I had signed up to do a presentation in Meg’s class on Korea. I planned to do this no matter what country Meg chose to write about in her Heritage Report. Last year some of her classmates had distressed her by asking questions about adoption and about her “real mom”. I responding by reading some adoption books to her class, but this year I wanted the presentation to be on Korea and not to put Meg on the spot about adoption.
I went to talk to our school principal, whose children, now in college, had also been adopted from Korea. When Meg had started school nearly three years ago, the principal and the teachers had shared their family photos before the kids shared theirs. This had given the kids a chance to ask questions about why the parents were white and the kids Korean, without the focus being exclusively on Meg. I think that was very useful, because it made adoption seem like a normal thing. By the end of his visit, Meg was eager to say that she, just like the principal’s kids, had been adopted from Korea.
Now I asked the principaI if he would visit Meg’s second grade class as he had visited the kindergarten class. (The classes have a “Star of the Week” where teacher and students share family photos, and at this time the second grade had also been having parents come in to share their ethnic heritages. I had previously asked Meg’s teacher if she was okay with me requesting the principal to come and share this.)
I said that I didn’t know what country Meg would choose to do her report on–the principal made me feel better by saying that his Korean son had done his report on his dad’s Irish heritag–—but that I, and hopefully a Korean exchange student, would be doing a presentation on Korea, so questions would likely arise no matter what Meg decided to do her report on.
The principal said he’d be glad to do this. I had thought he might just share family photos and tell a bit about his family as the kids do at their weekly presentations, but he also went with the heritage theme by showing pictures of his daughter in her Korean hanbok (formal ethnic dress) and asked Meg of she had one. He also read the class a Korean folktale that he used to read to his children.
I don’t know if the kids asked about adoption specifically. But the principal did report that Meg was grinning ear to ear during his visit.
Please see this related blog:
Adoption and Heritage Presentations at School