can be a boy or a girl,“ he says.

At the dinner table that night, the family talks about their day. The phone rings—it is the children’s grandparents! They have invited Rachel and Jamie to

come to Virginia for a visit over the week-long spring break holiday. The children are excited. Jamie says he is going to start packing his toys right away and runs excitedly upstairs with Rachel. Their parents smile—spring break is still two weeks away! Jamie’s mother thinks about how far her parents have come. Not that long ago, her father was angrily telling her that she wasn’t raising Jamie correctly. He sent Jamie footballs and toy guns and cars for birthdays and Christmas because “That’s what boys like.” Jamie never wanted to play with them, asking to exchange the gifts for dolls, stuffed toys, or craft supplies. Her father would tell her, “You need to teach him to be a boy! I won’t have a grandson of mine looking like that!” Jamie’s mom was confused and upset. She turned to her friends, Jamie’s pediatrician, Mrs. Weston, and other health professionals. They offered to talk to her father and sent packets of helpful information, including a copy of Gender Born, Gender Made. Slowly, Jamie’s grandfather began to understand the difference between biological sex and socially constructed gender. He began to accept Jamie. The last time the family went for a visit, he proudly showed off Jamie’s latest school photo, which was framed and placed on the mantelpiece next to Rachel’s.

Jamie is in his nightgown ready for a bedtime story. Tonight’s book is 10,000 Dresses, one of Jamie’s favorites. He and Rachel listen as the gender-nonconforming heroes of the book express themselves, confront bullies, and support each other. His mother leans down to give Jamie a kiss goodnight. Jamie whispers, “I had a really great day. I love you, Mommy.”

Jamie’s mother has a friend whose son, who has chosen a feminine name and wants to begin living as a girl full time, is struggling because administrators at his private school will not allow him to wear the girl’s plaid uniform skirt, insisting that “All boys must wear the male uniform.” She wishes her friend lived in an environment as supportive as hers. She writes an encouraging note to her friend and places an order for two copies of Gender Born, Gender Made and Raising My Rainbow to donate to the elementary school’s parent library.

22 Childhood Explorer

A Migrant Family in India A Case Study

By Amrita JainMobile Crèches

Spring 2015 23

Renu was born in Bihar, India. She went to school until grade 8 and then married. When Renu was expecting her first child, she and her husband moved to the National Capital Region (Delhi) in search of better economic oppor-tunities and, ultimately, a better life for their children. They found work as casual laborers at a construction site. Daily wage workers, they moved from one site to another as their family grew. Renu became a mother of four: Sandeep, now age 9; Sonali, 6; Shivani, 3; and Saurabh, 1.

In the city, Renu faced multiple challenges regarding financial stability, caring for her children, and keeping up a household. She needed to adapt to the city way of life. The family struggled to survive.

Sandeep and Sonali, her two older children, were sent back to Bihar to live with their grandparents. Renu was forced to make the heart-breaking decision to send them away because raising them in the city, where she had no friends or relatives to help with child care, proved to be too challenging. She had been unable to give them the care she believed they needed. In the village, they would get fresh air, open space, and stability.

At one of the construction sites where Renu worked, she was able to send her children to a child care center for children run by Mobile Crèches. The contrast between the lives of the younger two children, who spent time in a high-quality child care center, and the older two chil-dren, who did not get this opportunity, was striking. When Shivani was 1, she started going to a Mobile Crèches child care center. She started to progress quickly in the learn-ing environment provided there, far ahead of what the older children had achieved by that age. Renu remembers how surprised she was when she heard Shivani singing a song at home when she was just 1 year old. Today, at age 3, Shivani has a beautiful singing voice, and she commu-nicates using full sentences. Shivani’s teachers praise her

abilities and say that she is reaching all of the developmen-tal milestones on time.

When Saurabh was born, he needed to be hospitalized, which cost Renu and her husband Rs 70,000 ($1,100)—a substantial amount for them. The contractor helped them with a loan, which they are still repaying. Renu, however, is very clear about her priorities: “Money means nothing to me,” she says. “I’m thankful that my child is alive and with me.” The debts compelled Renu to go back to work. The new construction site did not have a child care center, however, and Saurabh’s health started weakening further. Renu had to leave work.

