Every socially responsible citizen must read Half the Sky, a compelling account of the plight of women and girls around the world. The title, taken from a Chinese proverb that says “Women hold up half the sky,” is meant to educate readers that half of the human population is facing severe and outrageous oppression. Pulitzer Prize-winning husband and wife authors, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, transport the reader to different regions of the globe, from Cambodia to Cameroon to the Congo. In these countries and others, the authors expose the injustices that occur in human trafficking, female genital cutting, honor killings, and similar forms of oppression. The stories are so vivid that the book, while moving, is often painful to read. Despite this discomfort, it is critical for all of us - both women and men - to educate ourselves about what the authors call the great moral issue of the 21st century.
Kristof and WuDunn witnessed an inconceivable amount of violence and persecution and often were not able to stand by as uninvolved journalists. One such occasion was in the town of Poipet, Cambodia. At the time, Kristof was traveling with New York Times videographer Naka Nathaniel, and they interviewed two young women who had been enslaved in the sex trade. These women, like many others, were being held against their will, were unable to ask the corrupt authorities for help, and were nervous about going home because of the shame they would face. When Kristof asked them pointedly if they would like to return to their families if they had their freedom, the girls jumped at the chance. Faced with the opportunity to change the course of two young lives, Kristof decided to intervene and offered to buy the girls from their brothel owners. He proceeded to take the girls back to their villages, where each was met by her family and friends with open arms. Unfortunately, the solution did not prove to be this simple. One girl had become addicted to methamphetamine while in Poipet - a method of control often used by brothels - and returned to the brothel of her own accord just one week after coming home.
Although Half the Sky is rife with stories of tragedy, there are also many moments of triumph. One such account is the story of Edna, a Somali woman who had undergone female circumcision against her will as a young girl. At the insistence of her mother, she had been forcefully cut in Somali tradition. When her father found out he was furious, and his anger fortified Edna to become an advocate for women’s health. Edna was lucky enough to gain an education by sitting in the back of her brothers’ tutoring lessons and subsequently attending a school for girls in neighboring Djibouti. She continued to pursue her education and career in England and the U.S. and became a successful U.N. official for the World Health Organization. For Edna, however, that was not enough. She returned to Somalia and put her entire savings into building a maternal hospital. The hospital now stands as a beacon of hope in a country torn by civil war.
Half the Sky convinces the reader that the oppression of women and girls is the most important human rights issue of the 21st century. Like slavery and ethnic genocide in the preceding centuries, female oppression is an injustice that is often heinously ignored by the masses. This book may do something to change that fact, as it brings to light the many issues faced by women worldwide. Kristof and WuDunn end their account with a chapter titled “What You Can Do.” This section is especially helpful because those who read Half the Sky cannot help but take action. It is the hope that this action will help reduce the injustice women and girls endure worldwide.
Katharine Robinson, Editor of ThinkGlobal, is Program Manager at World View.
WORLD VIEW RESOURCE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
Foreign Currency Kits Available
Borrow Money from World View today!
The Foreign Currency Kit contains currency, both bills and coins, from over 35 countries and may be borrowed by educators in North Carolina. It is designed for K-12 educators as a learning tool, using tangible items to teach about people and places, as well as a means for integrating global content across multiple subject areas. Interested higher education educators may also borrow the Kit.
How can I borrow a Kit? Any North Carolina educator may borrow an available Kit for up to three weeks. To borrow a Kit, please download and read the lending policies and complete a "Lending Agreement".
What's in the Box? Money! In each Currency Kit there are coins and bills from over 35 countries or territories. The Foreign Currency Kit also contains useful reference books, a map, an inventory of coins and bills included and their country or territory of origin, as well as suggested educator activities.
HOW TO TURN TEENAGERS INTO GLOBAL CITIZENS “I can’t get my daughter to do anything at home but the energy she puts into this project just blows me away!” Parent, Florida Public high School.
For the first time, students throughout North America have the opportunity to edit National-Geographic-quality raw footage to create their own documentaries and shorts. Take 2, a youth media nonprofit, is offering issue-specific footage that places students in the center of global hotspots like Sudan and Cuba.
