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There are many ways to include international issues in the classroom. Below are some sample activities from the Kids’ World Curriculum distributed by Tulsa Global Alliance. The Tolerance Section was written by Donna Berryhill, Barbara Hayes, Maudene Jackson & Tasha Johnson. The rest of the curriculum was written by Julia Ratliff. For more information about the curriculum, please email Cristina Smith Williams

The complete sections of the curriculum are also available in .pdf format for your convenience. Visit the Resource link page to download.

GEOGRAPHY
Many of the children who visit Kids’ World are young. Young children understand the world in the light of home, school, and community. An easy place to start learning geography is in the classroom.

ACTIVITY
Creating a ap of your classroom. Your tools will be an empty chalkboard, chalk, and an eraser.

Draw the shape of the room on the chalkboard. Ask, “What is this?” Get answers from as many children as you can.

Reasonable answers should get the response, “Good - It is a square. It is shaped like a box. It is a shape. That’s a good guess, but it isn’t the answer.”

Draw the shape of a piece of furniture. Ask, “What is this?” Continue taking answers and rewarding reasonable ones. Finally you will see the light dawn on one face and then another. A child will say, “It’s the classroom.”

When this happens, begin to add all the furniture, one piece at a time. This time name the pieces, “This is my desk.” Walk to each piece after you have drawn and named them. Draw in doors and windows. Name them. Walk over and touch them.

Now point to a place or object on the classroom map. Say, “Who can go to this object?” Continue until all the children can find objects in the classroom by reading the map. Repeat everything you have done.

Repeat the lesson another day. Make the map and add the furniture one piece at a time. With each addition ask, “What is this?” Carefully move from child to child as you question. Call on individual children to walk to places you point out on the map. Check off each child who can do this. Use chalk to make a path through the room. Move back and look at the map carefully. Take your index finger and trace over the path. Then look around the room. Go to one end of the path and follow it through the room. Erase the first path. Use chalk to make another path. Say, “I just followed a path.” Ask, “Can anyone follow this new path?” Continue making paths until all the children in your room can read the map and follow a path through your classroom.

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MONEY
The United States of America has its own money. All of our money, cents, nickels, dimes, quarters, and half-dollars are keyed to the American dollar. The American dollar is our standard unit of exchange. A cent or penny is 100th of our American dollar. A nickel is one 20th of our American dollar. A dime is one 10th of our American dollar. A quarter is one 4th or a quarter of our American dollar. A half-dollar is one half of our American dollar.

Kids’ World countries each have their own standard units of exchange. Some are worth more than the American dollar. Some are worth less. They all have names. A few are called dollars, but many have names tied to the history or culture of the individual Kids’ World country. When a traveler enters a Kids’ World country, the currency of that country is needed to pay for food and shelter, transportation and entertainment, goods and services. To get the correct currency before leaving, a traveler must go to a bank and exchange American dollars for the standard unit of exchange for a Kids’ World country.

An extensive list of the currencies of the world is available at www.xe.com/ucc or www.x-rates.com.

ACTIVITY
Research Assignments

The standard unit of exchange in Guatemala is the quetzal. What is a quetzal? Why do you think Guatemala honors the quetzal?
Find the Philippines and Mexico on a map of the world. Notice that the Philippines are far away from Mexico. Why do both countries use the peso as their standard units of exchange?
The standard unit of exchange in Peru is the el sol. What does el sol mean?
How many of the Kids’ World countries use the dollar as the standard unit of exchange?
Pakistan uses the rupee as its standard unit of exchange. What country on the preceding list uses the rupee? Why do these two countries both use the same standard unit of exchange?
The Czech Republic uses the koruna as its standard unit of exchange. What would koruna be in English? Do any other names for standard units of exchange mean the same thing?
Venezuela uses the bolivar as its standard unit of exchange. Simon Bolivar was an important man in the history of South America. Who was he? What Kids’ World country is named for him?
Most of the Kids’ World countries who are a part of the European Union use a new currency called the euro. How many Kids’ World countries use the euro? How many more countries in the European Union use the euro? What Kids’ World countries who are in the European Union do not use the euro?
Go to the list of countries on the web site www.x-rates.com. Find all the countries that use the dollar as their standard rate of exchange. Find each of these countries on a map of the world.

