traditions - childcareexchange.comccie.com/library_bw/8223400.pdf · traditions have purpose when...

■ Traditions Make Us, Us by Bonnie Neugebauer and Nancy Rosenow

■ In Africa, Our Best Teachers are Our Children by Sherri Le Mottee

■ Engaging in the Spirit of Maori Cultural Traditions by Trish Thomas, Roimata Rokx, and Ra Keelan

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Traditions Make Us, Usby Bonnie Neugebauer and Nancy Rosenow

Hands. Celebrating traditions makes us think of hands. The transfer of objects and ideas, hand to hand. Building of com-munity, hands together. Preservation of culture and story, one hand to another. Celebration, hands clapping. Receiv-ing, hands open. We create traditions to remember and we celebrate traditions in recognition of who and where we are. In the lives of children, families, and staff in early childhood programs, traditions create identity and belonging. They make us feel safe, known, connected — in good hands.

Traditions Have Purpose

When life feels uncertain, traditions can provide a sense of security and connection. They ground us in history and remind us of what stays solid while the sands of change shift around us. Traditions connect past, present, and future so we can all remember the path behind us and imagine the path ahead. In her book The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin writes that traditions “mark the passage of time in a happy way. They provide a sense of anticipation, security, and con-tinuity…. They provide connection and predictability, which people — especially children — crave.” On the other hand, Rubin cautions that because traditions often involve a fair amount of work to carry out, “they are a potential source of guilt, resentment, anger, and disappointment.”

The secret to creating traditions without guilt is to be honest about what really does feel fun to us, and what we can actually carry out without moving into over-stress or resent-

ment. Being honest with ourselves might mean changing traditions when they no longer work well. One director of an early childhood program began a tradition of personally buying a special gift for each staff member’s birthday. This worked when the staff was small, but as it grew, the financial challenge of buying so many gifts became overwhelming. Because she was honest with herself, the director changed the tradition. Now, instead of purchasing gifts, she writes a special note to mark each birthday, outlining qualities about the person she especially values. A colleague of hers, upon hearing of her tradition, told her he loved the idea of creat-ing a special way to mark each person’s birthday, but note-writing just wasn’t for him. He instead created a tradition of collecting nature items during his frequent hikes and then presenting a beautiful rock or shell “chosen just for you” on each person’s birthday.

n Traditions Help Us Feel Valued

Each of us needs to feel seen for who we are as an individual. Traditions, such as creative ways to recognize birthdays, help people feel valued. We all crave respect and special moments of visibility. Early childhood programs around the world understand this universal human need and have found interesting and important ways to meet it.

Swati Popat Vats, an early child-hood director from India, shares a tradition from her school that helps fathers feel seen and valued. “At Podar Jumbo Kids,” Swati says, “we have a cooking and recipe celebration where the child’s father has to come to school and cook with his child, but also select a recipe of one of the grandparents. In this way we encourage community building by involving dads, who in India

Bonnie Neugebauer is founding editor of Exchange magazine and co-founder of the World Forum Foundation. You’re invited to visit Bonnie’s Global Café:WorldForumFoundation.org/cafe

Nancy Rosenow is the executive director of Dimensions Educational Research Foundation/Nature Explore and a founding member of World Forum Foundation’s Nature Action Collaborative for Children.

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call (800) 221-2864.

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are not usually involved in school activities or even in day-to-day care of the child. We insist that they use grandparents’ recipes so that old cultural foods are brought back into the habits of the child and the family.” The three-fold goal of the tradition is to give fathers an easy entree into the classroom, to give parent and child a special time together, and to share family culture authentically.

Another tradition that Swati Popat Vats’ school in India is the “Birthday Walk” which is “a meaningful way to further children’s understanding of the passage of time… a lovely ritual and it makes the birthday child feel valued and special!” This makes birthday celebrations a socio-emotional experience for kids rather than a materialistic experience. To read about the “Birthday Walk,” visit: www.childcareexchange.com/issue.

n Traditions Help Us Feel Safe

Each early childhood program, classroom, and organization is grounded in values that support everything that happens within. Traditions remind us of those unshakeable values and help us feel safe, even when many things around us change.

In Nigeria, a connection is created through rituals, with the traditional idea of collectivism. According to Margaret Akinware, “Traditionally, Nigerians in different communities and villages are their brothers’ keepers, sharing belong-ings so that no one goes without having the necessities of life. These concepts and practices are inculcated into children, to teach them to be caring, loving, and kind. Team spirit is promoted through group activities in the centres.”

Gillian McAuliffe of Australia explains, “At the beginning of each year the class meets to discuss what their class name will be. This is not a quick thing; it can take weeks as there must be whole class agreement on the name as it is their identity for the whole year. The children are encouraged to create a name based on their ideas and the way they learn. This tradition is essential to the development of a class com-munity and shared identity.”

More than one program mentioned the tradition of planting a tree each year in honor of the children who are graduating from the program. Some programs encourage the children to choose a name for their ‘class tree.’ Teachers talk with children about the trees planted by classes who came before them and discuss the relative sizes of the trees, in order to think together about the passage of time.

