TITLE OF THE PUBLICATION
“Melting classes” Journey through the interculturality school (« Melting classes » Voyage à l’école de l’interculturalité)
SURNAME AND NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
Coordinated by Annick Bonnefond, trainer at “ChanGements pour l’Egalité” (CGé – Change for equality)
PUBLISHER
Editions “Couleur livres”
PLACE AND DATE OF PUBLICATION
Brussels – 2013
LANGUAGE OF THE DOCUMENT
French
LANGUAGE OF THE REVIEW
English
THEMATIC AREA
Integration of immigrants students
DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
The book proposes a five-step path in the country of interculturality.
The first step suggests tools and points of reference to understand cultural and social differences at school. (Chapter 1: theoretical points of reference and tools to understand)
Then, the reader progresses through the three steps that structure intercultural approaches (through a multitude of accounts, practices from schools and associations).
Along the pages, during learnings, in class and elsewhere, one sees how to “step back, understand and negociate”.
• Chapter 2: Who am I?
Stepping back, being aware of one’s identity, of one’s frame of references (norms, values related to a culture), getting rid of one’s prejudices and stereotypes
• Chapter 3: Who are you?
Knowing the culture of the other, the others, discussing, understanding the situations and learning from the others.
• Chapter 4: What can we do together?
Initiating an approach of negotiation, carrying out practices of interculturality at school (inventing practices to build a bridge between the school culture and that of families, that give a place to everyone, that give values to identities and cultures and support the construction of an intercultural area in class)
Finally, the path leads to experiences of teacher training to interculturtality.
Chapter 5: teacher training: historical landmarks and experiences.
COMMENTS ON THIS PUBLICATION
The authors started from the observation of regularly confirmed gaps between the students’ results and their original background. But for them, it is not inevitable!
They invite the reader to view the multicultural dimension positively as it has become a characteristics of our societies and classes as well as of our work as teachers, which consists of assisting the introduction into knowledge of all of those who go to school whatever their origin, creating citizens, giving everyone equal chances of social development.
Through the three steps of the intercultural approach, the reader is invited to hit the road, to dare, to question certain practices, to invent new approaches. The various accounts that make up the book show that between powerlessness and all-power, there is leeway.
To help stepping back and working on the concepts of identity and culture, the authors propose in an appendix a “toolbox” (training supports, games and activities), such as a “review table of cultural shocks“, the short film “Babelgium“, the pedagogical case “Décapsul’leurres“ ... or the “six questions game”.
Name of Compiler
Julien Keutgen
Name of Institution
INFOREF
Role in the institution
Translator - project assistant