When Renu’s husband changed work sites, 9-month-old Saurabh was able to attend a Mobile Crèche; he weighed just 4 kilograms (half the ideal weight for that age). His nutritional status was treated as a serious health concern, and he was fed milk, khichadi (cooked rice and lentils with vegetable), egg, and anaj mishran (a mixture of sugar, wheat, chickpeas, and rice) at regular intervals. The crèche workers counseled Renu about what foods to give him at home and encouraged her to keep the house clean, as Saurabh was falling ill often. At first, Renu was upset by what she perceived as criticism of her parenting. Plus, she did not know how she would be able to feed Saurabh every hour. The workers listened to her concerns and responded gently and patiently. They continued to try to motivate her and gave demonstrations on child care. Two months after coming to the center, Saurabh weighed 5.5 kilograms; after four months, he weighed 7 kilograms.

Renu now says that the didi (crèche worker) at the center saved Saurabh’s life. In addition to the change in Saurabh’s health, subtle changes occurred in Renu’s thinking. She learned new ways in which she could directly influence her child’s health status, which empowered her, and she can now share that knowledge with other women.

Renu’s story, like so many modern stories in India and around the world, begins in a village and ends in a city. It’s a story of a woman who moves from her village with her family in pursuit of work opportunities and the hope of a better life for herself and her children.

24 Childhood Explorer

Discussing Race With Kindergartners in

South Korea: A Story of Hope

By So Jung KimThe University of Texas at El Paso

Spring 2015 25

Stereotypes of AfricansDespite a growing number of immigrant workers and international marriages, South Korea is still one of the most homogeneous nations in the world. According to the Korean Statistical Information Service (2012), immigrants account for only approximately 1% of the whole population. Among these immigrants, Africans represent an extremely small percentage. Thus, most South Korean children have very limited chances to interact with Africans. Also, due to the small number of multicultural picture books available in South Korea, they rarely read stories dealing with issues of ethnic and cultural diversity.

The children in Ms. Lee’s classroom had encountered Africans only through television and movies. However, as African characters in these programs were often portrayed as poor, the children had developed stereotypical beliefs. For example, Soojung indicated that Africans would be unsanitary due to the lack of water. For Dongsoo, Africans had “no shoes and socks,” and “smelled like dirt.” Minsoo considered Africans to be needy and underdressed, wearing only a leaf and living in extreme poverty. Shinhee also exhibited a biased view, saying, “Africans might live in a tree house because they don’t have a house.”

Discussing Human EqualityThe children’s attitudes toward black characters changed as they learned about Africans and their cultures, and discussed similarities among people with different skin colors. When reading, the teacher often emphasized that all people in the world are the same, regardless of skin color or socioeconomic status, and so everyone deserves to be treated with respect. While having a conversation about how people were similar and different, the children were able to find common characteristics among humans, such as having eyes, a nose, and hands. With the teacher’s assistance, they found other commonalities: Youngsoo indicated that all people want to love and be loved, and we all want to be free from threats. Dongsoo found humans to be similar because we all want to have meaningful relationships with friends and family.

The children in Ms. Lee’s classroom looked confused when talking about people with different skin colors.

When the teacher showed the cover of the book정말 그런인종이 있을까? [Do We Really Have That Kind of Race?] (2000), they looked unhappy and sullen,

reacting negatively to the different appearance of the people in the illustration. Some of the children expressed a desire to read books with animals as the main characters instead. Noticing their resistance, the teacher tried to motivate them

by asking some questions about what the story could be about. The children were silent when the teacher asked what race was and how human beings were similar and different. They seemed to be aware of the different skin colors in the illustration but did not acknowledge that difference as race. When the teacher started to read the book, some of the children still didn’t seem to be interested

in it and began playing with their fingers.By So Jung KimThe University of Texas at El Paso

26 Childhood Explorer

Exploring Interracial FriendshipsThe children performed a dramatic play after reading Do We Really Have That Kind of Race?. The teacher chose a situation for the role play, and the children played white, black, and Asian characters. Their play was about building relationships with people from other countries.

Teacher: Okay, you are at the park. Then the black friend stands here and the white friend is going to walk in from there. Ready?