In one early childhood program, staff enjoys a tradition of meeting together at the end of each school year for a potluck supper and a chance to celebrate deeply held beliefs

about their school, each other, and how they see children. This “What We Know for Sure Night” grounds everyone in a shared sense of security as teachers remember together what really matters.

n Traditions Have Significance

Teachers and administrators treasure traditions they have developed that reflect significant cultural ideals.

Margaret Akinware describes community-building prac-tices that enhance and preserve the important tradition of “story-telling, folklore, proverbs, lyrics, singing, and dancing. Parents and grandparents are able to blend into the pro-gramme and simulate ‘tales by moonlight’ sessions. Through this medium, moral lessons are taught, positive values are reinforced, and respected norms are transmitted. Stories concerning the wisdom of the tortoise still prevail. In Nigeria, for purposes of example, different modes of dressing, behaviours, and events are introduced to children through drama and story-telling.” To read more about Traditions in Nigerian ECD facilities, visit: www.childcareexchange.com/issue.

Swati Popat Vats shares, “We often heard from the parents how when a new sibling came along, the first child was very jealous and started to behave negatively towards her new sibling. So we started to think about how we as practi-tioners could really help ease the transition into becoming

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a big brother or big sister. So we launched the ‘Sibling in Training’ programme.

“The programme consists of an eight-week ‘training’ where the older child spends a little time each day in our baby room. We help them get used to being around babies as well as to the amount of noise babies make! Once they feel more comfortable around babies, we start showing them how to touch babies gently and play carefully together with them. The final stage of the programme sees the older children being shown how they can help out, for example help-ing during nappy changes and feeding times. We feel that this programme has brought a lot of value to the children, and our parents report to us that it really helped at home, too!”

n Traditions Hold Stories

Traditions help preserve the history (the story) of the school and/or classroom, and help children see themselves within this history. Traditions are sometimes created to support entry of new families, welcome children into classrooms, honor staff, celebrate milestones, or just to have grand times. Since early childhood programs are different from each

other, as are their communities of children, families, and staff, traditions and rituals will hold stories that are unique to each program.

At Bold Park Community School in Australia, a tradition has grown from a World Forum experience. Gillian McAuliffe from Australia and Bishnu Bhatta from Nepal were involved in a conversation about children getting dirty playing out-doors. “Children in Nepal cannot get dirty,” Bishnu shared, “because they have only one set of clothes.” This enlighten-ing comment inspired action. The World Forum Foundation, with Bishnu and Gillian and the Nature Action Collabora-tive for Children, created International Mud Day, which is celebrated around the world on June 29 every year (worldforumfoundation.org/mudday).

Gillian’s school “identifies a class group who is responsible each year for the planning of International Mud Day and the raising of funds for the orphanage in Nepal. All the children and families then celebrate International Mud Day on the 29th of June by immersing themselves in mud and celebrat-ing nature and the children of the world.” Every program that celebrates Mud Day does it differently; but some mixture of mud and water (depending on natural resources) and certainly exuberant fun are always part of it.

n Traditions Have a Life Span

Some traditions that may have been special once may not always remain so. In the life of a classroom, rituals of story-telling dramatically mark and preserve the history of a

particular group of children (“The day we found the dead bird on our walk…. The day the rabbit escaped”), but will give way to the new stories of future groups.

As grandmothers, we both tell stories with our grand children. Bonnie’s stories always begin

with, “Once upon a time” and end with gusto, “The End!” In between, there were the stories of the truck that blew a tire or the day Gramby found a mouse in the garbage can. Time has passed and these stories are seldom requested. But the tra-dition was great for its time and now there are other things to share and celebrate.

It’s important that traditions don’t become routines with rituals performed by rote without enthusiasm or meaning. Chang-ing rituals, while preserving the meaning of the tradition, is important.

Mud DayINTERNATIONAL

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n Traditions Hold Opportunity

Each classroom, program, family owns its own traditions. We are deciding what is important to us in choosing what to celebrate and remember. This is an opportunity to be creative and have fun together.

Creating individual school traditions can help address the issue of how — or even whether — to ‘celebrate’ religious holidays together in an early childhood program, if children are from various faiths. One school developed the idea of holding a “What Do You Do? Week” to learn about each other’s holiday traditions. Fathers, mothers, grandparents, and other family members are invited to visit the school throughout the week to talk with the class about what holidays (if any) that particular family celebrates and how. Teachers describe how bonds of mutual respect and appreciation for the diversity of the world develop between children in lovely, authentic ways because of this tradition.

Choosing a way to mark ‘graduation’ is another opportunity for schools to develop their own unique traditions. Transitioning from one classroom to another or from an early childhood program to kindergarten is a rite of passage observed in many programs. There are many goals:

■ Celebrating individual children who are making the transition, make them feel special, and tell their personal story in some way.

■ Creating turnovers in which older children ‘teach’ younger children about the roles and responsibilities that are coming to them.

■ Connecting these children and their transition to all the children who have already made this passage.

■ Affirming the importance of this particular place in the life of each particular child.

