Childhood obesity is growing at an alarming rate, currently affecting one in three of the nation’s students. Unfortunately, this epidemic is disproportionately high among Hispanics, bumping the rate of obesity to nearly two out of three children in certain student populations.
As reported by KVUE News Washington Bureau, First Lady Michelle Obama has launched her “Let’s Move” campaign in an effort to help schools fight this epidemic. Keeping the high rates of childhood obesity amongst Latinos in mind, the campaign’s first meeting focused on culturally-specific solutions for this community.
With staple foods in the Latino diet that may not math up with that of Westerners, the task force acknowledged the value in culturally-attuning their dietary recommendations. One solution, as put forth by Ian Smith, founder of The 50 Million Pound Challenge, was to make a culturally relevant food pyramid using items that commonly exist in many Hispanic cultures.
Another example, as showcased by our parent company, viaLanguage, involves producing culturally resonant health program materials as they did for the Health Plan of San Mateo. By adapting the program’s word-find puzzles and children’s melodies like “Baa, Baa Black Sheep” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” the end product was made much more culturally meaningful. Click here to read the entire case study.
Changing any child’s diet is not an easy task, but by incorporating culturally familiar foods, activities and lessons, your efforts will hold a lot more weight in helping the Latino youth maintain theirs.
Keep learning and stay healthy!
Leslie
K12Translate
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Posts Tagged ‘Cultural Sensitivity’
Cultural Competence is Key to Fighting Childhood Obesity
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010Culture Is the First Step in Effective Language Translation Services
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
While language provides the building blocks to communicating with your English Language Learning (ELL) parents and students, it is always a good idea to understand the cultural components at work within a larger socio-political context. Knowing that many non-English speaking immigrants and refugees come from a wide range of war-torn countries, economically devastated regions and politically tumultuous regimes, we must tailor the message, and the language translation services, to sympathize with their unique experience.
The story of Karen, a guidance counselor, perfectly illustrates how personal experience can deeply influence perception. Karen was responsible for organizing the new school year registration kick-off for her district. She chose a “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie theme for the event to keep the registration process upbeat and lively. Unfortunately, Karen didn’t consider the implications that a pirate motif would have for the Cambodian parents, many of whom had fled the Khmer Rouge as refugee “Boat People.” The images of pirates recalled traumatic memories for the Cambodian parents, which, in turn, significantly reduced their enrollment participation.
If Karen had considered a native Cambodian’s perspective, she would have been better prepared to create a welcoming environment for all of the parents. Hopefully, in the future, Karen can adapt her message, and the language translation services that follow, to her audience’s experience.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