Children: Ready. Action!!Minsoo: Hello, I’m the white friend, Nadolee.Sooyoung: Hello, I’m the black friend, Jeren.(Shaking hands.)Teacher: (to Sooyoung) Ask him! What do you say

when you meet a friend?Minsoo: How have you been?Sooyoung: I’m good. How about you?Minsoo: I’m great.Teacher: (with a quiet voice) Now, what can you say?

Let’s. . . .Minsoo: Let’s be friends.Sooyoung: (smiling) Yes.(Children hug.)

After the role play, the children discussed the benefits of having friends from different racial/ethnic groups. Sooyoung thought it would be beneficial to have friends from different countries because she could learn new games from them. Taehee indicated that making friends with children of different skin colors would be fun since he might be able to learn different languages from them. Minsoo thought traveling around the world would be exciting, and he would like to make a friend in each country.

“I Want to Make an African Friend”: The Story of DongsooThe children wrote poems about Africa after looking at photos of African dances, bamboo masks, clothing (e.g., women’s traditional clothes in Ethiopia called shemmas), luxury homes, and the various cuisines of Africa. Dongsoo was quiet at first; as the conversations about Africa continued, however, he became interested in African cultures. In his poem, he expressed his desire

to explore the different cultures in Africa and make new friends there.

What toys would African children play with?

What toys would be good when I play with an African friend?

Why do African children have dark faces?

Do some African children have light skin tones?

I want to meet African children.

If I take a picture with African friends,

Their faces will not be clear because of their dark skin,

But I still want to take a picture with them.

I want to go to Africa,

And I want to play with them.

Dongsoo included a picture of African people below his poem. His drawing showed African people were wearing colorful clothes. Dongsoo was beginning to see Africa as a place of mysterious, exotic, and exciting opportunities.

“If I Go to Africa”: The Story of ShinheeShinhee often seemed shy about sharing her views. However, she started to speak actively in the conversation about Africa as she became more interested in knowing about the continent and people.

If I go to Africa, what can I expect to see?What kinds of houses do they have in Africa?

Do they have water in Africa?Do some people have a light skin color?

I think yes, because there are many trees in Africa,And these trees will make much shade.

Africa is a good place to live in.

Spring 2015 27

At the beginning, Shinhee believed there would be no houses in Africa because of the poverty. Later, she no longer envisioned Africa as a deprived area. Instead, she considered Africa a great place to live.

“A Festival in Africa! Isn’t It Fun?”: The Story of TaeheeFor Taehee, Africa was full of excitement. As a girl who likes to sing and dance, she focused on the African festivals. In her poem, Taehee wrote about a mask festival.

Wooga Wooga, in Africa today,They have an exciting mask festival.

It must be really fun. Isn’t it?Do you want to go to that festival with me?

Now we are at a real festival.They dance dazzlingly. Don’t they?Wooga Wooga, Boongga Boongga,

I dance excitedly. I like African dances.Do you want to dance with me?

Wooga Wooga, Boongga Boongga, Ya-ho!

Although Taehee had never been to Africa or seen a festival there, she was enjoying an African mask festival in her imagination. The African people at the festival were dancing, cheering, and whistling with masks, and she was dancing with them enthusiastically. She even invited her readers to dance with her. For Taehee, Africans were beautiful dancers, rather than poor and famished individuals.

Story of HopeChildren begin to absorb racial stereotypes very early in life. A distorted view of themselves, others, and society could be painful and confusing for young children. Yet due to the adult-centric view that pre-K children are too young to discuss difficult social issues, such as race, many teachers still do not feel comfortable talking about race with their young students. The children in Ms. Lee’s classroom had limited experiences interacting with people from different countries, and that influenced them to have biased attitudes toward Africans. However, multicultural books, artwork featuring people of various races and cultures, and activities such as writing a poem and role playing helped them explore beyond their usual world and learn about human equality. These activities also empowered them to reflect on their own experiences and change their racial attitudes.

