Up and Away - National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

The following activities have all been carried out successfully in schools throughout Ireland. They have
been categorised into:
1. Creating an inclusive environment.
2. Integrating pupils.
3. Involving the parents.
4. School – home communication.
1. Creating an inclusive environment
Section 1 General information for schools
Meeting the intercultural challenge
Display:
Maps or posters showing the countries or
flags represented by the school population.
Hang a large map in the entrance area with
ribbons/threads connecting the countries of
pupils’ origin to the location of the school.
A ‘welcome’ poster in the school entrance
area. The poster contains the word ‘welcome’
in the languages known by pupils in the
school (including English and Irish) and a
suggested title is ‘We speak many languages
here’.
Wall charts showing the numbers of pupils of
different nationalities in the school.
A collection of postcards and photographs
from the different countries of origin of the
school population.
Flags of different countries, each flag
containing, if possible, photos of the pupils
from that country.
Put up:
School notices representing the languages
spoken in the school.
Notices about school events, festivals and
events for parents which incorporate visuals
so that they can be understood by everyone.
In class:
Pupils make posters about national days, holy
days and festivals – e.g. Chinese New Year,
Ramadan, Hallowe’en, etc.
Pupils make a map of their own countries for
display and use the map to talk about their
countries.
Make a poster featuring photos of pupils
surrounded by their handprints.
Make a food poster featuring pictures, the
names of traditional food and recipes from
different countries.
Display the names of all the children in the
class and do a class project on ‘Me’.
Read storybooks about children in different
countries.
Read books on different cultural festivals,
celebrations, etc.
Organise:
Intercultural days with displays of project
work about different countries.
Displays of art and crafts from different
countries.
In general the posters, displays, artwork, books, etc. are used to show the richness of difference but the
basic ‘sameness’ of children from different cultures.
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