GRADES K-12
1. Culture is Not Optional: Tools and Tips for Effective Intercultural Communication
Anamaria Knight, The Visiting International Faculty Program

This interactive session will raise your awareness as a member of a culture, as well as explore ways in which you can help others, such as your students, understand how cultural values influence perceptions, behavior, and communication. Connect theory with practice as you engage in experiential activities and learn tools and tips for improved intercultural communication and effectiveness.

2. Group Identity and Ethic and Sectarian Conflict: An Introduction
Patrick Inman, Academic Editor

This session introduces some tools for recognizing conflicting group identities and their points of contact. It opens a discussion of when and why differences in religion, ethnicity, culture, region, or socio-economic strata turn violent; and challenges participants to imagine assignments and exercises to prompt students to patiently work to understand competing identities in different countries studied in the K-12 classroom.
The conceptual tools introduced in the session will include:

• Identity as a shared “moral framework” or “orientation towards the good” (Charles Taylor)
• The distinction between group ties, based around kinship or common origin, and grid connections, based around a shared acquired language or set of symbols (Mary Douglas)
• How a group’s horizons and aspirations vary with its dominance
• The multiple levels of culture where group identities come into contact.

3. Shaping our Minds: The Role of Media
Christian Lundberg, Department of Communication Studies, UNC at Chapel Hill

What role does the media play in influencing how we think and teach about culture and current events? This session will help educators better analyze, evaluate, and interpret what is presented by print, Internet, and televised media so that they are able to accurately portray world cultures and global events in their classroom. The presenter will also provide suggestions for using media in the classroom and there will be time for discussion.

4. Teaching about Religion and Spirituality: Issues and Resources
Connie Green and Sandra Oldendorf
Reich College of Education, Appalachian State University

A brief overview of world religions and spiritual traditions will be followed by discussion in which we will address misconceptions about various faith traditions and appropriate ways to include religion in the public school curriculum. Strategies for teaching about religion as well as selected resources including children’s literature will be presented.

5. Guidelines for Teaching World Cultures
Barbara Shaw Anderson, African Studies Center, UNC at Chapel Hill

It’s easy to fall into the trap of only teaching what is exotic, or unique, about lands far away. But does this really paint an accurate picture of the majority of the people living in the world today? This session will help educators think about how they introduce world cultures to their classrooms. The instructor will provide practical suggestions and strategies for drawing parallels across cultures to help students better understand people and places from across the globe.

6. Tibet: How People Live and Why
Sherab Lama and Alex Semilof, The Society for the Preservation and Sharing of Himalayan Heritage

Tibet is often discussed in the news and the classroom, particularly this past summer with the recent protests and the Olympic Games in China. Tibetans’ unyielding commitment to their unique form of Buddhism has affected Tibetan behavior to the extent that the virtues of altruism and universal compassion can no longer be separated from any other component of their culture. This session briefly examines how the altruistic philosophy of the Buddha has manifested itself in different components of Tibetan culture including history, economics, environment, medicine, art, and politics. We will also discuss education in traditional Tibet and how educators around the world are teaching their students about Tibetan culture. Ample time will be spent in discussion and addressing questions.

7. On Art and Cannibalism: Introduction to Latin American Contemporary Visual Arts and Culture
Miguel Rojas Sotelo, Consortium of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at UNC and Duke University

This talk will be a multimedia presentation that presents an inside-out and outside-in view on Latin American visual arts and culture using popular culture imagery (films, pop icons, visual arts, music). What it intends is to raise questions about what we consider Latin American cultural identity is, how we had established such categorization, when and where it happened, and how we can look more critically to such constructions in the midst of a multicultural agenda and the Latino phenomena in the US.

8. Cultural Diversity in Contemporary Europe
Sahar Amer, Departments of Asian and International Studies
Martine Antle, Department of Romance Languages and Literature
UNC at Chapel Hill

This session will focus on Islam and the veil in contemporary Europe. It will take as a specific example the Veil debate in France which has been at the forefront of all political discussions in France and a key argument in all elections since at least the late 1980s. Perhaps the most revealing aspect of the contentious nature of this debate has been the 2004 law banning all ostentatious signs of religious affiliations from public spaces. This law has quickly come to be referred to as the "law against the veil in public schools." France is the only country in Europe that has adopted such an extreme position on the Islamic veil. This session will review the key moments of the veil debate in France since the 1970s until today. It will also discuss how Muslims and non-Muslims in France are affected by this law, what their reactions have been, and the implications this law could have on other countries of the European Union, as well as the role it may play in the decision by the European community to allow Turkey to join the Union in the next decade.

9. Global Cultures and How They Shape Minds and Determine the Nature of Society
Ron Miller, Author

Is there a root cause for poverty and tyranny? Yes! And simply stated – it is culture. Ron Miller, a world traveler, has experienced many of the world’s cultures during his adventures to 85 countries on six continents. Through his travel experiences, Ron will uncover how culture shapes the minds of individuals and, collectively, determines the nature of a society. Join this cultural safari and travel to a new destination, not a place on a map, but a broadened perspective that will enable you to clearly see the dynamics that shape a society.

GRADES 6-12
10. Exploring Global School Partnerships
Matt Friedrick, NC in the World, The Center for International Understanding

In an increasingly global and interconnected world, students must have the global competencies to work with people from around the world. In this session, staff from the Center for International Understanding will discuss the NC in the World school partnerships program, which pairs North Carolina middle and high schools with schools abroad. These partnerships give teachers and students the opportunity to learn alongside one another and develop students’ ability to communicate, cooperate, and compete with their international peers.