TeachersFirst's China and Cross-Cultural Resources
Other TeachersFirst Special Topics Collections
Every culture tends to focus on its own way of thinking and doing. In order to prepare our students for life, twenty-first century classrooms must foster cross-cultural understanding as a vital aspect of learning in today's global society. This collection of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst is selected to help teachers and students build a better understanding of other cultures, especially China, through related projects and classroom activities. We welcome suggestions of additional free teaching resources for our team to review. Please mention "cross-cultural" in your message.
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Teaching Children Philosophy - Book Modules - TeachingChildrenPhilosophy.org and Squire Family Foundation
Grades
K to 12
tag(s): brain (72), cross cultural understanding (120), cultures (110), ethics (18), logic (239), psychology (66), religions (68)
In the Classroom
Although created using children's books, this site is perfect for introducing philosophical discussions to students of any age. Choose two books that represent different sides of an issue to share with your class. Then have students create an annotated image demonstrating their viewpoint including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here. Create a mind map including different ideas represented within topics using a tool such as Mindmeister, reviewed here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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GISIG English for Change eLessons - Global Issues SIG
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): advertising (35), bullying (53), cross cultural understanding (120), cultures (110), earth (232), emotions (35), environment (318), nutrition (159), space (218), video (276)
In the Classroom
Discover the many ready-to-go free lessons and videos to accompany your lessons on bullying and other current events topics. If you can't access YouTube or if a video is unavailable, the many questions and activities are still worthwhile. While discussing an issue as a class consider giving all students a chance to voice their opinions (even the shyest and quiet ones) by using a backchannel tool like TodaysMeet, reviewed here. Be sure to share the many ideas with your school's guidance counselor. After viewing videos and discussing the relevant issues, have students create their own videos and share them on a site such as TeacherTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OneHistory - Hilary Mac Austin and Kathleen Thompson
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): 1800s (48), 1900s (37), african american (114), biographies (90), cross cultural understanding (120), essays (22), great depression (26), primary sources (93), speeches (18)
In the Classroom
Bookmark OneHistory as a resource for primary sources when teaching American History and as an excellent tool for finding information featuring diversity throughout the years. Have students create a multimedia presentation using Voicethread, reviewed here, to tell the story of a moment in history. Voicethread allows you to add narration to a picture. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report. Take advantage of the high interest, low readability level stories on the site to differentiate for the variety of reading levels in your classroom and to include informational (nonfiction) reading standards.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection Stories - National Museum of African American History and Culture
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): african american (114), black history (61), cross cultural understanding (120)
In the Classroom
Share stories from this collection to provide a personal look at events from African-American history in the United States. Use stories as an example, and ask students to find additional artifacts from the National Museum and research to discover the story behind the item, or have students bring an item from their home to tell the story of its history. For either of these ideas, encourage students to create online books for sharing the stories using a tool such as Ourboox, reviewed here. Ask students to find local residents with knowledge of historical events to come talk to your class about the "behind the scenes" story, or set up a Skype call with an African-American leader. Use these stories for informational reading in your Language Arts classroom, and as a wonderful resource to use for covering the informational reading standards required with the CCSS.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Constitute - Comparative Constitutions Project - Univ of Texas at Austin
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): civil rights (122), constitution (87), cross cultural understanding (120), cultures (110)
In the Classroom
Share Constitute on an interactive whiteboard or projector as part of any lessons studying nations around the world. Compare constitutions when discussing current events and cultural differences. Use an online tool such as the Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to demonstrate differences and similarities. Flip learning by sharing a comparison you create, then have students study comparisons before class discussions of materials.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Diversity Workshop - USC School of Social Work
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (120), cultures (110), diversity (33)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the activities shared within the guide to use as part of community building in your classroom or to teach diversity. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as WordItOut, reviewed here. Before and after activities have students or groups collect ideas and thoughts about diversity using Dotstorming, reviewed here. The Dotstorming application creates free online bulletin boards. Embed Dotstorming on your class website for students to access at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Global Conflict Tracker - Council on Foreign Relations
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): conflict resolution (9), cross cultural understanding (120), cultures (110), journalism (55), maps (293), terrorism (47), terrorist (16)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this interactive for use throughout the year when discussing current events or studying different regions around the world. Share the locations using Google Earth, reviewed here, to get a first-hand look at the geography of the region. This tool is a great find for gifted students. Have them explore different regions of conflict and research the background of events in the area. Challenge students to make a multimedia presentation using information found in their research. Use a tool like Zeetings, reviewed here. Zeetings allows adding polls, videos, embeds, web links, PowerPoint, and PDFs. Have students create & embed a timeline to their presentation using History in Motion,Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spanish Christmas Food - Mama's Box
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): christmas (65), cooking (35), cross cultural understanding (120), cultures (110), spain (9)
In the Classroom
Ask parents to volunteer to cook and bring in items for celebrations. Have students create an annotated image including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here, to describe the different foods or ingredients. Have students create maps using Animaps, reviewed here. Students can add text, images, and location stops from their around the world food tasting! If teaching Spanish, have students rewrite recipes in Spanish.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Global Oneness Projects - Global Oneness Project
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (120)
In the Classroom
Promote global awareness by sharing the videos, articles or photos and using the accompanying lesson plans to enhance the learning experience. Explore how other cultures are different from your own using the artifacts found on the site. Have the students watch the videos on their own and complete a discussion about the video on a discussion board or in class. Starting a new study of a different culture? Use one of the videos as an anticipatory set. Share the video on your projector or interactive whiteboard.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Journeys in Film - Journeys in Film and USC Rossier School of Education
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (120), holocaust (39), journalism (55), movies (72), video (276), women (92)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans for classroom use. These resources and videos are extremely flexible for classroom use. Use the film clips for current events, and to highlight events from the past. Use a video segment to get students thinking about their understanding of issues, solutions, and whether today's environment has changed from that of the past. View a variety of clips from one theme and discuss events in the clip or use a writing assignment to provide time to process the events. Discuss in what ways these clips are similar and other societal, economic, and political factors that affected them. Be sure to brainstorm how different people, in other areas of the world, would view these issues. Research these issues using resources from other areas of the world. Use Today's News, reviewed here, to see editorials and news clippings that are not of American origin. If you'd like to to create your own clips from these films try using a tool like EDPuzzle, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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PenPal Schools - Joe Troyen
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (120)
In the Classroom
Create an account and participate in different courses as part of your studies of current events. Enrich course content by having students create an annotated image based on discussion questions including text boxes, related links, and even video. Use Thinglink, reviewed here, for this activity. Have cooperative learning groups create podcasts demonstrating their understanding of one of the concepts. Use a tool such as podOmatic, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Walters Art Museum - The Walters Art Museum
Grades
K to 12tag(s): art history (72), artists (76), museums (50)
In the Classroom
Use the Integrating the Arts sections to find printable lesson plans to create cross-curricular lessons. The lesson plans include objectives, multiple activities, examples, and a wrap-up. Students can then use the site to find other pieces of art that demonstrate or support the same concept.Connect middle and high school students to the museum through one of the prescheduled video conference calls to learn about specific topics. Be sure to prepare students for the conference call, and encourage students to participate with comments and questions to enhance the learning experience. After the conference, have students navigate through the pieces of art on the site that relate to the topic from the video conference.
