Didactic Sequence - The Subject and Their Place in the World – Brazilian Ethnicities

I. Class Topic:

The Subject and Their Place in the World – Brazilian Ethnicities

II. Identification Data:

Grade: 5th year of Elementary School.

Duration: five classes.

III. Objectives:

To work on the appreciation of diversity over the medium and long term.

Over time, lead students to reflect on the five racial belonging categories cataloged by IBGE in censuses, identifying them in categories of Brazilian identity: White, Black, Brown, Yellow, and Indigenous.

To understand Brazilian ethnicity through the ethnic diversity of historical origins of Indigenous, African, and European peoples.

To understand the role of Asian immigration in the composition of our population.

IV. Contents:

Understanding of cultural diversity and the genetic richness of the Brazilian people.

V. BNCC Skill(s):

(EF05GE02) Identify ethnic-racial and ethnic-cultural differences and social inequalities among groups in different territories.

VI. Development - Stages (detail stages):

Start a dialogue with students about ethnic and racial differences, objectively, clearly stating that this 'difference' is merely technical and used by the government as one of many ways to understand the population's identity. Explaining that for IBGE there are five ethnic identities cataloged in censuses: Black, White, Yellow, Indigenous, and Brown.

Ask students to identify their perceptions about their ethnicity.

Go beyond the difference of ethnicity by mere skin tone. Remembering that people identified as Yellow have eyes known as slanted. There are also physical differences, such as height and hair type.

The teacher needs to be well-equipped with information to address the topic, thus avoiding irresponsible handling of the subject, which could result in prejudice and common-sense fallacies. The blog Mania de brincar, by Eduardo Araújo, has 04 tips on how to raise children's awareness about racial discrimination. (see bibliography).

Be attentive to moments of discomfort with students. Be positive, seek to abolish pejorative adjectives.

Regarding the pleasant use of language, the teacher must be very careful to immediately correct expressions like 'bad hair' (cabelo ruim), enriching children's vocabulary with expressions like afro hair, showing other synonyms like curly, kinky, and that depending on the formal or everyday application, it can be mistaken or even racist.

Talk about White people: It is quite mistaken to talk only about White and Black people as if there were no subdivisions. White people, in turn, can be Caucasian, and their hair can be straight or not, with hair colors from brown to blonde. Explaining that even the White or Black ethnicity is relative to itself.

Talk about mixing: Brown is a very pleasant topic for children. They already come to school knowing 'moreno' (a term for light-skinned people with darker hair/eyes), and having a concept of people who are 'very white' or 'very black'.

Each ethnicity should be treated with the utmost respect and care, granting similar time to address each one, avoiding comparative explanations that may cause detriment to another.

Divide the dialogue into class moments throughout a week (e.g., Monday to Friday).

Suggested itinerary:

1st Day: Differentiate Ethnicity and Race. Understand which ethnicities form the Brazilian population from its history (Indigenous, European, African, and Asian), and how IBGE classifies the categories today as White, Black, Yellow, Indigenous, and Brown.

2nd Day: Present European colonization in Brazil initially, with the arrival of Europeans and the birth of the first children of White and Indigenous people, sometimes designated as Caboclo, caboco, mameluco, cariboca, or curiboca.

3rd Day: The arrival of Black people in Brazil as labor, and the birth of Cafuzo and Mulato, and how these demonizations became excessively discriminatory.

4th Day: Asian immigration and how it further enriched our diversity.

5th Day: Dedicate this day to discussing Brown people, as individuals of different ethnic backgrounds, based on the mixture of so many peoples, which brings the new face of Brazil.

Activity Suggestions:

1. Research the origin of each ethnicity (continent, hemisphere, climate).

2. Research the culinary peculiarities of each ethnicity.

3. Research the clothing of each group.

4. Research traditions, festivals, religions.

VII. Teaching Resources Used:

Use the blackboard for notes on student observations, and ask children to take notes in their Geography notebook.

Ask students, as homework, to research a bit about the original culture of each people that make up the Brazilian population.

VIII. Evaluation:

Provide opportunities for all children to express their knowledge and doubts about the topic, even if it requires taking notes of who spoke and keeping these notes until the end of the didactic sequence.

Always highlight the negative aspects of discrimination and emphasize the positive points of diversity and respect for peoples.

IX. Bibliography:

MENDES, Rafael Pereira. Ethnicities of Brazil. Mundo Educação. Available at https://mundoeducacao.uol.com.br/geografia/as-etnias-no-brasil.htm. Accessed on 05/15/2025.

ARAÚJO, Eduardo. 4 Tips on how to raise children's awareness about the National Day to Combat Discrimination. Blog Mania de Brincar. Available at https://blogmaniadebrincar.com.br/discriminacao-racial-criancas/. Accessed on 05/15/2025.