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Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts

Learning about China through Books

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

May is Asian American Heritage Month. Last week we focused on Vietnam and this week we will focus on China. I have two books to share with you today. One of them I reviewed an older edition several years ago. The other is a book of children's stories from both China and Tibet. I began to wonder about Tibet. Tibet was taken over by the Communist Chinese Government in 1949. The leader of Tibet prior to that was the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama escaped to India and lives there in exile with over 100,000 Tibetan refugees. (Source) We will start with Favorite Children's Stories from China and Tibet by Lotta Carswell Hume and illustrated by Lo Koon-chiu.

Japanese Crafts -- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Disclosure: We were sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are our own.

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. This year I thought I would focus on Japanese crafts. I have written a few posts about Japan and Japanese culture over the years. If you want a general overview of the country and its culture you should check out my review here. When I looked at my shelf of books to review I saw a bit of a pattern and realized I had a collection of books about crafts in Japan. Part of what I love about these books is most of them also teach a bit about the culture.

History of Rumpelstiltskin and a Feminist Version of the Story


Today I am going to share a bit of the history of the tale, Rumpelstiltskin as well as a newer version of it that will make many feminists very happy. Let's just say the miller's daughter does not marry the mean king!! Let's start with the history of the tale of this funny, little man who can spin straw into gold.

If You Were Me and Lived In.... a Look at Cultures Around the World

Disclosure: Carole P. Roman sent me these books for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Do you like to read books about different cultures? Since we don't travel very often, I love to teach Hazel about different cultures and I have found books to be a wonderful way to do this. Today I get to share three books from a wonderful series by Carole P. Roman. The series is If You Were Me and Lived In...A Child's Introduction to Cultures Around the World. Unlike the books in the Ancient Culture series I shared last week, these books focus on current cultures in the countries. The series of books that include a map of the country as well as a picture of a globe showing where the country is and a pronunciation guide with meanings as well. We will go in alphabetical order with our three countries and start with If You Were Me and Lived in...Australia

Language Fun -- Summertime Fun

Disclosure: I was sent these books free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Today I am sharing some books and products to have fun with new languages this summer (or any time). Two of these are books that use words from a different language in the stories and the third are a flash card and more set. I always find that these type of books and products help us continue to learn about different countries and cultures. We will start with Asha Loves Science Over in the Meadow by Dr. Najla Ahmed. I am reviewing this book as part of Multicultural Kids Product Promotional Services

Exploring Morocco -- Global Learning for Kids

Map Source

This month Global Learning for Kids is exploring Morocco. We have had a little exposure to Morocco in the past with the Moroccan Snow White and Maps Activity Book, but Hazel does not remember much about it. We also have eaten couscous previously, but she didn't really remember it since it has been awhile. We started as we always do with some books from the library.

Home and Maps Activity Book Reviews for Multicultural Monday

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me copies of these books free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

For Multicultural Monday I am sharing two fun books that you may not realize right away they are multicultural. The first is an activity book to accompany the book called Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski. The book we are reviewing is Maps Activity Book also by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski.
http://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?browse=Title&mode=book&isbn=076367771X&pix=y


Around the World in 12 Dishes: Korea Chap ch'ae

Have you entered my current giveaway? It ends Tuesday!!

Around the World in 12 Dishes is traveling to Korea this month. On Sunday we shared a Korean Cinderella tale called Kongi and Potgi. Today we are going to share our experience trying some Korean recipes and music and stories. We also did a few easy Korean crafts.
Coloring Page from RainbowKids

The dish we spent the most time making together was Chap ch'ae or Mixed Vegetables with Cellophane Noodles.  We found the recipe in Cooking the Korean Way by Okwha Chung and Judy Monroe. We compared recipes in a few books. We all loved this meal.