Each module has over five hours of hi-definition, National-Geographic-quality footage that comes with a comprehensive curriculum and teaching tools that meet the state and national curricular standards for social studies, economics, government, science, media, or literature. Teachers do not need to have any video or editing skills – teaching tools are available in the supporting materials. Each module is comprehensive enough to cover a full-semester course, but can be scaled down to a 2-week after-school project.
By learning to understand and ultimately to empathize with people living under dramatically different circumstances, students are themselves changed as they craft stories about issues far outside their daily experience. When they’re done, students may submit their documentaries to festivals, put them on the web, or take them on the road to educate the public and practice their newfound leadership and global citizenship.
American Councils for International Education is pleased to announce the 2011 Intensive Summer Language Institutes Program taking place next summer in Alexandria, Egypt and Changchun, China. The Intensive Summer Language Institutes provide fully funded fellowships for U.S. classroom teachers to spend six weeks overseas studying intermediate and advanced-level Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. The program targets current K-12 teachers and community college instructors of Arabic and Chinese, as well as students enrolled in education programs preparing them to teach these languages. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and non-native speakers of Arabic and Chinese in order to qualify. This U.S. Government language program is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and administered by American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS.
The program application, benefits, and detailed application instructions are located online at apps.americancouncils.org/isli2011. In addition to the online form, applicants are asked to provide official transcripts, two reference letters, and a medical form. All materials are due on March 4, 2011.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Refining Your Toolbox for Teaching Cross-Cultural Communication
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
4:30-5:45 pm EST
This session of the webinar series Best Practices & Lessons Learned will provide strategies and specific examples of a variety of print, situational, and online resources that enhance instructors' abilities to demonstrate and amplify key concepts in cross-cultural communication.
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Global Communications Professor Tim Flood will share strategies and tools he has used in a variety of cross-cultural communication sessions and courses.
Participants are encouraged to share resources and ideas. This will be an interactive session, and questions and contributions are welcome. We will use Adobe Connect (free access to participants). Participants will need Internet access, headphones and a microphone to speak. Registration is free, but there is a limited number of spots on the webinar.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Voices of North Carolina
Now's your chance to take advantage of a free professional development opportunity and you will not have to leave the comforts of your home, office, or classroom! Voices of North Carolina is an interactive three part webinar series designed specifically for eighth grade social studies teachers.
Participants will examine the linguistic traditions of North Carolina, based on curriculum developed by N.C. State professors Walt Wolfram and Jeffrey Reaser. Participants are introduced to basic concepts about language variation and dialects found in North Carolina. Historical and current social contexts of major language and dialect groups are considered, including Outer Banks English, Appalachian English, rural and urban Piedmont English, Lumbee English, and African-American English. By the end of the webinar series, teachers will be more familiar with the importance of cultural appreciation and how language and dialect are currently changing in different regions of North Carolina. Webinars are scheduled for February 1, March 1, and April 5 from 5 to 6 PM. One CEU will be awarded upon successful completion of the three part webinar series.
To register for this free professional development access the following link: http://moourl.com/VoicesofNC. Deadline for Registration is January 27.
For Additional Information, please contact Dal Edwards at deedward@dpi.state.nc.us 919-807-3832.
Do you have information to share?
Do you have information that you would like to share with other educators across the state? You are welcome to submit interesting global education programs that are going on in your schools, announcements about global education seminars, new resources that others might find interesting, etc. Please email Julie at jmarante@email.unc.edu with your "update-worthy" items!
Reader Mailbag
If you have comments about any of the information contained in the Global Update, send us an email! Perhaps your comments will appear here in this new section of the Global Update.
Disclaimer World View at UNC-Chapel Hill provides information, resources, and announcements for educational purposes only. It does not represent an endorsement of organizations or point of view by World View or The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Latin America and North Carolina
March 22-23, 2011 (1 1/2 days)
co-sponsored by the Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean studies at UNC and Duke Understanding Russia and Its Neighbors
March 23-24, 2011 (1 1/2 days)
co-sponsored by the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies
Location: The Friday Center for Continuing Education, UNC at Chapel Hill
Cost:$175 per person per seminar, or $325 for both seminars. A team of 4 is $600 (save $100 per seminar). A team is comprised of 4 or more individuals from a school, college, or district. Only $150 for each additional team member per seminar. For more information please call 919/962-9264 or visit www.unc.edu/world
World View has extended the application deadline! Join us this summer to learn first-hand about the culture, ecology, and education systems of Costa Rica. Your worldview will never be the same! The itinerary includes school visits, ecological excursions (waterfalls, volcano, rainforest, coastal attractions), Spanish language classes, community service projects, Costa Rican cooking, Latin dance instruction, and more!