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COMMUNICATIONS
Communication can be wired or wireless. All early communication was wireless. If a caveman gestured or spoke, there were no wires. Communication was face to face, in real time, in a real place. The Communications Time Line shows how that has changed. Humans began to draw pictures to communicate. They began to write and to reproduce writing to send information long distances. They were limited by the distances they could travel on foot. New inventions came. Transportation became faster, from foot to horseback, to train, to plane. Postal services still live with the limitation of moving an actual object through space. E-mail moves through space electronically.

ACTIVITY
Think of all the ways you can communicate with someone who is far away from you. List them ___________________. Communicate in the ways you have on the list. (yodeling, smoke signaling, drumming, telephoning, mailing, E-mailing, faxing, etc.)

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LANGUAGE
You can travel to Kids’ World and use American English nearly everywhere. American English is an international language. Say hello, OK, or blue jeans and the farthest reaches of Kids’ World will understand you. However, it is nice to be able to communicate with people in their own language as well.

ACTIVITY
Find useful English words in each of these languages: French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Dewey Decimal for dictionaries 443, 433, 453, 463.

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TOLERANCE
An individual’s uniqueness affects that person’s perception of the world and is part of how the world perceives the individual. If we consciously open ourselves to others’ differences, we are more able to accept and appreciate them.

ACTIVITY
“Jumping to Conclusions” is an activity that illustrates to students that you can’t tell enough to judge value by looking only on the outside of an object (or of people.) Collect three different sacks. A very pretty sack should be filled with rocks, another with something of nominal value, such as paper clips, and the third sack, which should be a wrinkled, brown paper sack, filled with candy or stickers that children would value. Encourage a volunteer to choose a sack to share with the class. Discuss how the student decided which sack to choose, emphasizing the decision between the outer appearance and what might be inside. Continue choosing sacks until the children do share the reward.

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FOOD
We all think we know how certain kinds of foods taste. Each type of food such as Italian, Mexican, or Chinese has its own distinctive taste. Foods arose out of the agriculture of Africa, Europe, and Asia and then began to travel as far as they would grow and thrive. In 1492 the Americas, North and South, entered the great food exchange and cookery as we know it.

ACTIVITY
There are many international recipe books at the library. Plan an international dessert party, an international bread and butter party, or an international chip and dip party. Use chips from the Americas, corn and potato. Some dips might be the following: baba ghannooj from Israel, sofrito from Cuba, rarebit from England, aioli from France, tabbouleh from Greece, salsa picante from Guatemala, uborkasalata from Hungary, pesto from Italy, hummus from Lebanon, guacamole from Mexico, frijoles refritos from Nicaragua, or cacik from Turkey. Use these sauces as research assignments. Find out the ingredients and how they are made.

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GAMES
Children play all around the world. They play to learn how to live.

ACTIVITY
Israel Shemot, Names A group of players gather in a circle. One player holds a ball. The player with the ball throws it high in the air and calls out the name of one of the players. The player who is named, runs to catch the ball. That player throws the ball high in the air and calls another name. That continues, throwing, calling, and catching. When the game is over, the players know each other a lot better.

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ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

The following are printable activities to use in your classroom. Each has a Kids' World theme.

Global IQ Quiz - From the U.S. Department of State, this 10 question quiz is most appropriate for older students. An answer key can also be printed from this page.

Kids' World Word Search - Created by TGA to include topics related to Kids' World. (Solution) You can also visit Discovery.com to create your own word searches.

Kids' World Crossword Puzzle - Created by TGA to include words and concepts related to Kids' World. (Solution). You can visit EdHelper.com to create your own crossword puzzles.