Cultures from
Around the Block
Intercultural Dialogue Workshops
Cultures from around the Block
Workshop Title: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in the
UK
Objectives: to inform young people about cultural and linguistic diversity
and history of migration to the UK. Explain the advantages of living in the
multicultural society.
Are the people in Britain ethnically diverse?
"We celebrate the diversity in our country, get strength from the
cultures and the races that go to make up Britain today."
Prime Minister Tony Blair, 2 October 2001
People from all cultures and ethnicities can be found in every corner of
Britain and each person in his or her own way has contributed to make
Britain the place it is today.
If you walk down a street in Britain, especially in the bigger cities you will
usually see people with different hair, skin and eye colours. They may
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have white, brown or black skin and blonde, brown, black, or red hair, with
blue, black, brown or green eyes. Many of the people you will see will be
British people but they all look different because the people of Britain are
a mixed race.
How Britain became a mixed race society
Britain is and has always been a mixed race society. Early in our history
we were invaded by Romans, Saxons , Vikings and Normans armies and
later Africans were brought to Britain by force in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries as slaves or servants. Over the years, thousands of
people have arrived in Britain as refugees from France, Ireland, Russia,
and other countries, escaping from persecution or famine in their own
countries.
There are British people whose parents first came to Britain in the 1950s
and 1960s from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and other
places. Their homes are mainly in the big English cities like London,
Birmingham and Manchester.
About 8% of the population of Britain today are people from other cultures
and ethnicities. That is 4.6 million people.
Question: Who are your neighbours? Where are they/their
ancestors from?
New Cultures
People moving to Britain have brought their own cultures and try to keep
two cultures alive. An excellent example of this is the Notting Hill Carnival
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which is celebrates the Caribbean Culture and is now a very big part of
the British life today.
Question: Do you know any other cultural events in Britain, which were
introduced by different nationalities? Please provide an example.
People from minority ethnic groups were more likely to live in England
than in the rest of the United Kingdom. They made up 9 per cent of the
population of England in 2001 compared with 2 per cent of the population
of both Wales and Scotland and 1 per cent of the population of Northern
Ireland. Nearly half (45 per cent) of the total minority ethnic population live
in London.
London
Over 250 languages are spoken in London, making the capital the most
linguistically diverse city in the world.
In a survey of 850,000 children in London schools the question about first
language spoken at home was asked.
The 40 most common languages spoken are
Language
English
Approx
total
608,500
Language
Igbo (Nigeria)
Approx
total
1,900
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Bengali &
Silheti
40,400
French-based
Creoles
1,800
Panjabi
29,800
Tagalog (Filipino
1,600
Gujerati
28,600
Kurdish
1,400
Hindi/Urdu
26,000
Polish
1,500
Turkish
15,600
Swahili
1,000
Arabic
11,000
Lingala (Congo)
1,000
10,700
Albanian
900
10,400
Luganda (Uganda) 800
Somali
8,300
Ga (Ghana)
800
Cantonese
6,900
Tigrinya (Sudan)
800
English-based
Creoles
Yorubu
(Nigeria)
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Greek
German
800
Akan (Ashanti) 6,000
Japanese
800
Portuguese
6,000
Serbian/Croatian
700
French
5,600
Russian
700
Spanish
5,500
Hebrew
650
3,700
Korean
550
Tamil (Sri
Lanka)
6,300
Farsi (Persian) 3,300
Italian
Vietnamese
2,500
2,400
Pashto
(Afghanistan)
450
Amharic (Ethiopia) 450
Sinhala (Sri
Lanka)
450
Numbers have been rounded up or down to the nearest 50
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Source website: Baker P. AND Eversley J. Multicultural Capital, London:
Batterbridge 2000.
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Cultures from around the Block
Workshop Title: Subject: What are different nationalities
are like?
Objectives: Inform young people about different nationalities in Europe and
their culture. Combat stereotypes
Do you really know what the English are like?
