South Asians in Canada: Unity through diversity

Article: South Asians in Canada: Unity through diversity (PDF)

Objectives

• To explore the elements of culture and their role in a multicultural society.
• To examine the concepts of diversity.

Classroom instructions

1. Survey the class to determine what percentage of students are visible minorities and what percentage are immigrants. Discuss the differences between being a member of a visible minority group and being an immigrant.
2. How are a culture's customs and traditions expressed (music, religion, language, etc.)? Is it important to preserve customs and traditions? Why? Discuss what can be done to facilitate the preservation of customs and traditions.
3. At times, parents encourage their children to marry someone with the same ethnic background as themselves. Discuss the family pressures a young person may have to face when marrying outside their family's cultural context, such as religion, social class, education and language.
4. Is it important for students to stay in contact with their country of origin? Explore the various obstacles encountered in order to do this.
5. Survey the class to see how many students participate in community groups or organizations, such as sports teams or hobby clubs. Other than the obvious advantage of enjoying the particular activity involved, what benefits does community involvement confer? Discuss the significance of having close ties with one's ethnic community.
6. Canada is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. Discuss some of the social and historical differences between culturally homogeneous nations and those with more diversity.

Using other resources

• See the Family studies kit.
• Check out the Statistics Canada Website to find lesson plans, articles and data for elementary and secondary schools. There are more than 150 lesson plans for high school classes, many articles, E-STAT access and other data.

Educators

You may photocopy "Lesson plan" or any item or article in Canadian Social Trends for use in your classroom.

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.