Preschool Presentation Follow-Up

Beloved and I talked about South Africa with Sparkle's class on Friday.  We think it went well.  The kids were especially interested in the idea that when it's daytime here, it's night in South Africa.  When it's spring here, it's fall there.  Fascinating stuff.  We looked at pictures of Ndebele homes.  We brought our South African flag, and Sparkle got to show it to his class.  We brought some South African utensils and art that the kids could touch and handle.  We looked at maps, and pictures of South African animals. 

We talked about a few of the people groups in South Africa as well.  I was not sure how to handle this, but here's what I ended up saying (pretty much):  "The Xhosa people in South Africa are very smart.  Nelson Mandela is a famous Xhosa man.  (showed a big picture of Nelson Mandela)  He was president of South Africa, and he is important because he helped teach people how to live together peacefully.  The Zulu people in South Africa and very strong and brave (picture of Zulu warriors, looking buff, but not manacing)  Can you see their strong muscles?  The Ndebele people in South Africa are very artistic and creative.  (picture of Ndebele women dressed in embroidered clothing, let them hold an Ndebele doll)  These women sewed their own beautiful clothes and painted their beautiful houses.  Children in South Africa are a lot like children who live here.  They love their families and they play with their friends. (pictures of kids)  They like to be able to go to school, just like you.  Most school children wear uniforms to school. (picture of school kids in uniforms)."  (Many pauses throughout for exclaimations and questions from the kids.)

Anyway, you get the drift...  I hesitated a little about grouping all Xhosa or Zulu or Ndebele people under a particular characteristic, but I specifically wanted them to see pictures of Black people and associate the words, ideas and pictures together: Black person<-->smart, Black person<-->strong and brave, Black person<-->creative, Black man<-->president.  Black kids<-->like me, but with a school uniform!

(Oooo, Black president!  Maybe, maybe they'll get to watch that happen right here in the U.S!)

At the end, the kids all had some rooibos tea and biltong, and we talked about them being made in South Africa.  I was surprised by how many kids actually drank quite a bit of tea.  It's good, but it's just a red herbal tea, and I didn't expect preschoolers to like it.  The "biltong" was actually beef jerky strips from the grocery store, so we totally cheated on that, but it's hard to get real South African biltong around here on short notice.

Sparkle enjoyed having us there, and being the cool kid whose parents came to the classroom. 

(Hey, we're still cool!  We're going to enjoy it while it lasts!)

Comments

[Laundry & Children]

It sounds like you did a great job. I am sure that it meant the world to Sparkle.

[cloudscome]

Fabulous! You really pulled it all together. Sounds like fun.

[KT]

Sounds like it went great! Seems like you were able to find the right "level" to put it on!

You are definitely COOL parents!

Can't wait for this opportunity to happen for us!

[Heidi - happy mom]

I appreciate hearing your wonderful point of view, Your presentation sounded like it went great. We are just going to be starting the preschool thing, I am excited.

[Leigh]

Sounds like it went well and you really put a lot of thought into it. I always think the interactive kinds of things of having something tangible for the kids goes over better.

[South African Zulu woman]

I've been reading your blog for a while but never commented. Just delurking to say I liked how you presented the different groups of South African for the kids to understand.