English Stereotypes
Learning from the media and talking to older people, we pick up a lot of
stereotypes about other nations. In every country there are plenty of
stereotypes about residents but most of them are untrue and very
wrongful.
What are the first three things which come into
your mind when you hear the words 'England' or
'the English?
Mine are fish and chips, rolling hills and sarcasm.
Let’s see what people around the world see as the stereotypes of the
English.
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When I think of the English, I think of
.........
'Beer, honesty, Bulldog-type, Royal Family, Cricket, the Weather'
- Dickie Bird (Famous English cricket umpire)
'Long shadows on county cricket grounds, warm beer,
invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and
old maids bicycling through the morning mist'
- John Major (Ex Prime Minister )
cream teas, 'Big Ben, Shakespeare, pubs, beefeaters'
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'Men wearing bowler hats, pin striped suite,
a newspaper under the arm and
carrying a long un-open umbrella.'
'Gardening, warm beer, stiff upper lip, double-decker buses, Morris
dancing'
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Morris Dancing ' Royal family, Union Jack, God Save the Queen,
Battle of Britain, Trooping the Colour'
'England is a land of beer, football and bad weather.'
'I'm working in a school in Catalonia and they all think that it
rains 24/7 in England, and that we eat bad food which is ironic
because the food over here is terrible!! Oh, and they all think
that we must know David Beckham because we are English!'
'Patriotic people, some think we are snobs but we are just proud of our
country and Queen.
We are very polite and patient although as in any country, there are the
bad eggs.
But on the whole we are a very pleasant nation.'
Tom Eccles aged 13.
'I think that English people are quite reserved. I had to laugh when I went
by tube and saw everyone sitting and reading their newspapers.'
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'My in-laws are from the Middle East - they think that we boil all our food.
If the truth be told I would rather eat curry than boiled cabbage!'
' People think the English are no good at learning foreign languages and
have the attitude that if they yell loud enough in English the "foreigners"
will evertually understand them... ' lol
'A lot of folks overseas think that the English are crazy about dogs and
love them more than their kids!'
'Tea and the Queen come to mind.'
Source: European Literary Trails: Study Abroad Program
Director: Professor Jolanta W. Warzycka
Question: What do you think about French, Italian, Polish, etc?
Task for the next workshop: Talk to your schoolmates, neighbours, people you
know. Find information about their country of origin. Share this information
with your group.
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Cultures from around the Block
Workshop Title: Immigration Timeline
Task: Work through the timeline below with the young people and ask them to
search for more information about each of the immigrants on the website and write
and illustrate what information was found out.
Timeline: Immigration to
Britain
1100s Merchants from Netherlands
1500s Queen Mary marries Philip of Spain
Dutch and
French Protestants settle
1600s Asians brought to
England as Slaves
1700s Refugees from the
arrive
French revolution (1789)
First records of
Chinese sailors in London
1800s Jewish arrivals fleeing persecution in
Ukraine and
Belarus.
Poland,
Irish settlers escaping poverty during the famine
in Ireland.
Trade brings
Indian and
Chinese people to
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main ports
Jews flee to
UK from
Russia and
Poland
1900s
1914 - More than 250,000
Belgian refugees fled
to the UK, escaping the fighting of the First World
War.
1930s - Refugees from
the
UK
Nazi oppression arrive in
1940 - 1960 Polish people homeless because
of the War, invited to come to
UK
1948 - The boat Windrush brings 492
Jamaicans to the
UK – thousands more follow
Immigration from Caribbean encouraged to help
rebuild post-war
Britain
1950s and 60s - Settlers from other new
Commonwealth nations arrive –
India,
Pakistan and
Bangladesh
1970s - East African, Asians and
arrive
Vietnamese
1972 - Asians expelled from Uganda; 27000
admitted to
UK
1980s - African community expands
Refugees arrive from Eastern Europe –
and former
Yugoslavia
Romania
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1991 - Break up of the government of Somalia lead
to 7,500 applications being made to the
UK
many of which are accepted.