All of our children are growing up in a world of diversity and contradiction. In this pluralistic society, every child has unique experiences and distinct perspectives on all kinds of “differences” they encounter in their everyday lives. It is our responsibility to help young children grow up in a world free from bias and discrimination. Embar-rassment or silence about race can give young children the impression that the topic is off-limits. By sharing the stories of these Korean children, I hope to provide an opportunity to think about how early childhood teachers can help children reduce racially biased attitudes. When we create a supportive learning environment where young children can appreciate cultural/racial/ethnic differences and critique the world they live in, they can grow up to be individuals who live empowered lives as participants of global communities.

28 Childhood Explorer

“Let This Bubble Pop”A LearnServe Student Spotlight

By Xavier RiveraRockville High SchoolLearnServe Paraguay 2014, LearnServe Fellow 2014, LearnServe Incubator 2015

Spring 2015 29

All my life, natural disasters have been only a collection of pixels on a TV screen. Today, I was just steps away from the most devastating flood Paraguay has seen in years. Houses were under water and people were confined in their homes; if they opened their front doors, water would come rushing in. As we walked in a tightly packed group, wide-eyed and shell-shocked, through what was left of the streets of Santa Ana in Asunción, Paraguay, it felt like we were floating in a bubble through their community.

That bubble was soon popped when I began to take a census of a few blocks of recently dislocated locals to report their necessities to the Centro Comunitario Cultural de Santa Ana, the local community center and our hosts in Santa Ana. As I gathered statistics from people living in makeshift homes made of madera (wood) and chapa (scrap metal), I met a family different from the others. As I began asking the questions about her home, the woman stopped me to inform me that she has no home.

We were standing in the middle of the paths between the tightly packed homes. In a hurry to complete the survey, I hadn’t realized she was staying with a friend and was homeless. Her baby was a mere 20 days old and malnourished.

Feeling a sense of urgency, my group and I called over Julio, one of the leaders of the Centro Comunitario. Julio’s face showed a hardened misery—not because

the news didn’t affect him, but because he had already heard of perhaps a dozen situations like this. His face simply could not show more worry or compassion.

As Americans serving in a foreign environment experiencing a fresh disaster, we tend to act with our hearts. Julio, Domingo, Pablo, and the other leaders on the ground are able to focus on the bigger picture of how to serve as many as possible, with limited resources. Being a community leader in a time of natural disaster, with a government that does little to help its people, is a constant battle between collecting statistics and staying emotionally connected.

As we flew home to the United States, instead of feeling depressed that I could not impact the fate of this family, I felt confident knowing that people like Julio, Domingo, and Pablo are there to stay. They showed me how to stand up against the seemingly enormous, unsolvable problems in our communities with dedication, boldness, and heart for assisting others. I must rise up and do the work that I can.

Xavier Rivera is founder of Currently, an app that connects students with community events through an interconnected calendar. Inspired by his experience in Paraguay, Xavier is also designing a new program, Everyone Should Learn / English Second Language, which connects ESL students with bilingual mentors who introduce them to community activities.

LearnServe International (learn-serve.org) equips high school students from diverse backgrounds with the entrepreneurial vision, tenacity, confidence, and leadership skills needed to tackle social challenges at home and abroad. They bring together students from all across the Washington, DC, area and prepare them with the skills of business leadership, innovative problem-solving, and cross-cultural fluency. Then they challenge them to lead community-based change in their schools, across the DC region, and around the world.

The story below relates one student’s reflections after a visit to Parguay with LearnServe.

ChildhoodExplorer

The Association for Childhood Education International, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the optimal education and development of children, is proud to be offering this new publication that focuses specifically on the experience of

childhood around the world. Childhood Explorer is an online vehicle for sharing informative and inspirational stories about childhood and about projects and campaigns

that provide quality education, care, and support to children and youth in diverse communities and circumstances.

We invite you to submit short, 1- to 3-page, articles for consideration. We are seeking narrative, conversational articles that stay focused on a personal story of childhood, while connected to a global issue concerning childhood and children’s education.

Visit http://acei.org/acei-publications/childhood-explorer for more information and to download guidelines and samples.

Topics of interest are:

Daily life of a child in a particular geographic location/culture/socioeconomic situation/life circumstance

NGO initiatives to support children’s well-being and education

Programs/approaches and how they work through real-life application

Global trends in education

Global trends affecting childhood

For more information about this publication,contact editorial@acei.org.

Exploring the Landscape of Childhood WorldwideAssociation for Childhood Education International