Some programs have ceremonies with caps and gowns. Others create books that are the story of a particular child’s life in the program. A special “Pencil Ceremony” marks the graduation of children from nursery to kindergarten at Podar Jumbo Kids. According to Swati Popat Vats this ceremony marks a rite of passage and makes each child feel special, while also sending messages about valuing resources and

caring for valued tools. Swati explains that their school has adopted a practice steeped in Indian culture in which every child is gifted a pencil, with great fanfare, as a symbol representing lifelong knowledge.

n Traditions Use Symbols

The idea of a symbol, like the pencil, is great fun to work with and holds a great deal of potential in creating a tradition. It becomes a special messaging like a secret language.

Kay Albrecht shares, “We used the heart logo quite extensively in our teacher appreciation and recognition system at HeartsHome Early Learning Center in Houston, Texas. By col-laborating with a local jeweler, we selected anniversary recognition gifts for teaching tenure that were wildly popular and safely wearable in our setting. They served as a recognition, retention, and communication tool that coworkers really liked. As their tenure increased, they got to select their own recognition gift, individualizing the selections quite widely. Then, we used the ‘wearable’ recognition jewelry in our induction of new employees, guaranteeing that new employees would become known

by all of their tenured colleagues and new employees would become known by their new colleagues.”

Selena Fox, New Zealand Tertiary College, has created an organizational culture around the gifting of chocolate fish, a traditional reward in New Zealand for a job well done. The green fish is highly prized, and the higher the honor, the bigger the fish. The iconic fish is brought forward in many playful ways to effectively build community and to provide recognition and appreciation, as well as fun and a snack.

As the two of us write this together, we are celebrating “Great Horned Owl Day,” a holiday our organization has created to mark a day of big decisions on which we viewed this spectacular bird, certainly a good omen. He reminds us that remembering moments of great importance gives us a way of charting our lives. And most often, these moments are not experiences in isolation, but they happen in community, hand in hand with others. And so we are valued and safe.

In Africa, Our Best Teachers are Our Childrenby Sherri Le Mottee

Take a Leaf from Africa’s Book

Take a moment to visualise the African child. Does your mind’s eye take you to popular tourist images of smiling brown-faced children in traditional clothes, beating drums and dancing? Or perhaps you think of the types of disheartening photos of children that are frequently used to raise money for relief organizations. These kinds of images are not unusual; the media feeds them to us, as do the big data reports on the status of children on our continent. Though arguably advancing the rights of the many, many children who are indeed affected by multiple deprivations in Sub-Saharan Africa, what they don’t tell us is about the upside of growing up African.

Most of the globally espoused scientific evidence about the impact of early childhood experience and interventions on children’s growth and development are based on research undertaken in so-called developed countries with little attention to African child care practices. Adding the richness of African knowledge and experience to these international constructs could enrich and bolster global understanding of resilience building and play-based learning that is so innate to our children, parenting approaches, and traditional education principles. As challenging as our environment can be, the diversity of cultural practices that make up this continent often allows children to play and learn in contexts that are affirming of their identities, rich with culture, and steeped in traditions that allow them to grow and develop in ways that may inadvertently have been lost in the constructs of current world education paradigms.

The organisation of African societies allows for children to play together in a ‘natural’ manner. They do this, regardless of their ages and stages of development or their socio-

economic circumstances. Together, they get on with learning the serious business of socio-economic life. There is much that we as early education specialists interested in play as a form of learning can glean from the children and people of this continent to enrich our practice, reminding us to be open-hearted and open-minded about the multitudes of diversities we encounter in our daily lives. Let’s take a step back and let children lead the way.

It’s Not Just about Universality

All children have the same rights, but not all children are exactly the same. The globalisation of childhood through international interventions sometimes leads one to forget this. Well-meaning research and aid organisations can easily paint a picture that every child is like another. This is important in a context of advancing fundamental rights, to ensure that basic needs of every child are met, so they can survive and thrive. Unfortunately, as impactful as it might be, this ‘globalisation of childhood’ easily overlooks collective and individual experiences, realities, and specific needs of children living in different circumstances, in different cultures, and in different geographies. Childhood is socially constructed and so may be different across societies and cultures, calling for sensitivity when we engage with children and their learning.

Significantly, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1990 universalised the idea that children are born with fundamental freedoms and inherent rights. While it is credited with being written in such a way that implementation is possible across different legal systems, countries, and cultures, Africans were under-represented in the drafting process and so issues particular to the continent’s children were left out. To remedy this, an Africanised articulation of child rights followed in 2001 in the form of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC or Children’s Charter).

The Charter pays attention to the socio-cultural and economic contexts of childhood in Africa. It emphasises

Sherri Le Mottee is an ECD Consultant working with the African Early Childhood Network. With thanks to Carol Harrington from ELRU, Carole Bloch from PRAESA, and Carol Smith from Persona Dolls for their contributions.

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the importance of including African cultural values and experiences when dealing with the education, health, or any other issue that impacts the life of the developing child. It opens the door, not only to affirm the richness of growing up African in tradition and culture, but also to challenge those practices that may be harmful to the well-being of our children. As such, it makes room to intervene when traditional views conflict with the rights of the child such as child marriage, parental rights and obligations towards their children, and children born out of wedlock. It is clear that the Children’s Charter supersedes any of these that contradict the rights, duties, and obligations it contains.