1992 - 1997 - 2,500 Bosnians enter the
UK as
refugees following the break up of former
Yugoslavia
1999 - Renewed heavy fighting in
Sri Lanka leads
to 5,130 applications for asylum being made to the
UK.
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Cultures from around the Block
Workshop Title: A Multicultural Society
Objectives: Inform young people about festivals and other cultural events, which
were introduced to the UK by different nationalities, explain the reasons of migration
and facilitate discussion about the cultural life in their countries of origin.
A Multicultural Society
1. Questionnaire
• Where does your family originally come from?
• Have they always lived in your town?
• Where were your grandparents born?
• Did they ever move to another town or country? When? Why?
• Has anyone in your family ever emigrated? Where did they go? Why?
A Multicultural Society
The UK has welcomed newcomers for centuries. It is a mixture of diverse ethnic
groups, each with their own distinct culture and sometimes their own language or
religion. This month is Black History month, celebrating the contribution that Afro
Caribbean people have made to British society. Many British Asians will be
celebrating Ramadan soon. There are 1.5 million Muslims in Britain with over 6,000
mosques.
Asian can be a misleading term as it refers to all those people with roots or family
connections in the former British colonies of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri
Lanka. Asian does not always mean that the person is of Indian descent. Not all
Asians are Muslim. Some are Hindus and others are Sikhs.
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These 2 groups celebrate the festival of Diwalli on November 6th.
The Irish have come to Britain for many years, looking for work. After World War Two
Irish and other European workers were encouraged to take factory jobs. Britain
couldn’t get enough workers to help rebuild the economy and to work in the new
Health Service so employers also looked to former colonies
and Commonwealth countries.
India, countries in Africa and the Caribbean had been controlled by Britain in the past
and had strong cultural links with Britain, including the language. Many arrived in the
hope of building a new life for their young families.
The descendants of these immigrants are now the teachers, the footballers, the TV
presenters, the musicians and the politicians that shape British society. There are
numerous ethnic newspapers, magazines, TV programmes, radio stations and
internet sites for each community. The largest groups live in and around the capital
London and many other groups are concentrated in the industrial centres in
Yorkshire, The Midlands and the South East.
Ethnic minorities timeline
• 19th century: Jewish arrivals from Russia/Poland, escaping persecution;
• Irish people escape from poverty in rural Ireland
• 1948 –50s: Caribbean workers invited to help rebuild post war Britain
• 1950s-60s: Asians from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh escape poverty
• 1970s: East African Asians escape persecution and Vietnamese escape war
• 1980s: Eastern European refugees arrive from war and political unrest in Romania
and the
former Yugoslavia.
Ethnic groups in the UK (6.5% of the British population are from ethnic minorities)
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• White – 53,074,000 (includes Irish, Polish, Italian etc).
• Black Caribbean – 490,000
• Black African – 376,000
• Black other – 308,000
• Indian – 930,000
• Pakistani – 663,000
• Bangladeshi –268,000
• Chinese – 137,000
• Other Asian – 209,000 (includes Vietnamese, Malaysian, Thai)
• Other – 424,000 (people who did not think they fitted the above categories)
2. Your country
• Describe your own ethnic group. Why do you belong to this group? Is your group a
minority group in your own country?
• Describe the different ethnic groups that make up your country. Do you know the
numbers for each group? Which are the main minority groups? Where did they
originate? When and why did they move to your country? How do they contribute to
the life of your nation?
3. Group discussion
A group of immigrants or refugees will be arriving in your school soon.
• What aspects of school life might they need help with?
• How would you make them feel welcome?
• Describe 3 things you could do to help them get used to life in your country.
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Cultures from around the Block- Photography
Workshops/ Using a camera
Workplan
1. Introduction to the technical aspects of digital photography through a
presentation and a handout to take away
2. Break young people into 4 groups (split them up so that more experienced
photographers are spread amongst the four groups)
3. Four mini-projects running simultaneously. Each group will spend 15 minutes
on the task and 10 minutes viewing the results on a laptop then moving onto
the next project. The photographer will primarily help out with the DSLR
group but will keep working round and checking on everything. The
photographer will produced handouts with instructions and questions for each
project
Projects will investigate:
o Framing
o Colour, shape and line
o Light, shadow and shade
o Basic DSLR settings (aperture and shutter speed)
This will take up an hour and half. During this time young people will work on the
composition of art photography and explore some ideas.
