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Cultural Stories from Otherness

Stories are about how we make sense of our world. By becoming aware of how our stories are shaped by and shape the cultural stories, we can gain a better understanding of each. And by listening to the stories of people who come from a cultural background that is different from yours, you can learn a great deal about yourself and other people. If you pay attention to the commonalities in the cultural stories, you will most likely discover that you have much more in common than you thought-even in the case of people you might think are completely different than you are.

Family As a Culture Specific Group

The importance of families and of culture specific groups lies in their vital roles for their children. Family is the first and primary social institution in which our socio-cultural identities are formatted by means of very dynamic relationship patterns.

As social institutions families:

• provide wellbeing for their members; • nuture and protect children; • provide care for members who need it because of disabilities or age; • provide material and emotional support; • and pass on culture, knowledge, values, attitudes, property rights and

obligations from one generation to the next. • Families need to be flexible to fulfill these roles successfully. Flexibility is

associated with a number of attributes, one of them is a sense of cultural heritage which is our subject here.

• Family celebrations would be good examples for this function of families. • Holidays and celebrations are special times to gather with family and take

stock of the blessings in our lives. The different activities that we perform before, during and after a family celebration all enhance the memory of the people involved and our relationships with them

• There are different kinds of family celebrations in different cultures. The forms of celebrations depend on the religion, ethnic background, and socio economic status of families.

• Wedding ceremony is one of the example of these celebrations.

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Example 1. Family Celebrations

Concepts

• culture, family, celebrations, traditions,

Knowledge Objectives

Students will

• learn through home discussion and research, stories of their own cultural heritage

• know following the comparison that they share many common points although they are different from one another.

Skills/Abilities Objectives

Students will:

• make a similarity and difference comparison between themselves and the individuals from among individuals constituting the society that they perceive as different from themselves.

Attitudes/Values Objectives

Students will:

• explore the meaning of culture as part of different life stories • appreciate the importance of cultural diversity • demonstrate respect for people of all cultural backgrounds • develop a new feeling of appreciation toward one another and redefine one

another

Action Objectives

Students may:

• establish a dialogue between themselves and the individuals they think are in the position of “other”

• participate in experiences associated with celebrations.

Suggested Approaches

• Ask students how they celebrate:

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▪birthdays ▪special events like weddings, ▪special days like christmas, bayram etc

• When exploring a celebration, discuss the different ways it may be celebrated by different groups of people. Explore rituals that are connected with celebrations. Use a story such as Henna Night to show that people can choose certain things about a traditional lifestyle Find examples in the text or the pictures showing traditional and contemporary lifestyle.

• Using examples of celebrations that would be practised by your students, ask

they how they learn these traditions. Emphasize that this is one of the ways cultural knowledge is passed down within the family.