The Joys of Growing Up African

Africa is not one big homogenous cluster of countries. The diversity of language, cultural practice, history and religion of the region is rich and interesting. We cannot safely generalise one typical experience of living and growing up an African; it is simply too diverse and complex. There are, however, some clear, cross-cutting traditional ideas and wisdoms about community and collective play as part of life-long learning to consider.

■ It’s about community: The phrase “Umuntu umuntu ngabantu,” which translated means “a person is only a person with other people,” sums up a profound and beautiful truth, which sits at the heart of African values and life. This spirit of connectedness begins with the ancestors and spans across life to embrace the unborn and the young. In practice, this humanness or personhood is best understood as a sense of connectedness experienced through community. The wisdoms that follow from this are that our children are the reward of life, and that it takes a whole village to raise a child because every child is the child of everyone.

■ It’s about life-long learning: Children are apprentices in their family context. They play and learn through active participation in acceptable and valued social and economic activities. Indigenous African livelihoods make space for the children to play alongside their elders and actively contribute to tasks within the rhythm of daily life. This African approach to learning and ‘becoming’ allows parents to “sensitise their children from an early age to seek out others to extract ‘competencies’ and to figure out and feel their way into the world away from family and neighbourhood, but with attentive cautions that leave a lasting imprint, such as: ‘venture into the world, but be a good child’.”

■ It’s about learning together: Peer culture is not a well-researched area of child development yet. Tacit knowledge tells us it is a central way of supporting the

learning and development of young children. Given the history of the continent, the majority of children are becoming more knowledgeable about the broader world than their parents were able to; therefore intergenerational learning is therefore an important part of community life.

■ It’s about self-actualisation: While children are seen as stronger together, their ability to “acquire physical, intellectual, and practical education through their own initiative” is recognised. Literature tells us that in African contexts, children play a central role in their own development. “Indigenous pedagogy permits toddlers and youngsters to learn in participatory processes in the home, community, religious service, peer culture, and other settings through ‘work-play’ activities, with little to no explicit didactic support…. It is thus participatory pedagogy rather than the instructional models applied in current educational constructs that facilitates growth in their intellectual and functional abilities.”

We accept the general definition that play-based learning is “when children are enjoying what they do and deeply engaged in activities that are relevant and meaningful, so that they remember things for longer and at the same time develop holistic skills for life-long learning… usually… in an environment where the child has opportunities to imagine new things, take risks, and share experiences with others.” It follows that these characteristics of learning on the African continent are key features of learning through play and build the capacities young children need to embrace a modern world of complexity from a place of resilience and self-confidence.

Positive Learnings from a South African Experience

Heralded as the most progressive in the world, the South African Constitution embraces the spirit and values of being African. In policy and practice we have sought to acknowledge not just the diversity of our own country, but of our continent as a whole.

South Africa with its 11 official languages is a melting pot of different religions, cultures, and nationalities. Its diversity is compounded by vast socio-economic disparity and a vibrant collection of foreigners from countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Nigeria, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo who live and work here. As much as we grapple with these layers of diversity, the cornerstone of our democracy — the Freedom Charter, which has been made into law — reminds us “that South Africa belongs to all who live in it.”


These sentiments inform our policies and practices, including how we tackle the issues of early childhood development. Three organisations working in the ECD sector that stand out in terms of their approach to diversity are the Early Learning Resource Unit (ELRU), PRAESA, and Persona Dolls. ELRU has a curriculum that embraces and teaches diversity and is distinctly, “similar to anti-racist approaches to education, aims to challenge prejudice and oppression of all kinds. In the anti-bias approach, it is not sufficient to be a passive ‘non-biased’ observer of prejudice; every individual needs to intervene actively to challenge personal and institutional behaviours that perpetuate bias and oppression.” PRAESA on the other hand researches, supports, and encourages mother tongue-based bilingual education and is responsible for launching a national multilingual reading-for-enjoyment campaign. In this final section of this article, I share some of their ideas and resources as fine examples of South African endeavours to embrace diversity and affirm multiple identities within a solid pedagogical framework.

Early Learning Resource Unit

As early as the 1980s, ELRU was actively equipping early years practitioners with the techniques and skills needed to manage inclusive learning environments for children engaging children from different cultures, genders, abilities, languages, and social backgrounds. ELRU’s strategy has matured from the Anti-bias Curriculum Approaches of the 1990s (which was an activism approach), to a deeply embedded mainstreaming approach to ensure that inclusion and diversity are not only promoted but become systemically embedded. ELRU has designed a learning programme linked to South Africa’s National Curriculum Framework for children aged birth–4. It actively promotes practical methods and activities for Early Years Practitioners to ensure tolerance and inclusion. Both anti-bias and mainstream curricula have common aspirations to challenge prejudices and ensure that all children are included regardless of race, gender, culture, language, or possible special needs. These principles are aspirational and very difficult to implement. ELRU has taken up the challenge by preparing a multi-pronged approach to help typical parents and early childhood practitioners on the ground to do this in a practical manner. The challenge is that it is never as easy and simple as one thinks.

ELRU implements this approach in the following ways:

■ Parents and caregivers of babies, toddlers, and young children are invited to information sharing sessions and are equipped with knowledge and skills for early

identification of challenges. They are also invited to share their personal beliefs, traditions, and cultural practices around parenting and child development.

