Around the World
Posted in Little Historians and tagged with Children, Teaching on October 29, 2009
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a teacher at heart. One of the many things I’m passionate about teaching is geography/culture. I think we Americans fall WAY behind in our knowledge that indeed, there are other people in the world besides us and perhaps their culture isn’t funny/weird but actually contains things of value to us.
Anyway, one way that this passion comes out is that I teach the kindergarteners at church geography when we learn about missions and the like. They all know where Turkey is, no problem, but the use of our world map has interested them in learning about more places.
This past Sunday, a couple of boys were eagerly looking over the map and finding places that they knew. One boy astonished me by finding Bulgaria on the map and saying, “Hey, you could go there when you’re in Turkey since it’s so close.” I believe I’m above-average at geography, but even I only knew that Bulgaria was somewhere in Eastern Europe.
Later, they showed their childlike eagerness again and said, “Look! We’ve found China!”
Only problem was that they were pointing at Canada, hehe.
So, I gently corrected them, told them that China was in Asia, and pointed out the big area that was Asia. On their second try, they identified the right country.
I just love that they were excited to find the places they’ve learned about. Later in the lesson I took some time to show all the children pictures of my past visits to Turkey so they could get an idea of what the country is liked.
Seeing the women with their hair covered, one little boy asked in all seriousness, “Are the women bald?”
Oh, to have the eagerness to learn like a child.
Photo by ToastyKen
October 29th, 2009 at 5:35 am
That is SO cute – “Are the women all bald?” Adorable!
It’s so good of you that you’re trying to give the kids geography lessons. It’s so true that that’s one area in which the US is severely lacking.
Why do you talk about Turkey?
October 29th, 2009 at 8:26 am
That’s great that they are so eager to learn. And I have to admit, I am quite subpar in geography…and I’m a history major. Quite sad.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Audrey: I guess I should have been clear on that for my new readers…I’m leaving for Turkey next Friday, and will be gone a week.
Tara: I’m a history major as well. I had to memorize all the countries of the Middle East for a class, and ever since then, I’ve wanted to know where all the countries are.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Wow, I don’t think I could point out Bulgaria on a map, except now I know it’s really close to Turkey, so your kindergartner totally schooled me.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:34 am
It is fun to have a teaching moment. Thanks for stopping by the other day. It is good to meet you.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I’m horrible at geography. Fortunately, Sam is great at it. So he will be teaching that to Avery when we start homeschooling next year. I think it’s awesome when young children know so much about geography. It helps them better appreciate our country and to recognize that they are not the center of the world.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Oh man! My students have no geography or life skills really.
Example, last year we were reading “The Martian Chronicles” and discussing the space program and rocket launches. I was speaking about central command being in Houston, TX and that’s why you always hear “Houston, we have a problem!”
They were all like, “No way! We thought Houston was a person!”
So funny!