Chap ch'ae (adapted from Cooking the Korean Way)
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
4 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
1 boneless chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
1 package of cellophane noodles
6 tablespoons oil (unless you have the pan I have)
1 large onion, chopped
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 cup baby spinach, washed
5 teaspoons sesame oil
(Note: we took out the black mushrooms and water for them and the bean sprouts)


  1. In  a large ziploc bag combine 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sugar, garlic, 2 teaspoons sesame seeds. Add chicken and seal and distribute the mixture among the chicken. (Note: if you do not have toasted sesame seeds, toast them first by putting them in a frying pan with no oil and on medium heat. Stir and cook until they are brown and smelly nutty.)
  2. Cook and drain noodles according to package. Place in a large bowl and set aside.
  3. In a large frying pan or wok, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over high heat for 1 minute. Add the chicken and fry, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes or until chicken is white and tender. Remove from heat and add chicken to noodles. (We have a new pan that does not require oil to cook, so we did not use any oil for the cooking. I love this new pan!)
  4. Wipe out pan. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and cook vegetables. (The recipe says to do this separately, but we did it together as a stir-fry.) Then add vegetables to chicken and noodles. 
  5. Combine 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sugar, sesame oil and remaining sesame seeds. Pour over mixture.
  6. Serve warm or at room temperature.
 While this was cooking and we were eating we made Oi naeng guk or cold cucumber soup (the recipe also came from Cooking the Korean Way). We however did not really like it, so we are not going to share it with you. A different night I made Pulgogi (Barbecued beef) which we loved, but Hazel did not help make it and I didn't take any pictures (it was eaten before I got my camera out). The recipe also came from Cooking the Korean Way.

We have been enjoying some Korean stories as well. Here are the variety of picture books we have found at our library. One goes through the alphabet and describes things in Korea. Another counts to ten in English and Korean and relates each number to something in Korea. Then there are traditional stories as well as modern stories.
 We also made some crafts. One that we did was a simple version of the Korean game, Yut-nori.  There are simple instructions on TLC. We used dot markers instead of stickers and I let Hazel do it. We used glass gems as our playing pieces.

We also made a traditionally dressed paper doll. We got it from Education.com. Hazel loved this craft and wants me to make more clothes for her.
We also made a Tradtional Korean Sam Taeguk Fan from a template found at 4 Crazy Kings. I let Hazel choose the colors and had not shown her theirs, but she picked the same colors.
Our final exploration of Korea has been listening to some music we got from the library. The first two CD's we listened to came from the adult section and they were all right, but we did not listen to them too long. We have not listened to the children's music yet, but I'm planning on bringing it in my car tomorrow on our way to school.

So that is our exploration of Korea. Have you cooked any Korean food that you would like to share in our trip around the world? This blog hop is brought to you by the following amazing blogs! Please be sure to visit them to see what they cooked this month.

Adventures In Mommydom - Afterschooling for Smarty Pants - All Done Monkey - Crafty Moms Share - Creative World of Varya - Glittering Muffins - Here Come The Girls - Kid World CitizenMermaids’ Makings - The Educators’ Spin On It - Maroc Mama




Also check out Around the World in 12 Dishes on Pinterest. Be sure to follow so you will not miss a thing! The Korean Placemat is available here and the Korean Passport Pages are available here. Now it is your turn to share or to be inspired to try some of the recipes shared at this blog hop!