Ten minute presentation will be made on composition and the rules to follow and
ignore. This will be placed at the end rather than the beginning so young people can
play with the concepts themselves first and this presentation will help compound
what they found. The presentation will also explain why such techniques work and
why some don’t. The handouts will produced a for the young people to take away.
For the following four sessions the plan is to break young people into groups and set
a mini project on one subject each week:
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Subjects for the following workshops:
Week 2: Portraiture
Week 3: Landscape, buildings and shooting outdoors
Week 4: Photo-story
Week 5: Editing (using software to correct, edit, crop and add effects)
Equipment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Cameras (1 SLR + 3 basic - Research House, Woodway Park school)
Laptops (Michelle - 1, Research House - 2)
Tripod
Kitchen Foil
Tape
Scissors
Fruit
Digital Versus Film – Overall
Shooting Digital Versus Shooting Film
Digital Images versus Film Images
Digital Camera Types
How Digital Cameras Work
Components of a good Digital Camera
a. Optics
b. Metering
c. Focus System
d. Sensor Resolution
e. Megapixels!!!
7. Lenses
a. Telephoto
b. Wide angle
c. Fish Eye
d. Focal Lengths
8. Settings
a. Automatic Settings
b. Multiple photos
c. Manual Settings
i. Shutter Priority
ii. Aperture Priority
iii. Manual Control (you make all the decisions)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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9. Flash
a. Range
b. Quality
c. Fill in Flash
10. Supports
11. Memory and Removable Storage Media
a. Compact Flash (CF)
b. Secure Digital (SD)
c. Memory Stick
d. Smart Media
e. Multi Media Card (MMC)
f. XD Picture Card
Colour, Shape and Line
This mini project is to explore different shapes, colours and lines and how they can
be used to create different “feelings, moods and meanings”.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Use the bottles, fruit, and coloured card to compose a variety of still lifes
Take photos of each, from varying angles
Try different combinations of colours and shapes
How do you think varying these elements will have affected your work?
Load the photos onto a laptop
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Which photo do YOU like best?
Do you all agree or do your opinions vary?
Do any of the combinations portray a feeling of calm and tranquillity?
Do any of the combinations portray contrast or a sense of unease?
Would you say any of the shapes and colours complement each other?
Would you say any of the shapes and colours contrast each other?
DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex)
This mini project will investigate the two most “fun” settings on a DSLR
Aperture settings
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Opening the aperture (selecting a low f-number) will increase the area of the
photo that will remain in focus.
Reducing the size of the aperture (selecting a high f-number) will decrease
the area of the photo that will remain in focus.
1. Set up a still life or get a friend to pose on a chair
2. Stand about 5 meters away
3. Open the aperture as wide as it goes and take a few photographs with the
still life of friend in the centre of the scene
4. Reduce the aperture to middle range and repeat
5. Make the aperture as small as possible and take another series of
photographs.
Shutter Speed
1. Set the camera to a fast shutter speed
2. With the camera on a tripod take a photo of a friend walking in front of the
camera (about 5 meters away!!!)
3. Set the camera to a mid-range shutter speed
4. Again, take a photo of a friend walking in front of the camera
5. Set the camera to a slow shutter speed
6. Again, take a photo of a friend walking in front of the camera
7. With a slow shutter speed take a photo of your friend standing still. As the
photo is being taken zoom in with the lens. Do this a few times. What
effect do you think you will get?
Framing
This mini project is to help you explore subject placement and camera angle.
