Although family is very important, families have changed a lot in Uruguay-now there is no ‘typical’ family. There are a lot more single-parent families now as the divorce rate rises (especially stemming from the economic crisis of 2002). There is also the tendency to live together in common-law marriage without a formal ceremony. Often, a grandparent will live with a family. Families also tend to live close to at least one side of the extended family. Every holiday is an important event for families—for example, Mother’s Day is very important, and is celebrated in May. Father’s day is in July. There is also a child’s day in August, and a grandparent’s day in June.
Another major cultural difference are the greetings- in Uruguay, even in school it is typical for students and teachers to kiss on the cheek, and to show physical affection. Also, most students in Uruguay go to school for four hours a day. In public schools, they also are required to wear a white tunic as a uniform. Private school students generally wear different uniforms. If they receive English instruction at the primary school level, they generally receive 3 hours a week, and the majority of those programs are in the capital, Montevideo. Schools also provide materials for all of the children, including notebooks and pencils. Also, students do not take a school bus to school (most students walk). Except for special subjects like English or gym, primary students have one teacher for all of their subjects during the school day.
Our next question for the teachers in CT is if they have any simple and effective ideas for activities, materials, or resources to teach about upcoming cultural events and holidays in the U.S.-- especially Thanksgiving. Thanks!
Our next question for the teachers in CT is if they have any simple and effective ideas for activities, materials, or resources to teach about upcoming cultural events and holidays in the U.S.-- especially Thanksgiving. Thanks!
Hola maestras,
ReplyDeleteI teach a Thanksgiving mini-unit in which I place pictures of foods that are commonly eaten at Thanksgiving (eg, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls and butter, and pumpkin pie) into a "Magic Bag". A Magic Bag can be any sort of closed bag or box. The teacher can call one child at a time to remove one of the food pictures from the bag and then say the name of the item. The class can repeat and then the item can be placed in the center of the circle. This continues until all the pictures are removed. The teacher can say the name of one of the food items and then the children can volunteer to pick up the food itme that was named.
Another game that can be played to help with vocabulary is called "Which one is missing?" The teacher can place 3 vocabulary pictures on view for all of the children to see. The teacher then asks all of the children to close their eyes and removes one of the pictures. Once the children open their eyes again, the teacher asks "Which one is missing?" and the children volunteer to name the vocabulary item that is missing.
A good way of telling a story (Thanksgiving/Pilgrims, Christmas, Hanukkah) is to choose a few pictures depicting important points in the story and then to write a simple text around those pictures--eg, The pilgrims arrived on a ship (Show a picture of pilgrims and ship when telling the story).
¡Buena suerte!
Josie