A Spanish Day--Around the World in 12 Dishes


Today we had our adventure in discovering Spain. We read stories, made a craft and cooked a flan. But first a bit about Spain. Spain is located on the Iberian Peninsula. It is the third largest country in Europe and its southern tip is eight miles north of Africa. Spain has a long and varied history. It was under Roman and Moor rules before becoming independent. It is now a democratic government under a constitutional monarchy. The Moors reign ended in 1492, the same year that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America for the Spanish monarchy. Each ruling culture left its mark on Spain. You can still find Roman aquaducts, the Moors Mosques as well as the Gothic Cathedrals built when the Christians took over the country.
File:Flag of Spain.svg
Source
There are many traditions that Spain is well known for. One being bull fighting and the another the siesta. Meals in Spain differ from meals in the United States. Breakfasts are usually small--a roll and a coffee. Lunch is the big meal of the day. Traditionally the stores, factories, schools, and businesses would close for two to three hours for all the people to return home for lunch and a nap known as the siesta. Although this is not as widely practiced now, it is still in some places. Dinner is much later around 10 or 10:30 and is usually very small. A paseo or evening walk is another custom. Many people in Spain will go for a walk after the stores are closed. They walk in their nicest clothes and may stop to chat with friends or perhaps to get a drink at a cafe or bar. Then they may have their late dinner out or at home. Many Spaniards eat out often and there are many choices of good restaurants. 
Source


So for our day in Spain we took four resource books out of the library.
To make our flan we used the recipe in Cooking The Spanish Way by Rebecca Christian. Now the flan I have eaten has been Brazilian and I loved it. However this recipe was not a success for us. None of us enjoyed it. Hazel and I did enjoy making it though. It involved a lot of stirring of which Hazel did most.
Flan just out of oven
Flan with Sauce

Stirring the sauce

While the flan was in the oven, Hazel and I made a black lace fan. We got the instructions from the Fiesta! Series book Spain published by Grolier Educational. Making the fan was a lot of fun and rather simple. We did not make it as fancy as the one in the book since we used supplies on hand. I found some black lace leftover from a Halloween costume. However making the fan also required using a compass. This was Hazel's first time using a compass or even seeing one and there were a lot of math lessons that could be tied into it with older children.
We also skipped the step of painting the cardboard just because we were running short on time. Our plan is to try some of the Spanish dances using the fan (and the one I bought for her in Epcot). We'll see if we find time soon.

We also took time today to read through Food in Spain by Nancy Loewen. Much of the information I wrote about Spain came from this book and the rest came from Wikipedia.

We also have been enjoying some stories from Spain. We took all of these out of the library. I would like to comment on Princess Florecita and the Iron Shoes by John Warren Stewig. This is a wonderful story where the princess hears about a prince in needing saving and she goes through a great deal to find him and save him. It is a nice twist on common tales of the prince saving the maiden. Medio Pollito means half chicken and that is who the main character is. A chicken who was born with only half a body (one leg, one wing, etc.) and it is his adventure traveling and how he helps others and then they repay him when he finds himself in hot water (literally being made into soup). 

So that was our adventure in Spain thus far (we may try another recipe soon). I have to admit I was sad to see that Epcot did not have Spain as one of its countries in its World Showcase. I saw recently that they will be adding it, but unfortunately for us it will be too late to have been included in this month's adventures. We did however enjoy seeing France which was our adventure in April. Unfortunately the only pictures I took in France were of the kids with Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). We also spent some time in the Canada exhibit, but it was mostly a movie so I don't have pictures really from there either. Oh, well. I am sure I will find some good resources when we get there.

Also for your own passport check out this link from Glittering Muffins and for a fun placemat, this link.

Multicultural Monday: Learning about Kenya

Another part of learning acceptance of differences is understanding them. As such it is important to look at other cultures. In doing so you will find the similarities and differences between yourself and them and understand the people in the culture a bit better. Today we are looking at Kenya. Why Kenya, you may ask. Well, Hazel received a wonderful postcard from Kenya about a month ago.
Postcard from Kenya for Hazel
 Hazel and the children of Andrea of Ziezo Designs and Ziezo Kenya have been exchanging postcards so we could learn about another part of the world. I discovered Ziezo through Sharing Saturday (which is still open if you would like to share with us your child-oriented craft or activity). Looking through her wonderful blog, I discovered her children go to a Waldorf School and I thought it would be neat for Hazel to learn a bit about Kenya from other Waldorf students. So we added her second pen pal (her first being from Australia--Kelly's from Happy Whimsical Hearts son). (On a side note if you are interested in having your child exchange postcards with Hazel, please drop me an email.)
Kenya's Flag: Source
Map of Kenya: Source









For the flag and map as well as some more information I went to http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2962.htm, the official page of the Kenyan Government. Kenya is 224,080 square miles which is just a bit smaller than the state of Texas. The official language of Kenya is English. The population is about 39 million (as of August 2010) and is very diverse. The majority of the population is Christian. They also have very different climates within the country although the equator passes through just about the center of Kenya.

