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Personal and Cultural Identity: Lesson 2

"A Country Far Away" by Nigel Gray and Philippe Dupaquier and "Little Blue and Little Yellow" by by Leo Lionni

Start by watching the read-aloud video with your child(ren)

Discuss the story for a bit, answer questions your child has. Then transition into “Little Blue and Little Yellow”.

BEFORE VIEWING:

Explain that the colors represent our cultural selves.  Colors show how two friends can share in each other’s culture and that each color can become a part of who they are.

When you’re ready, watch the read-aloud video with your child(ren)

After Viewing

Needed:

  • Blue food coloring
  • Yellow food coloring
  • Water
  • Three clear cups

Instructions:

Fill two of the cups about halfway with water. Color one blue and one yellow. Pour both mixes into the third cup with your child(ren) and show how they mix together to make green.

Discussion:

Think and talk about the fact that as you will live in your host country you will become “green”. How are you “green”?

TCK Thoughts

Talk about what happens when we live in a country that is different from our passport county.

Recall the meaning of the word “adapt”.  Is it possible to “stay the same color” when we adapt? 

Think about yourself, your family, and the different cultures that are a part of your life.  What are some of the things you have gained from your friends’ culture that are now a part of your life? 

Remember, our lives are enriched by another culture.  Are there traditions that your family will take with you wherever you go?  Share these.

TCK Thoughts

Go through the steps of Cultural Stress.

Steps of Cultural Stress:

  • Fun – Honeymoon stage – all is new, different and fun.
  • Flight – Avoidance – I don’t like this.
  • Fight – Anger – Different + bad and/or mockery = feeling foolish.
  • Fit – Tolerate being different; understanding different but reasonable; creativity different but open to interaction/ transaction.

Remember that prayer can do a lot to assist you in moving through these stages so that you can reach the Fit stage.

Read Psalm 139:1-18. 

Discuss how God has it in His plan for them to be MKs.  In fact, God may be planning on doing great things through you

Psalm 139:1-18 (NIV)

1 You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

Post-Reading Activity

Straw-Blown Art

Needed: 

  • Table covers
  • Drawing paper
  • Plastic straws
  • Water
  • Yellow Tempera Paint/ or watercolors
  • Blue Tempera Paint/or water colors

Preparation: Cover tables to prevent mess. Mix and thin tempera paint so that it will flow easily across the page. 

Instructions: Place a few drops of paint on each child’s paper. Holding their straw fairly close to the paint drops, child(ren) will blow until paint spreads and mixes. After a bit, turn paper and blow from another direction. Continue adding paint until you have the desired effect. Allow paint to dry.

Session 3: Personal and Cultural Identity

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