1. Anna, a preschool teacher in a big town in Italy, loves the fact that there is variety of cultural backgrounds in her school.

Anna: I love my class!

But sometimes she doesn’t know what to think and how to deal with certain behaviors… .

2. Aminah, a Nigerian mother, usually takes her child, Latifah, very late in the morning.

Anna: It is very late!

Talking with her colleagues, Anna says that Aminah is a wonderful mother but she doesn’t respect her child’s needs and the school’s schedule enough, especially the circle-time in the morning.

Anna: Does she care?

3. But let’s try to see things from the other side!

Aminah never had a preschool experience. She grew up in a rural village where young children stayed at home or played together on the road: no tight schedule, no circle-time!

4. When Anna asked her to pay more attention to the entry time and to the circle-time, Aminah didn’t understand, but she didn’t dare ask. In her country it is not respectful to ask a teacher questions.

Anna: Try to arrive on time

Aminah (thinking): Does she judge me in a bad way?

5. Anna was also surprised when Eliane, a Brasilian

mother of two 5ys old twins, asked her if the kids would have started to learn to read and write a bit at school.

Eliane: When do you teach reading and writing?

Anna found the question inappropriate: those are primary school’s activities.

Anna: This is not primary school!

6. But let’s try to see things from the other side!

When she was a child in Brasil, Eliane enjoyed starting to learn a bit of

writing and reading in preschool, and her mother was very proud of her.

Eliane’s mother: Wow! Very precise!

7. Eliane is also concerned that their kids won’t learn Italian as fast as Italian children, and that she won’t be able to help them.

Italian mother to her child: Repeat the lesson with me!

Eliane (thinking): How can I help my children if I don't master italian?

8. Anna, Aminah and Eliane all want to do the best for the children, but sometimes they don’t understand each other.

The behaviours of interacting people who are not aware of their different cultural backgrounds and life experience might lead to misinterpretations.

9. Culture is like an iceberg.

On the surface level, one can see what people do, eat,

dress, produce.

The deeper level reflects why people do what they do:

values, beliefs, attitudes...

.

Culture can be also seen as our unconscious glasses through which we see at the world....

When you meet a person with different ‘cultural glasses’

you might realize that you are wearing a pair of them too!

10. Anna may feel that Aminah and Eliane don’t see and think the same things as her, and it’s true!

Anna: I can try to tell you what is the circle-time

Aminah: Thank you! I didn’t dare ask!

11. If Anna takes time to understand, try to explicitly express what she

thinks and asks them to do the same, they can discover each other perspective and start to talk.

Anna: Now I see why you feel some concerns about the language, I’ll pay more attention!

We can all learn from each other and discover that some cultural glasses can add new interesting colours to ours!

12. This is true for children as well.

They can share the different things they learn from their parents, and the common things as well, growing up more mentally flexible!

Sara: My mom tells me to eat using just my right hand ;

Alice: My mom to just use fork and knife!

Boh: I use only chopsticks!

All together: Our moms don’t want us to waste food!”