■ Early childhood practitioners attend training to help with awareness, planning, and adaptations of typical daily programme activities to ensure mainstream curricula can be implemented on the ground.

■ The children learn these principles by taking part in structured and unstructured activities. Thematic teaching centres around the celebration of tradition, culture, and context. Children from multiple cultures will be present in most spaces where early childhood initiatives take place and will naturally engage in peer learning. This fosters a culture of positive cultural practice.

PRAESA and the Nal’ibali Campaign

The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa is an independent research and development unit affiliated with the University of Cape Town. Since 1992, PRAESA’s work in literacy curricula, teacher training, materials development and research, has put meaning making, stories, and imagination at the heart of children’s learning. PRAESA conducts research and trains trainers and teachers in South Africa and other parts of Africa on multilingual education. The organization also supports publishers to create appropriate multilingual storybooks, particularly for babies and young children.

PRAESA’s aim is to continue to inform multilingual literacy discussions and debates, particularly in early childhood, by supporting adults to be the kind of interactive literacy role models children need for successful biliteracy learning. The literacy vision for a national campaign aimed at sparking children’s potential through storytelling and reading, Nal’ibali, was initiated in 2012 and driven by PRAESA for its first four years. Nal’ibali creates public awareness about the critical link between reading for pleasure and children’s educational success. The campaign aims to provide the optimal conditions for learning, both inside and outside of school, that motivate children to read and write in African languages as well as English.

Persona Dolls

The Persona Dolls model recognises that young children are not immune to noticing difference. Research tells us that they become aware of differences in gender, skin colour, language, and physical ability at a very young age. The values they attach to these differences are accumulated

http://www.nalibali.org/

http://www.praesa.org.za/

through their observations and experiences of the attitudes of others, spoken and unspoken, positive and negative.

In their view, anti-bias must foster each child’s:

■ development of a knowledgeable, confident self-identity.

■ empathic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds.

■ critical thinking and problem-posing about issues of bias.

■ ability to stand up for herself or himself, and for others, in the face of unfairness and injustice.

Persona Dolls are life-like, culturally appropriate girl and boy dolls made of cloth. Each has a ‘persona’ or identity, and is thus transformed into a unique personality with cultural and social class backgrounds, family situations, abilities and disabilities, fears and interests. “The ‘stories’ that are told about each doll’s life include issues such as racism, gender, HIV and AIDS stigma, social class, poverty, abuse, and disability. Interactive problem-posing discussions develop, based on what has happened to the doll. In this safe environment children talk about their own identities, life experiences and feelings, and try to assist the doll in resolving his or her problems. This empowers children to cope with these issues in their own daily lives.”

In Conclusion

While this article focuses on and celebrates what it is to be an African, at its core are two fundamental messages: that all human beings are born equal but different and that while these differences count, they do not make one life more valuable than another. Unfortunately, these

simple truths seem to elude us; as human beings we are often drawn into the quagmires of bullying, racism, bigotry, sexism, xenophobia, and the many other forms of discrimination we encounter and perpetuate on a daily basis across the world. But it does not have to be like this.

Starting with ourselves and with the children we teach, we can build a different world, one in which all human beings are respected and honoured.

The much-admired first president of our democratic South Africa, Nelson Mandela, made the observation that “no one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” As early years educators, our responsibility is to set young children on a path where they step out into a diverse world confident in who they are, able to love themselves and from this place of resilience and self-confidence, demonstrate respect for and openness to learn from the many cultures, values, and beliefs they will encounter as they grow and journey through life.


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Cultural traditions offer opportunities for young children to imitate their elders, to lend a hand, and to be actively involved in meaningful practices that have been passed down through generations. By watching, listening, and engaging in rituals and traditions, children experience a strong sense of cultural identity and belonging, and in doing so honour the security of their culture into the future. Honouring traditions is also arguably a responsibility of all teachers of young children in order to positively support and sustain all cultures represented in their early childhood community. This article begins to explore the origins of four Māori cultural traditions: te reo Māori (the Māori language); waiata (songs and singing); pūrākau (stories); and mihimihi and pepeha (greetings and introductions). All four of these important elements of Māori culture are a means of transmitting knowledge (mautauranga Māori) and support the expression of cultural values (tikanga Māori). An explanation of how teachers support these traditions with children is outlined in the article, along with reflective

prompts that can be applied to a range of early childhood settings and cultural contexts.

The traditions of Māori (Indigenous people of New Zealand) are valued as taonga (treasures). Each tradition has its own origins and history that early childhood teachers need to connect with and understand before planning teaching and learning experiences for children. Understanding cultural traditions offers opportunities for teachers to share with children the respect and honour they deserve and to weave them into their teaching and learning program in meaningful ways. Collaborative relationships with families and communities is therefore a priority, requiring teachers to challenge their position as ‘expert’ and draw upon the knowledge and skills of their families and communities, thereby building capacity within early childhood education for more authentic ways of knowing, being, and doing (Ritchie & Rau, 2010).

