Researchers suggest that children of minority groups are so confused by the customs of the dominant culture represented in schools that their English literacy learning suffers. An ethnographic study examined the literacy learning of two language minority children in a suburban kindergarten program. Using unstructured interviews, the focal informants of the study were the two children (a female Southeast Asian and a male Indian), the kindergarten teacher, and the teacher of English as a second language (ESL). Other sources and methods of collecting information consisted of a year of participant observations in the school and at home, field trips, parent conferences, and documents such as written home-school communication, student work, report cards, testing information, and classroom materials. The minority children's understanding of holidays and celebrations were studied to assess whether understanding affected English literacy, as illustrated by the tensions during 12 classroom holidays and celebrations, ranging from Christmas to Columbus Day to kindergarten graduation. Findings revealed that the children misunderstood most holidays and celebrations and that the school staff misunderstood the children's confusions. The lack of communication between school and families exacerbated the difficulties for the children. Results suggested that: (1) this program and comparable programs include the study of similarities and differences between people; (2) multicultural literature be integrated into the program; (3) appreciation of diverse holidays and celebrations be incorporated across the curriculum; and (4) home-school communication be strengthened. (BAC)