Our first activity came from this book on Food and Festivals of Kenya by Wambui Kairi. We made kaimati, a small doughnut coated with sugar or coconut. They are eaten in Mombasa at a party at the Makadara Muslim Grounds to celebrate Id-ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Ramadan is a month where Muslims fast during daylight hours. Therefore this festival is at night so it is dark.

To make kaimati we took one cup lukewarm milk (ok I microwaved it since didn't realize it needed to be lukewarm until we needed it), one teaspoon dried yeast and a pinch of sugar and put them all in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. I should add that our dough did not really rise so I think this may have been due to the wrong temperature for the milk and another little mistake we made.
Next Hazel beat an egg and added it to the yeast mixture. Hazel was a bit sloppy in her mixing and spilled a bit of the liquid (this was another minor mistake).

Then we mixed together 1 cup of flour and a teaspoon of salt (ok this is our second mistake. It was suppose to be 3 and 3/4 cups of flour!) Then we added the liquid and realized our mistake and added more flour. Then you get to mix with your hands and kneed a bit.
After adding the flour I found the mixture to be too dry (and would not mix in), so I added some more milk. It still was dry, but at least it was all mixed. Then you let it rise for two hours. (I went to church while it was rising.) Then you deep-fry it in oil by dropping spoonfuls into the oil. I used  canola oil in my large saute pan and ours was so dry I formed balls and dropped them in. When they came out you rolled them in sugar or grated coconut. I gave Steve the job of rolling. He actually liked them in both, but the coconut I bought was not fine enough for this.
Even with our mistakes, they were quite tasty. However I think I would try one of the recipes I found on line the next time. From Food Buzz. From the blog Kenyan Food. From Susan Kamau's Kenyan Kitchen (this one is most similar to the recipe I followed, but adds cardamom). I should add that we did go through the book and read the pages about Kenya's people and food and looked at all the different pictures throughout it. Hazel enjoyed this as well. (We did this during the ten minutes of letting the yeast turn frothy.)
Next we took a craft from Around-the-World Art & Activities by Judy Press. I was actually hoping to get two crafts from this book in today, but it didn't happen. Hazel was a bit tired and cranky between being sick and getting up early. We did however talk about the second craft which was to make zebras out of envelopes. I told her how Kenya was one of the places zebras live.

We made Masai "Beaded" Necklaces out of paper plates. This is a very easy craft. you cut a hole in the center of the plate trying to leave a wide brim. Then you are suppose to use the back of a paintbrush to make different color dots all over it. We did this in our family room so we used crayons on one and her dot markers on another. Hazel even let me get some pictures of her with them on. She hates when I take her picture unless I say it is for one of her grandparents.
Source

The book did a nice job of saying the Masai men and women wear this very beautiful but very heavy jewelry. It also shows that the Masai live in Kenya and North central Tanzania. For more information about the Masai people please visit The Masai of Kenya site. To see pictures of these beautiful necklaces visit the Maasai Art and Beads Association site.

The final piece of information I will share with you today from Kenya comes from Hands Around the World by Susan Milord. This book has a different activity for each of the 365 days of the year to learn about different cultures. On January 14th it discusses the different customs in naming babies. Among some Kenyan groups a firstborn daughter is always named after her father's mother. A second daughter would be named after her mother's mother. I just found that interesting. It discusses many different cultures traditions. Most of it is for older children and this was the only mention of Kenya in the book, but definitely an interesting book.

What do you do to teach your child about different cultures and to be more accepting of diversity?

This is where I share...