The importance of maintaining languages throughout the world has become recognised as vitally important to the sustainability of not only languages but also the cultural knowledge and identities of people. This article therefore starts with language as an initial focus. It is important that teachers learn about the languages children and families speak at home and value the strengths and richness that children who are bilingual and multilingual bring to their setting. Actively encouraging the success of home languages, both in the home and in educational settings, is a responsibility that early childhood teachers should embrace. It is predicted that a substantial number of languages are under threat of extinction, yet it is recognised that language diversity enhances adaptability, supports historical knowledge and transmits vitally important perspectives, philosophies, and worldviews. “…The loss of language is part of the loss of whole cultures and knowledge systems… oral literacy and musical traditions, environmental knowledge, medical knowledge, important cultural practices, and artistic skills” (Hinton, 2001, p. 5).

Trish Thomas is based in Christchurch and has worked in the early childhood sector as a teacher in kindergartens and early childhood care and education settings. She is a Senior Lecturer at New Zealand Tertiary College, teaching initial teacher education in the area of bicultural education and family engagement. Her current area of focus and research involves culturally responsive education, child

wellbeing, and advocacy through strengthening families and communities.

Roimata Rokx, based in Auckland, is a Lecturer at New Zealand Tertiary College. Growing up, Roimata was nurtured within a strong Māori context, whereby whānau played a significant role in shaping who she is today as a Māori woman hailing from Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Awa. Since completing her studies in early childhood education, Roimata has continued to develop her passion towards

embracing kaupapa Māori in early childhood education, whilst supporting early childhood teachers and their journey towards promoting te reo Māori in practice.

Ra Keelan, based in Auckland, is a Lecturer at New Zealand Tertiary College. Growing up on the East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island, Ra was supported, guided, and nurtured into developing his identity and sense of belonging to Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau-ā-Apanui. This sense of self has helped him recognise the importance for student teachers knowing ‘self’ in order to support child identity

formation, upon which all learning and development is grounded. His current focus and research relates to the role of traditional Maori myth within child development.

Engaging in the Spirit of Maori Cultural Traditionsby Trish Thomas, Roimata Rokx, and Ra Keelan



call (800) 221-2864.


It is language that allows traditions to thrive and flourish and therefore must be advocated for in homes, communities, and in all educational settings.

Te Reo Māori (the Māori language)

The Māori culture has an oral tradition and people rely on te reo Māori (the

Māori language) as the primary means by which cultural knowledge, stories, and meanings of each tradition are transmitted (Barlow, 1991). Through legend, Tāne is attributed with obtaining the three kete (baskets) of knowledge from Io (Supreme being). Thus te reo Māori holds a spiritual value for Māori people as a taonga mai ngā atua (treasure from the gods) (Best, 1923).

For many early childhood teachers in New Zealand not yet fluent in the Māori language, it is vitally important that there is a positive attitude with respect to te reo Māori and a recognition of themselves as language learners. King (2009) suggests that motivation for learning te re Māori as a second language learner involves a personal connection to one’s cultural identity and a strong sense of responsibility towards the language. This personal motivation alongside mentoring relationships, teamwork, supportive leadership, and collaborative relationships with children and families is required to support progress and authenticity of Māori language within early childhood communities. Practicing pronunciation of words, phrases, stories, greetings, and songs all contribute to the goal established in Te Whāriki (the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum) where children develop “an appreciation of te reo as a living and relevant language” and “Māori phrases and sentences are included as a natural part of the programme” (Ministry of Education, 1996, pp. 76–77).

In support of keeping the Māori language strong in the early childhood sector, New Zealand Tertiary College has

developed a Māori language resource “Te Reo Māori: He Taonga mō ā tātou mokopuna” as a supportive teaching and learning tool for early childhood teachers throughout New Zealand. Focus areas and planning topics are provided and serve as prompts, provocations, and affirmations so that practitioners can incorporate te reo Māori into all facets of centre life (New Zealand Tertiary College, 2016). Teachers have reported that the resource supports them to implement te reo Māori throughout the early childhood program more authentically with children.

Reflective Prompts

Think about how you implement learning languages with children:

• Are there high expectations for learning languages in your setting?

• Have goals, plans, and evaluative measures been developed to monitor successes?

• Is there a team approach and identified leaders that can champion language learning?

• Does your setting have access to enough language resources that can guide teaching and support learning?

• Are there opportunities for parents and wider family members to share language and language experiences within your daily program?

Waiata (Songs and Singing)

Waiata recognises the many different forms of song and singing that are used for different occasions. Waiata is also an important element of many Māori performing arts such as poi and haka. Actions often accompany waiata enhancing meaning and supporting the learning of lyrics and the accompanying tune. The spirit, emotion, and delivery of waiata is determined by the context or the event and often complement speeches, celebrations, and topical conversations. Through the generations, waiata have strongly supported the survival of te reo Māori and continue to be an effective method whereby language and knowledge is shared.

Singing songs with young children is a learning experience that can happen naturally throughout the day and not simply at a formal ‘mat or circle time’ experience. Waiata traditionally are used for a range of purposes and can be practiced

Te Reo Māori: He Taonga mō ā tātou mokopuna (New Zealand Tertiary College, 2016)

Photographs by the authors


as a ritual, such as for soothing or calming, for welcoming visitors, and for enjoyment of being together. In New Zealand

early childhood education, teachers are required to continually source a range of waiata that fit different occasions and know the important meanings they hold. Contemporary compositions of waiata also provide teachers, children, and families with an opportunity to learn and be exposed to new waiata, advancing the tradition and supporting our national talents.