1. Line up three bottles along the edge of a table
2. Stand approximately 10 meters from the table
3. Take one photo framing the bottles part way up and part way across the
scene
4. Take one photo placing the bottles in the centre
5. Take one photo placing the bottles extreme left
6. Take one photo placing the bottles extreme right
7. Take one photo placing the bottles extreme top
8. Take one photo placing the bottles extreme bottom
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9. Lay on your stomach and follow steps 4-8 again
10. Stand on a chair and follow steps 4-8 again
11. Move in to half the distance and follow steps 4-8 again (standing)
12. Lay on your stomach and follow steps 4-8 again
13. Stand on a chair and follow steps 4-8 again
14. Move into a meter or two from the bottles and follow steps 4-8 again
(standing)
15. Lay on the floor (may need to lay on your back when this close!!) and follow
steps 4-8 again
16. Stand on a chair and follow steps 4-8 again
Critique:
1. What do you think the main differences will be?
2. Which camera position/angle do you think will have been the most effective?
3. Do you think that varying the angles and framing will have changed any
meaning or emotion in the picture?
Load your photos onto a laptop:
1. Did the photos come out as you expected?
2. Which photos do you find the most effective?
3. Do any of the compositions look more balanced?
4. Do any of them seem to hold more “emotion” or “meaning “ than others?
Light, shadow and shade
Using the bottles or fruit set up a still life, or photograph each other! Use the
lamps, card and foil to vary the light.
1. Take photographs of your still life or volunteer from different angles with no
flash
2. Repeat the angles with full flash on
3. Repeat the angles with the lamp shining from a few meters away without
the flash on
4. Repeat the angles with the lamp shining from a meter away without the
flash on
5. Put foil round some card to make a reflective surface
6. Shine the lamp onto the foil and angle it so the light bounces off and hits
your still life or volunteer
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7. Try the same using just white card
8. Try the same again bouncing light off a wall
Critique
1. Did you notice any differences as you were taking the photos?
Load the photographs onto a laptop
1. Did you get a variety of effects?
2. Which did you prefer?
3. Did any of the effects produce different feelings about the subject or
convey different emotions?
Cultures from around the Block
Workshop Title: Understanding different cultures
and perspectives.
Task:
Please read what other young people wrote about themselves. Write something
about yourself, your family, your culture. Illustrate your story with photos and other
imagies.
Dani
My Language
I was born in Bristol. My parents came from Barbados about thirty years ago and my
gran used to speak to other people from there in a special way. It's like English but
it's different, we call it Creole or patois (patwa)
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Sometimes it just sounds like a different accent, but there are also some words that
are different and they express things differently from English people with other
backgrounds. I can understand them and I can copy them, but I've grown up with a
bit of a Bristol accent, which my Mum thinks is better than a Barbados accent for
getting on in Britain.
When I'm with my black friends we sometimes talk in our own kind of patwa. It's not
like our parents'.... well, it's a bit like it but it's our own. It's something only other black
youth can speak well. Also, it's different depending on where you live, like in different
parts of the country, so it's like an identity thing. We use it in school or wherever if we
want to be private, instead of 'normal' English. I wish white people wouldn't get all
paranoid about it: when we're talking patwa we aren't always putting white people
down!
My Religion
I don't really believe in any god or anything, but my Mum does and I was brought up
to. She goes to a mainly black church -actually I don't think any white people go. It's
called the New Testament Church of God.
My Mum says it was set up, like, 30 years ago because black people didn't feel at
home in white churches. The white people didn't welcome them much - which
sounds pretty amazing to me, but my Mum says she knows people who were asked
by a white vicar not to come back!
But the other thing is that a lot of black people just like to worship in a different way.
More people sort of join in, it's more interesting. You can tell the preacher is
completely involved in what he's saying, and the people in the church can join in, like
they call out if they agree with him, and sometimes people stand up and talk about
themselves and what they believe.
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The couple of times I've been to an ordinary white church it wasn't like that at all, it
was sort of really formal, and you felt like you didn't dare speak. The singing's better
in black churches too - though I'm not saying everyone's like a gospel singer - and
everyone joins in some hymns. If I did believe in God I'd go to a black church 'cos
they just seem more active and interesting.
