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Why Teach Culture?
Culture is a powerful force in our lives. Our understanding of culture can be used to open doors or close them. If you’re looking for a place to start, talk about culture with your child. Give them examples of other cultures, and then ask them about their own. When you talk about other cultures or holiday traditions with your kids, you need to connect these concepts back to them. Show them an example of another cultural tradition, then ask what you do in your culture.
For example, people in China eat mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn festival. What do we celebrate in autumn? What do you like to eat on that day?
If you’re interested in having beginner conversations about culture, start with a dialogue. Globally Taught offers a fun lesson about culture that helps you start these big conversations in a fun and engaging way.
5 Powerful Videos on World Cultures
I am a huge believer in using multimedia as a way to share information. It’s certainly not the only thing we should be using, but I try to give my kids at least three ways to learn something. I will usually play a video or podcast for visual and audial learners. I will discuss the topic with my kids, and I will provide a creative project or activity. You never know what will make things click, so offering multiple options is so helpful when you teach different learners.
In order to take one thing off your busy schedule, here is a compiled list of kid-friendly videos on world cultures. Each video includes discussion questions to activate students’ critical thinking and curiosity. (Read until the end for a special offer to kickstart your multicultural learning).
1. Kids Share Their Cultural Tradition | Hiho Kids
➡ Hiho Kids has the best videos for multicultural learning. In this video, kids share their own cultural traditions with a group of multicultural kids.
➡ 5 minutes
➡ My Rating: age 6-10
➡ Discussion Questions:
- What is one of your cultural traditions?
- What item would you bring to this play date?
- Why would you choose that item?
2. Cultures of the World | Clarendon Learning
➡ Clarendon Learning is a good resource that provides realistic examples of cultures. While animated videos are fun for kids, I love when videos actually show photographs. This video simplifies a complicated topic, but at times oversimplifies certain cultures, particularly in Africa. The video discusses Africa as a monolithic culture, and this gives you a good opportunity to address stereotypes and oversimplification.
➡ 10 minutes
➡ My Rating: age 8-12
➡ Discussion Questions:
- What is culture?
- What is a society?
- How are they different?
- What cultures are you a part of?
- What are some examples of culture in your community?
- What could this video do better?
3. How Diverse Is Africa? | KHANUBIS
➡ Counter the oversimplification of Africa in video 2 with this fantastic video by KHANUBIS. This video previews the many regions, cultures, and languages found in Africa. It does a great job illustrating how culturally diverse Africa is. Be forewarned that the speaker of this video uses the word damn once in the video.
➡ 9 minutes
➡ My Rating: age 14+ (1 swear)
➡ Discussion Questions:
- How big is Africa?
- What is something interesting you learned?
- What surprised you about this topic?
- What is the danger of oversimplifying Africa?
4. Cultures Around the World | Miss Medina
➡ Miss Medina is so sweet and soothing. In this video, she shares amazing information on cultures. She includes interesting facts and covers topics from religion to languages to holidays. This video is mostly focused on the many cultures within the United States and can help kids better understand how they fit into the larger fabric of American society. She also covers some other countries like Spain and Nigeria.
➡ 7 minutes
➡ My Rating: age 7-11
➡ Discussion Questions:
- What are some examples of American culture?
- What are examples of Spanish/Nigerian culture?
- How are they the same or different from your cultural practices?
5. Polynesian Culture & Other National Geographic Expeditions
➡ National Geographic has quality videos that show cultures in a respectful and accurate way. I suggest adding more content to what the videos provide by helping students make connections to what they are seeing. These videos provide windows into other cultures; we need to provide mirrors. In other words, videos give us a look into another culture. As guides, we should give kids opportunities for reflecting and connecting.
➡ 3 minutes
➡ My Rating: age 14+
➡ Discussion Questions:
- What are aspects of Polynesian culture?
- What connections did you make to Polynesian culture?
- What were your windows? What helped you see something in a new way?
- What were your mirrors? What helped you make connections to your own life?
What Is Culture? Lesson
Talking about cultures and belief systems can be tricky, but when you start these conversations at a young age, they become a natural part of your family life.
This lesson on culture is an interactive way to help kids understand their beliefs better.
How it works:
- Independent readers can click through the slides on their own and complete the activities.
- Emerging readers will enjoy this lesson with a parent or teacher who can share the slides and activities with them.
- Ask your child questions about their beliefs and use your own beliefs as real examples for them.
More Cultural Identity Resources
Although these videos on world cultures are engaging for students, they are just one piece of the instructional puzzle. Like I said before, I always offer multiple ways for students to engage with new topics, particularly big ones like culture. You may also be interested in having Multicultural Morning Meetings where your kids will learn multicultural songs and play fun activities and games from other countries. Stay in the know about upcoming world holidays and festivals with the Cultural Diversity Calendar.
Do you want to go even further? Check out my Cultural Identity Unit, which includes engaging activities on how culture is connected to our names, families, clothing, and homes. It is one of our most popular products!
Let me know which videos you liked in the comments below!