Culture for kids

A group of about 15 kids surrounded recent 2007 IU graduate Pearl Kim on Tuesday afternoon during a Culture Camp workshop at the Asian Culture Center. Hands shot up when Kim, a student coordinator, asked how many main languages China has. Excited kids shouted, “One! Two!” An eager girl in pigtails and a pink dress had the correct answer: two. \nThe camp, now in its eighth year, is an eight-week-long program that hosts children every Tuesday and Thursday. The morning session runs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., and the afternoon session runs from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.\nGames, food and languages from 14 South Asian countries, including China and Malaysia, are taught in the workshop sections. At each session, the children are divided into three groups. Each group goes to a different room to do an activity, and the groups switch every 25 minutes. \nSo far, 70 children have participated in the program this year since it began June 5, the center’s director Melanie Castillo-Cullather said. The Culture Camp is open to children of all ethnicities. Kim said many school groups attend. She added that adopted Asian children are usually signed up by their parents. To accommodate vacationing families, the program has been extended through late July this year. \nAnother change in the program Castillo-Cullather mentioned is focusing each session on \none country. In previous years, each activity\nwithin the two-hour period represented a different country. \n“That was a little bit too much for the kids to comprehend, I think,” Castillo-Cullather said. \nFor the session on China, volunteers and student coordinators taught the groups how to make paper lanterns, cook sesame balls, do calligraphy and play a game with chopsticks. Student coordinator and senior Jeff Capati said he thinks the workshops have an effect on \nthe campers. \n“We work to educate and promote Asian cultures for kids at an early age so that they have a better understanding (of those cultures),” he said. \nIn May, center coordinators and volunteers met to brainstorm ideas for the summer workshops. Kim said everyone was designated with a day and a country to coordinate.\nAfter completing the activities, the children were asked which part of their experience they enjoyed the most. Hands shot up again. One little girl shouted that she liked making the lanterns. Capati, who coordinated the day’s workshop, breathed a sigh of relief and laughed. Lauren Williams, a precocious 4-year-old with bangs and a ponytail, offered her opinion after the older children had yelled theirs. \n“My favorite part is when I was painting,” she said. \nKim said she enjoys educating the children about different cultures. \n“It’s so much fun – when I was little and went to American schools, everyone assumed I was Chinese. I’m Korean,” she said. “After learning about Asian cultures, kids may not automatically assume (someone’s background).”