This is my Home - child book on racism

AUTHORS AUTHORS INÊS QUARESMA LUANA RAMOS

JUSSARA CONDEZ

EDUARDA HORTA

ENTITIES ENTITIES

Brave New YOU (or Brave New YOU - Reloaded) is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and involved 11 partners from 10 European countries.

MOJU -

AssociaçãoMovimentoJuvenilinOlhãoisaPortuguese non-profityouthassociationoperatingatalocalleveland independentofanypolitical,

tradeunionorreligious affiliation.

MOJUaimstocontributetothedevelopmentofa pspacewhereyoungpeoplecanexpresstheiropinionsand articipateindecision-makingprocessesinanactiveandsustainablemanner.

Webelievethattheinvolvementofyoung peopleinthedevelopmentofactiveparticipationinsocietyis bessentialtoincreasethesenseofbelongingandpromotea etterqualityoflifeforyoungpeopleintheircommunities.

IIntroduction ntroduction

The children's book "This is my home" is intended to be a playful and educational tool for childcare experts and professionals to introduce or explore the issues of discrimination and hate speech. This book specifically refers to the issue of racism.

This is an extremely important issue which is still present in our society. It was the experience and the reflection about these facts that led the students of the class of Childcare Technicians of the Secondary School Dr. Francisco Fernandes Lopes, in Olhão, to choose to make David's story.

The book's utility reaches far beyond its story. It isn't intended to be used as a standalone, and should be framed within a set of activities under the same topics.

To make the most of the potential associated with reading this book, we suggest that:

- it should be read with children aged 4 and up, - you make use of the interactive characters, which allow the expression to be changed (printed book), - the reading should be accompanied by an adult who can adapt the language and story to the group, support the children's reflective process and serve as an emotional container in the sequence of events that take place throughout the story.

Throughout the book there are situations that trigger emotions in the characters.

There are certain references in the story that may help the reader reflect on the impact of the events. At those moments, it is suggested to ask the child or the group listening to the story those referenced questions. On the next pages the characters are introduced, and this information can be used for follow-up activities, such as building a theatre, continuing the story, or another activity.

Afterwards the story '' This is my home'' is presented.

DAVID IS 5 YEARS OLD, HE CAME FROM GUINEA TO LIVE IN PORTUGAL.

HE IS VERY INTELLIGENT AND CURIOUS.

HE IS SHY AND LOVES TO BE ALONE BUILDING THINGS. THE OTHER DAY HE OPENED THE FAMILY HOOVER TO SEE HOW IT WORKED.

HE DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING, AND NOW MUM AND DAD CAN'T VACUUM.

DAVID DOESN'T LIKE TO EAT VEGETABLES, HE ALWAYS TURNS HIS NOSE AT BROCCOLI.

Joana

JOANA, DAVID'S BEST FRIEND, IS 4 YEARS OLD AND LOVES TO DANCE AND SING.

DAVID LOVES TO PLAY MARBLES, BUT JOANA DOESN'T LIKE IT VERY MUCH.

SOMETIMES OTHER BOYS CALL HER "FAT". SHE DOESN'T LIKE BEING CALLED NAMES.

ALTHOUGH SHE GETS SAD SHE ALWAYS HAS A SMILE ON HER FACE.

zeca

ZECA IS THE NAUGHTY ONE IN THE CLASS, HE LOVES TO JUMP AROUND AND PLAY ROUGH.

HE SEEMS TO BE A VERY STRONG BOY, BUT HE IS AFRAID OF THUNDERSTORMS.

HE DOESN'T LIKE BEING TOLD "NO".

"DON'T DO THAT ZECA" SAYS TECHNICIAN ANA CAROLINA. BUT ZECA JUMPS OUT OF HIS CHAIR AND DOES IT ANYAWAY.

JOÃO

JOÃO LOVES PLAYING FOOTBALL AND IS ZECA'S BEST FRIEND, SO HE DOES EVERYTHING THAT ZECA DOES.

JOÃO LIKES TO PLAY WITH THE OTHER KIDS, BUT WHEN HE'S WITH ZECA HE'S VERY RUDE AND THINKS HE IS BETTER THAN THE OTHERS.

thechnician Ana CAROLINA

ANA CAROLINA IS THE CHILDCARE TECHNICIAN WHO WORKS IN THE KIDS CLASS.

SHE IS 22 YEARS OLD AND TOOK THIS COURSE BECAUSE SHE LOVES CHILDREN AND KNOWS HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO HELP THEM GROW UP WELL.

SHE HAS A DOG CALLED RUFUS.

One day, David and Joana were playing marbles. They were having fun and laughing a lot with each other.

Zeca and João came over and Joana asked them if they wanted to play too.

Zeca answered quickly:

I don't want to touch the toys that David have touched

How do you think he felt?

With tears in his eyes, David left that place, sad and hurt.

He just wanted to be alone.

It had happened before!

During the break, Zeca and João played hide-and-seek with the other kids and spoke ill of David.

He's not from this country! He can't speak Portuguese!

Unfortunately, those were some of the phrases that Zeca said about David. What do you think they mean?

One day, while David, Joana, and other children were playing hopscotch in the playground...

João, who was playing football, threw the ball at David on purpose and hit him on the head.

David returned the ball. After a short while, Zeca threw the ball at his head again.

Zeca and João start laughing because he is different.

Joana hugs David and says they should talk to Ana Carolina, the Childcare Technician.

Another day at lunch, João and Zeca started throwing food at David.

They called him names and said very ugly things.

Little monkey! Go back to your land.

How would they feel?

At that moment Joana went to talk to João and Zeca:

S t o p i t !

You shouldn't say that!

The two laughed at her face and continued to throw food at David.

In this situation what do you think you could do to help?

Joana gives David the courage to go and talk to Technician Ana Carolina.

W e n e e d h e l p .

Zeca and João are saying and doing bad things!

Technician Ana Carolina listened to them attentively and promised she would help.

Ana Carolina, the Childcare Technician, had a serious talk with the whole group about discrimination:

-

-We

Do you agree with what the Technician said?

One should not treat people badly;

should respect the culture of others.

Technician Ana Carolina organized themed days, in which each child had the opportunity to present his or her family and culture.

What do your families do differently?

Each child had the opportunity to talk about their life, food, clothes, dances and other traditions

To be discriminated against is to be treated differently just because we have other characteristics.

The technician showed films with people talking about how sad they get when they are discriminated against.

They built friendship bracelets, which united each kid to all others.

To finish, the children did a group work to make everyone understand that being different doesn't hurt.

João showed interest in the subject and asked some questions he had doubts about.

Why do we have different skin colours?

Skin colour has to do with temperature and how much sun there is in each country. Just as in summer we get darker.

Why do people have different accents? and different clothes?

There are people from other countries who come to Portugal. Why do they come to Portugal?

Just as João was born in one city and now lives in another, there are people who change countries.

Technician Ana Carolina explains that different countries have different ways of living. And that's all right.

John though about all these things.

In the following days Zeca apologises to David. He realised that people can be different and get along well. They start playing together.

After thinking about what he has learned, João begins to realize that David is just like all the other children.

He comes up to David and says sorry. From now on he would like to play with him.

Now everything goes well in David's classroom.

All the children respect each other and talk about their way of doing things.

Nobody is discriminated against and hate speech is no longer part of the conversation.

Technician Ana Carolina is very pleased and continues to make days with activities from various regions and countries. David now feels at home.

And you, what do you know about other countries and other cultures?

Do you have friends who come from another country? Have you asked them about their country?

Did your family come from another country?

From where? What do you like best about the country you come from?