Diversity is Beautiful

There is so much misunderstanding and prejudice in our world today. A lot of this due to a  fear of people who are different from ourselves.  We seem to get stuck by physical appearance and don’t realize that we all have similar feelings, organs, desires, hopes, and fears, the list goes on and on. It saddens and angers me to see the KKK and hate groups holding rallies. Not the world that I grew to love.

I have a lesson to help you add diversity into your curriculum by using old proverbs taken from many different religious, ethnic and cultural groups. Included in this activity is a list proverbs that you’ll be using. To make this activity even more fun and meaningful, have your class ask their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles to share some old sayings and explain how they began.

Now, have your students break into collaborative groups of 2, 3, or 4, whichever works best for you. Let them know that they will use their inference abilities to make an educated guess about the meanings of some proverbs/sayings. Use the list of proverbs FREEBIE in my RESOURCE GEMS Library when you sign up for my email newsletter.. Give the students time to discuss their meanings with each other. Then have a class discussion to make sure they are correct in their thinking. 

Here are some important points to bring up.

1. The way we feel about others depends on how we see them as people and how well we know them ..
2. Everyone’s views are unique due to their own circumstances and background.
3. You might look at Jason and think he is hot, but  your closest friend Jessica doesn’t agree with you. She has found Jason to be mean and full of himself, making him ugly in her eyes. 
4. Another example might be that Sally is not too cute on the outside but she is beautiful on the inside.  Her attributes are quite positive.
5. Ask the class if they can come up with any other examples.

After you’ve finished your discussion, tell the students that their assignment will be to choose 2-3 proverbs and write about how they apply to their lives, and how they can help them  become better human beings.

I hope that this lesson will help your class to understand that Diversity is Beautiful and Everyone is Beautiful in their own way!

Deann