The week after Meg read her Heritage Report to her second-grade class, our new Korean au pair and I gave a presentation in her second-grade classroom.
All families had been invited to share their heritage during the month, and the class had been having a parent come in to do that an average of twice a week. Our principal, who has adult Korean children, had been in earlier that day to show pictures of his family.
As in first grade, Meg decided to keep her adoption scrapbook private. (In preschool he had been eager to share it, but it didn’t surprise me that she didn’t want to now. I’d always told her it was her choice.)
I wanted to be careful not to emphasize only the exotic aspects of Korea, but to also show that many Koreans live in this country and live lives much like these kids’ lives. So I began by showing part of a video from the American Cultures for Children series. This video told a bit about Korea and showed some scenes of urban and rural Korean life. Then they showed scenes from Koreatown in Los Angeles, including a Korean market and bakery, but also a Korean radio station and newspaper. They showed Korean-American adults and children, some working at computers and some at school, some with Korean names and with more “typical” American names.
We showed my daughters’ hanboks, traditional Korean costumes. This year, thanks to our au pair’s mother, we had a boy’s outfit as well. We showed a doll in the costume of a Korean scholar. I explained how the tall horsehair hat signified a scholar, and told the kids’ that in a Korean manger scene I’d seen, the three Wise Men wore hats like this.
I read a Korean Cinderella story, and the teacher asked the kids what was the same and different about the Cinderella story they knew.
We passed out sweet bean cakes and sesame candy from our local Korean supermarket. But an even bigger hit was when our au pair wrote each child’s name in Korean. Several parents commented to me that their kids were so excited to bring home their name written in Korean.
The heritage unit concluded with a feast for students and families, in which each family was encouraged to bring food representing their country. I had no energy to cook, so I brought small cans of a cinnamon punch drink from the Korean supermarket (Meg had written about this drink in her report.) I was surprised that more kids chose it than I expected.
All in all, I’d say heritage month was a great success, having started conversations at our house about our family ancestors, our daughter’s birthparents, why children are sometimes relinquished for adoption, Korean culture, what she wanted to share with other kids about her adoption and what she wanted to keep private.
We may repeat our presentation at Regina’s preschool on Korean Children’s Day.
Please see this related blog:
Adoption and Heritage Presentations in School