Reflective Prompts

Think about how you implement singing and songs with children:

• Are songs and singing sometimes inspired or initiated by a purpose or ritual?

• Do you and your centre have a repertoire of songs that are passed down from generations and that provoke spiritual messages of love and connections to nature?

• Do you provide opportunities for parents and extended family members to share songs and singing within your daily program?

Pūrākau (Stories)

Pūrākau commonly refers to myths, ancient legends, and stories. It invites the storyteller and listeners to connect with the story so that the narrative becomes alive, animated, and vibrant. There are also many pūrākau that explain the histories of local geographical areas. Pūrākau often contain philosophical thoughts, metaphors, morals, and messages that provide complex spiritual meaning and significance to the natural world and to daily life.

The use of pūrākau in early childhood services “can provoke emotional, spiritual, and physical reactions” (Lee, 2005, p. 11) and it requires the teacher as the storyteller to then pose reflective questions and prompts to support children to make parallels with their own life experiences. A key determinant to the success of this is the attitudes of the teacher towards the pūrākau, as they must trust in the children’s ability to make meaning for themselves. In considering the children’s own pace, teachers should continually revisit the pūrākau and share it with children through different mediums, resulting in familiarity, connectedness, and eventually children becoming the storytellers themselves.

Storytelling is an important element of Indigenous communities as a means to understanding worldviews around a vast range of important values and issues such as creation, connections with nature, survival, protection, responsibility, courage, and sustainability (Lee, 2009). Stories and dramatisations carry messages and morals that support listeners to imagine events and circumstances, often well beyond their own life experiences. The lessons to be learnt are sometimes explicit and other times subtle, which allows for growth in understanding. Telling traditional stories with children provides important opportunities for children to learn about expansive concepts along with personal endeavours and attributes. Teachers have a great opportunity to explore the stories of their place and share these with children outside of the classroom setting, making their connections even more meaningful to the storyteller and listeners.

Reflective Prompts

Think about how you implement stories and storytelling with children:

• Do you know the local stories of your community and people?

• How can you tell them in a different and engaging way that supports elements of drama and vibrancy?

• What opportunities are there for telling stories outside of the classroom, in natural settings, and with natural resources as the tools for expression?

• Do you provide opportunities for parents and wider family members to share stories and contribute to storytelling within your daily program?

Mihimihi and Pepeha (Greetings and Introductions)

Relationships are the fundamental value that underpins all things Māori, and as such mihimihi (greetings) and pepeha (introductions) are two of the traditions that serve to establish and maintain relational connections with people and places. Introducing yourself through mihimihi and pepeha requires you to identify with the lands that you come

Te Reo Māori: He Taonga mō ā tātou mokopuna (New Zealand Tertiary College, 2016)

Photographs by the authors


from, the mountain that is located there and the river, lake, or sea that connects you to the land. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge your family members and genealogical links. Te Whāriki (the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum) aspires for children in New Zealand to develop “a knowledge of features of the land, which are of local significance, such as the local river or mountain” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 90). When a person’s place is considered part of his identity, then responsibility is placed upon him to maintain this connection and care deeply about its existence and its protection.

Teachers draw upon the traditions of mihimihi and pepeha to develop social competence and confidence within the wider learning community. Recognising and supporting both formal and informal opportunities for children to practice various forms of mihimihi alongside their pepeha strengthens their identity and sense of belonging, and reinforces a sense of mana (pride and prestige) for each child. Supporting the family to create their own pepeha also supports their belonging and connections, and provides opportunities for each family member to share with their child why various people and places are significant to them.

Reflective Prompts

Think about how you implement greetings and introductions with children:

• Is culture considered in how greetings, farewells, and introductions are practiced in your centre?

• When families first enroll, are children and family members asked how they would like to be greeted and introduced to the wider group?

• Are the languages of your local community reflected in greetings, farewells, and introductions?

• How do you ensure that you learn to pronounce children’s names correctly?

• Do you know the significance of the names of each child and their family members and how each person prefers to be addressed?

All early childhood teachers, recognising where they live and work, can reflect on and be committed to sustaining the depth and richness of culture within their local regions. A genuine interest and respect for people and communities supports teachers to implement cultural traditions in a way that minimises potential tokenism and upholds cultural rights and integrity. Cultural values, knowledge, and practices should be ignited for children in their early years, keeping them alive and thriving for generations to come. When it comes to culture and cultural traditions, all teachers will find themselves on a learning journey at different times and this requires both openness and the humility to accept that we have a lot to learn from the children, families, and the communities that we work with.

References

Best, E. (1923). Māori personifications. Anthropogeny, solar myths, and phallic symbolism: As exemplified in the demiurgic concepts of tane and tiki (continued). The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 32(3,127), 103–120.

Hinton, L. (2001). Language revitalization: An overview. In L. Hinton & K. Hale (Eds.). The green book of language revitalization in practice (pp. 3–18). San Diego: Academic Press.

King, J. (2009). Language is life: the worldview of second language speakers of Māori. Indigenous language


revitalization: encouragement, guidance & lessons learned (p. 97–108).