Estimated Trip Cost:$2,000
Includes airfare, lodging, meals, Spanish lessons, visits to historical and cultural sites, and much more
2011 Tour Dates: June 27 – July 6
July 14 - 23
July 27 – August 5
Click on the image to access the video or go to World View's website at www.unc.edu/world/study_visits.shtml for more information and an application! Please note the Study Visit to Russia is now FULL.
World View's Online
Globalization Course:
Feb 3 - March 16
Registration Open
This 6-week online course immerses teachers and school administrators from all disciplines and grade levels in an intensive exploration of the rapid global changes in government, economics, environment and health, culture, and technology impacting our schools and communities, our country, and the planet. The goal of the course is to help K-12 educators become aware of the effects of globalization.
Registration for the Online Globalization Course is $275 per NC educator, but only $225 for World View Partners.
Southeast Regional Middle East and IslamicStudies Conference March 18-20, 2011
travel subsidy available!
The Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies will subsidize a K-12 educator’s attendance at the Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies (SERMEISS) conference, March 18-20, 2011. The conference features presentations by faculty on Middle East topics. The program from last year’s conference is here.
This year’s conference will be at Shenandoah University, Winchester, Virginia. Educators interested in the travel subsidy should contact Outreach Director Regina Higgins at regina_higgins@unc.edu by January 31.
Annual Social Studies Conference Vistas, Visions, and Voices Feb 24-25, 2011
Koury Convention Center, Greensboro
Register now to attend the annual state-wide social studies conference. Highlights include:
*Luncheon and Keynote Speaker Orville Hicks, Storyteller
*Over 100 Sessions
*Sessions by David J. Smith, author of If the World Were a Village and If America Were a Village
*Giant Traveling Map of Africa
*Five Session Strand on the Civil War led by ASU historians
Subject: Opportunities for Students and Teachers at the NGCSU Federal Service Foreign Language Academy in Summer 2011
What: Arabic, Chinese, Russian language academy taught by certified teachers using Georgia Performance Standards
Date: Two cohort sessions of three week duration or 21 consecutive days. First Cohort: June 12-July 1; Second Cohort: July 10-July 29
Eligibility: A rising high school sophomore, junior, or senior
Class Ratio: 16 students to one teacher; Two counselors (cadet mentors proficient in target language) will be assigned to each cohort language group
Teacher Compensation: Free room and board provided (if desired); $1000 per week ($6000 total); Six days of instruction per week; Six hours a day; Additional activities and study time will be planned for evenings.
Student Costs: Special one time rate of $300 which includes tuition, room and board, books and materials, and fees for field trips
Two Field Trips Per Session: 1) Teacher directed and language specific (First Saturday); 2) A consolidated adventure trip for all students (Second Saturday)
The University of North Carolina’s Center for International Understanding invites applications for the June 2011 China: Then and Now professional development program. This program will expose K-12 educators to the cultural, historical, and sociopolitical forces of technological innovation in past and present-day China.
During the study program, teachers will have the opportunity to:
explore technological innovation in China’s past and present
be exposed to rich content about Chinese history and culture
learn about and receive training in technological tools that can used to support teaching and instruction in the classroom.
The program includes a two-day orientation workshop in the Triangle area. Educators will learn to use Cisco’s WebEx Connect platform to become a collaborative community, sharing ideas and working together on lesson plans and curriculum development during a ten-day study program in China, which will include site visits to high tech companies, museums and cultural sites; briefings with experts; and discussion sessions to process lessons learned. The program will also include a one-day follow up workshop, during which participants will synthesize lessons learned in China and will present an outline of the lesson(s) they have prepared for their students.
Eligibility: NC K-12 teachers of all subjects and at all grade levels are encouraged to apply. Administrators and other educators such as media specialist, counselors, etc are also eligible to apply.
Cost: Approximately $4,450. (Borchard Funds may be available for educators from Orange, Durham, Wake, Chatham, and Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools)
Contact: Angie Bolin, Center for International Understanding, 919-420-1360, ext. 200, or
1-888-840-8328, ext. 200, or asb@northcarolina.edu
