Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/community-involvement-in-curriculum-development-papua-new-guineas-unique-cultural-calendar/5014156/
How can early childhood educators genuinely link parents to curriculum development? Papua New Guinea (PNG) has found a unique way. In Papua New Guinea's elementary education program, teachers, parents, and community members work together to make a Cultural Calendar which is then used as a basis for organising children's learning.The Cultural Calendar
Teachers begin by working with their communities to write down the different events, weather patterns, and seasons that occur throughout the year. Recording these things is an important activity because Papua New Guinean communities do not have a tradition of recording their thoughts and activities in written form. Instead, they have a very strong oral way of keeping their traditions and customs alive.
A Cultural Calendar is a visual record of community activities. These activities are based on the seasons and natural changes in the environment. A typical Cultural Calendar records seasons and weather patterns; agricultural, hunting, and fishing activities; sporting activities; religious events and feasting. Unlike the Western twelve month calendar, the Cultural Calendar has neither a 12 month year nor a typical 28 day month; some months are longer and can have as many as 150 days; shorter months have 60 days.
Figure 1: The typical four month calendar year ...