My Food
There's nothing special or, y'know, 'ethnic' ( I hate that word ) about what we eat. I'm
almost a vegetarian 'cos I really like animals and can't stand the thought of eating
them, but it drives my Mum mad because she isn't vegetarian and she doesn't like to
cook without meat or fish. We do sometimes have, like, traditional Barbados food
and I don't mind if it's fish.
David
My Language
I only speak English, like most British people I suppose. My grandparents all speak
German, and they usually speak in German when they're all together. I suppose it
reminds them of where they used to live and everything.
They also know this language called Yiddish, which is like a mixture of different
languages and used to be spoken by Jews in Europe. There are a few expressions
they always say in Yiddish, and some words like for food, which we all use.
The language Jews use for their religion is Hebrew, and both my Grandads know a
bit of it. I suppose everybody Jewish knows the word 'Shalom' which means 'peace'.
Jewish people often use it to say hello or goodbye.
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My Mum and Dad had some Hebrew lessons when they were younger, but not so
they can speak it or anything. They also speak German pretty well, 'cos both their
parents spoke it a lot to them. I understand it quite a lot, but I wouldn't say I can
speak it fluently or anything.
When the whole family is together we speak in English, though my grandparents
natter away to each other in German.
My Religion
Just to confuse everyone, when people look at me they think I'm just an someone
with no particular religion or anything, but actually I'm Jewish. Being Jewish means
different things to different people.
With me and my parents it's like an identity thing, a belonging thing. We don't go to
the synagogue or anything (though my Grandad does, when he can get there).
Grandad once went to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage. He visited the Wailing Wall, one of
the holiest sites in Judaism, and the shrine of the book, where there are some
ancient manuscripts including the Dead Sea Scrolls.
To us, being Jewish is knowing something about our history and the things that have
happened to Jews in the past, and we have lots of family get-togethers at special
times in the year, with special meals. I suppose the most special of these is the
Passover, which Jews have celebrated for over 3,000 years. Oh - last year I went to
my friend's Bar Mitzvah- it's like a coming of age ceremony for boys when they turn
into men.
Like Christians, we have one day in the week which is different from the others.
People that are really strict Jews don't do any work at all on Saturdays, that's the
Jews' holy day - the Sabbath. We do that a bit - like my parents never go to work on
Saturdays, but it's just like some people keep Sunday special, when they relax and
that. Mum and Dad say they only do things around the house that relax them on the
Sabbath, and not anything that's really work. So the washing gets done on Sundays,
and things like gardening and reading the papers on Saturdays.
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My Food
We mostly eat ordinary British type food, nothing special really. Since we're Jewish
we can't eat anything like pork or ham - nothing that comes from pigs. It's the same
as Muslims believe, the pig's supposed to be an unclean animal. My Dad says this is
just tradition really, but in the past in a hot country like Israel (where Jews came
from) it was sensible, because pigs are supposed to get some of the same sorts of
diseases as humans do.
If you're really, sort of, a religious Jew you have to only eat meat from animals that
have been killed in a special way, with prayers and that. It's called kosher meat.
Kosher also means anything that Jews are allowed to eat. Though we're kind of
Scottish, we've never had haggis, 'cos it's got some bits from a pig in it, so it's not
kosher.
My Grandad likes sacher torte, which is a special kind of chocolate cake he
remembers from when he was growing up in Vienna, and he sort of passed a taste
for this on to my Dad. He lets me have some when he's not feeling too greedy.
Though we're not strict Jews, we have a Sabbath meal every Friday night that starts
with some really nice bread made with eggs. With us, it's not so much what we eat,
as the fact that all the family's together to talk. We have a big family meal once a
year at Passover, which we make more of a fuss about than Christmas. There are
certain foods we eat then that remind people of things in Jewish history.
The only other specifically Jewish thing to do with food that we do is fast once a year
on the Day of Atonement, when we're supposed to think of all the things we've done
wrong in the past year and try to do better.
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