From student job to children's book and activity package about diversity for childcare: back to Oegstgeest
About 20 years ago Monique Tekstra-van Lochem (41) worked as a student at SKO. Now she returns to us. Inspired by her experiences from then, she wrote her latest multicultural children's book with accompanying activity package for childcare: 'Hey, who are you?' that will be central to SKO next year. The circle is round.
“During my Cultural Anthropology studies at Leiden University, I worked as a stand-in at various SKO locations and later as a permanent face of my 'own' group at the Kindercircus on the Aldo van Eycklaan,” says Monique. “I noticed that the group of children was not really diverse. There were mainly white, blond children with blue eyes. That triggered me, I wanted to introduce the children to the wonderful diversity of people and cultures in the world that I learned about during my studies.”
And so Monique set up a project on 'Welcome to the world'. As part of this project, she undertook daily activities with the children aged 3 years and older and made them look at themselves and the other, identify differences and similarities and taught them about customs and practices in other parts of the world.
“During that period, the seed was planted for my latest children's book 'Hey, who are you?'. In this book, children are introduced to the lives of 20 peers from all over the world, but they can also answer the 9 questions that are central in the book. And to make it easy to use for parents, teachers and pedagogical staff, an activity guide is included. I myself already performed some of the activities in that guide with the toddlers in Oegstgeest at the time!” explains Monique.
Now, 20 years later, Monique is going back to the daycare center where it all started for her. In 2022 we will be working organisation-wide (with 45 groups) with Monique's children's book and activity guide to introduce the children to diversity, which is still a current theme.
“Every year we work with an annual theme within our organization and next year it will be 'Who are you?'. Monique's book 'Hey, who are you?' fits that perfectly!” explains Evalien Rengers, director of SKO. “Moreover, this is a wonderful example of experience that a student can gain in a side job in childcare, which means that a great collaboration can even develop again later on. A clear win-win-win situation.”
Information about 'Hey, who are you?': www.hewiebenjij.nl
Photo credits: Laura Elkhuizen photography
