By Yaramí Ramos Gómez, Junior School Teacher

Earlier today, Radford's Junior School welcomed Mr César Álvarez, who introduced students to his book Colombian Heart and Australian Soul. César is a familiar face at the College and has previously taken part in Spanish lessons and activities during our Hispanic Day celebrations. Harmony Day was the perfect occasion to launch a book focused on identity, empathy and inclusion.

César’s warm and friendly demeanour made this a very enjoyable experience for students and teachers alike. He made a connection with older learners by explaining the steps of his creative process and describing the skills he had to develop to reach the final product. Our students come from diverse cultural backgrounds, and many identified with the way this cultural duality is presented in the book. The presentation offered a great opportunity for our students to compare their family’s experience of migrating to Australia, with César’s family’s journey portrayed in the pages of his book.

Our younger students were also engaged throughout the presentation, as César used his children’s anecdotes and language to talk about their personal experience of settling in Australia. Our younger students also loved the beautiful illustrations in his book, created by the renowned Colombian artist Andrés González.

We thank César for sharing his book and providing a wonderful occasion for our students to reflect on identity, empathy and inclusion and on the richness that diversity brings to our lives and society.