Home  Gallery  Global Curriculum      My Country      My Culture      One World      Day in the Life      Early Memories      Guide to the World      My Environment      Magic Moments      Games People Play      1001 Things to Do      New Artists      New Authors      Life in the Future      New Inventions  The Project  Research  News  Search  Contact	Teachers' Guide - My Culture My Culture – In Your Classroom In this project, SchoolNet Global students describe aspects of their inherited culture - in their own words and pictures. The completed projects are building a rich archive of personal accounts about different cultures, local and national traditions, religion, music, art, and history, created by young people and for young people. Bilingual students, or those learning a second language are invited to write their investigations in both languages - adding another dimension to the promotion of intercultural understanding. How to Introduce the Project Ask your students these questions: • What is culture? How does it belong to you? • Which local or national traditions have you heard of? • What is special, beautiful or important about them? • If people your age came to visit, what local or national traditions would you tell them about? How to Choose Cultures and Traditions to Study Ask your students to discuss the traditions, religion, music, art and history that is important to them. Each pupil could chose a favourite tradition to research, for example: • their family traditions • their religious beliefs • traditions they would wish to pass on Groups of students might wish to review a selection of traditions or beliefs and undertake a comparative study, for example - similarities and differences between faiths. Gathering the Information To help your students decide what to write, ask these questions: • What is the story of your chosen culture? • Who is connected to it? Who owns it? • Who started it? Why were they important or different? • What do you like about it? What would you change? Once the students have completed their own investigations, the students can ask older members of their family for their thoughts. These can be presented in separate investigations. This will provide interesting comparisons for the students, their families and the whole SchoolNet Global audience. Multilingual Experiences Bilingual students or those learning another language can be encouraged to write their investigations in both languages. This will not only give them real life experience in the use of other languages but will also widen the audience for their thoughts and ideas about the country they are living in at present. The My Country investigation allows students to present their work in more than one language. Extension Activities More able students can undertake in-depth studies, for example: • The social history of their tradition • The cultural identity of their parents compared to their own age group • Issues of culture and citizenship • If the school has links with schools in other countries, they could work on a joint project, perhaps writing in each other’s language. Online Investigations Students can explore the published pages, to find out about other cultures, for example: • What inherited cultures are important to young people? Why? • How does this vary for people of different ages, in different regions?