Lee, J. (2005). “Māori cultural regeneration: Pūrākau as pedagogy.” Paper presented at the 3rd International CRLL Conference: What a difference a pedagogy makes: Researching lifelong learning and teaching. Stirling, Scotland.

Lee, J. (2009). Decolonising Māori narratives: Pūrākau as a method. MAI Review, 2(3), 1–12. Retrieved: www.review.mai.ac.nz

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa/Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

New Zealand Tertiary College. (2016). Te Reo Māori: He Taonga mō ā tātou mokopuna. A Maori language resource designed to support early childhood practitioners. Auckland: New Zealand Tertiary College.

Ritchie, J. & Rau, C. (2010). Poipoia te tamaiti kia tū tangata: Identity, belonging and transition. First Years Ngā Tau Tuatahi, 12(1), 16–22.

Te Re

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e Tao

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ō ā tā

tou m

okop

una (

New

Zeala

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y Coll

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2016

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From the first day each of my children drove off with a driver’s license, they never left the driveway without me calling out, “Drive carefully!” They’ve been chuckling about this ritual for almost 30 years, but they remind me if I forget and as far as I know, they’ve heeded my words. I do want them to drive carefully, but the phrase means so much more: I hope you have a pleasant trip. Be happy in your destination. I love you.

Every family has its own mantra — “Peace be with you” or “See you later alligator.” Here are some children’s books that celebrate the rituals and traditions that are woven into the times of our lives.

Bedtime is loaded with ritual. From the songs we sing to the stories we read, to the light that’s kept on or off, to the animals, alive or stuffed that we snuggle with — doing the same thing every night can make going to bed a more peaceful time for everyone. The toddler and her little dog in Someone’s Sleepy know just what to expect from the first yawn to lights out. This is a sweet bedtime story for very little children about the most familiar things.

Someone’s Sleepy by Deborah Lee Rose, illustrated by Dan Andreasen (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2013) Ages 1–4.

Manuel makes salsa with his Abuela, and they eat it with tacos. Tony’s family makes marinara sauce and eats it with spaghetti. Mrs. Chen’s parents use chopsticks when they eat their noodles. Jayla fishes with her Dad and enjoys eating their catch. Every-one in this diverse classroom sits down to a differ-ent type of family dinner, and they celebrate it in My Food, Your Food (Cloverleaf Books — Alike and Different series). It features a glossary and a simple recipe for salsa, and is a great way to begin a discussion of food traditions among young children.

My Food, Your Food by Lisa Bullard, illustrated by Christine M. Schneider (Millbrook Press, 2015) Ages 4–7.

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors very simply and beautifully explains the traditions of a Muslim family for early school-age children. Author Hena Khan uses a different color for each tradition — the golden dome of the mosque, the white kufi worn by the grandfather, the red rug facing Mecca. The rhyming text is brief and simple, the glossary clear and complete, and Mehrdokht Amini’s illustrations luminously portray Islamic art and architecture.

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors by Hena Khan, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini (Chronicle Books, 2012) Ages 5–8.

Jean Dugan, a long-time friend of Exchange, has been connecting kids with books for over 40 years. She helped establish a library program in the elementary schools of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and later brought her love of children’s literature to the public library there. This is one more opportunity for her to share the best new books with children and those who care about them.

“Drive Carefully”: Celebrating Children’s Books about Traditions by Jean Dugan

Reading Matters

52 READING MATTERS www.ChildCareExchange.com EXCHANGE MARCH/APRIL 2017



call (800) 221-2864.

Preparations for a Hindu wedding are underway, and everyone in the bride’s family has a job. According to tradition, Sona’s assignment as the younger sister is to steal the bridegroom’s shoes and to bargain with him to get them back, but she’s not sure she’s ready for this big re-sponsibility. As we worry along with Sona, we learn about many of the rituals associated with the merging of two families that the wedding represents. Yoshiko Jaeggi’s watercolors portray two Indian/American families celebrating a joyful union.

Sona and the Wedding Game by Kashmira Sheth, illustrated by Yoshiko Jaeggi (Peachtree, 2015) Ages 5–9.

A Piece of Home is a lovely story of a Korean family’s assimilation into life in the United States, difficult for Hee Jun and his sister but more so for their grandmother, a respected teacher. Little by little, Hee Jun sees common-alities in his school and among his friends that make him feel more ‘ordinary,’ or accepted, while Grandma unexpectedly finds a new career mentoring a young teacher. The gift of a Rose of Sharon bush, similar to a plant his grandmother tended in Korea, finally makes their new home complete.

A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts, illustrated by Hyewon Yum (Candlewick Press, 2016) Ages 6–9.

Thursday has always been a lucky day for Annie. By tradition, everything good that hap-pens to her comes on a Thursday, including the opening of a diner that livens up the little town where she lives with her husband Mario. But when Mario dies and the restaurant clos-es, the town “pretty much dries up.” Until on another Thursday, a new friend brings Annie and her diner back to life. Patricia Polacco’s latest story includes a recipe for “Ugly Pasta,” the dish that made Annie famous… on a Thursday of course.

Because of Thursday by Patricia Polacco (Simon and Schuster, 2016) Ages 6–10.

traditions - childcareexchange.comccie.com/library_bw/8223400.pdf · traditions have purpose when...

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