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Borderland - NPR (National Public Radio)
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (120), immigrants (21), immigration (58), mexico (34)
In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. Assign a story to different student groups to explore and share with the class. Challenge students to create an infographic sharing their findings using Piktochart reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World Affairs Council - Resources
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): africa (176), climate change (64), cross cultural understanding (120), ecology (134), foreign policy (16), germany (28), news (265), terrorism (47), terrorist (16)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of these free lesson plans and templates hosted by WAC. Use these in conjunction with their archive on YouTube for their weekly program World Affairs TODAY. Their YouTube channel contains various topics; some are specific such as Spying on Germany and Other Allies or Emerging Africa, and some are more general like global warming (or climate change) and the failure of the global economy.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World Affairs Council - Washington, DC - World Affairs Council - Washington, DC
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): africa (176), climate change (64), cross cultural understanding (120), ecology (134), foreign policy (16), germany (28), news (265), terrorism (47), terrorist (16)
In the Classroom
Thanks to instantaneous news shows and social media, the students of the 21st Century are very aware of global issues. That is not to say they understand them. Start a current events program in your class, you may want to look at Newsela, reviewed here, TweenTribune, reviewed here, or Flocabulary, reviewed here. Then turn to the World Affairs Council and their YouTube channel to get explanations about global issues. The topics are extensive; some are specific and some are more general like global warming (or climate change) and the failure of the global economy. All are current, and all will give your students a different perspective on the topic. With older students, each week you could put a different small group in charge of featuring a current event and ask them to research its history, and see if they can also find the topic on the WAC YouTube channel. Have those students create an annotated, narrated image including text boxes and related links using a multimedia tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here, to present to the class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Global Virtual Classroom - AT&T and Give Something Back International Foundation
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): competitions (15), cross cultural understanding (120), cultures (110), wikis (21)
In the Classroom
Take students to another place, encourage them to understand other cultures and create global citizens by signing up to join GVC. After introducing GVC on an interactive whiteboard or projector, create a quick poll (with no membership required) using SurveyRock, reviewed here, to vote for which country or region to communicate with and share information. Begin a blog for each student to share reflections. Consider asking the partner teacher to have their students blog, too, and encourage students to respond to each others' blogs. Students' writing improves when they have an authentic audience. Haven't started blogging yet? Check out TeachersFirst's Blog Basics.Another idea would be to use a projector and Lino, reviewed here, (no membership required) to discuss and informally assess prior knowledge about the culture with whom students will be working. Lino creates virtual sticky notes on a bulletin board. Once the project is underway, go back to Lino occasionally, and add what they learned and whether it coincides with the students' original ideas. Before culminating the project, ask the partner class if they will fill in the areas and ideas missed on your Lino. Consider starting a lunch time or after school club for students to have more time to participate in the Clubhouse.
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Parable of the Polygons - Vi Hart and Nicky Case
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): cross cultural understanding (120), percent (83), racism (18), ratios (56)
In the Classroom
Parable of the Polygons is excellent for use in both math and social studies classes. Use in your social studies class to discover how bias affects diversity beginning with small situations through a larger picture. Challenge students to explore and interact through different scenarios to view changes. Have cooperative learning groups create podcasts demonstrating their understanding of one of the concepts. Use a site such as PodOmatic, reviewed here. Share this site as an excellent interactive for use during math fairs.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OmniLibros - Carthage College Center for Children's Literature
Grades
K to 12tag(s): book lists (133), cross cultural understanding (120), literacy (106), maps (293)
In the Classroom
This site is perfect for finding reading material with settings from all over the world. Encourage students to choose a place that interests them, and then find books set in that location. Use this tool as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard about setting or geography. Be sure to share a link to this tool on your class website or blog for students to use at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kid World Citizen - Becky Morales
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
tag(s): back to school (60), chinese new year (3), christmas (65), cross cultural understanding (120), earth day (112), hanukkah (16), holidays (151), italy (16), mexico (34), ramadan (10), thanksgiving (37)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site for use throughout the year when teaching about countries, holidays, and for cross-cultural literature resources. Choose a country to explore each month using resources found on the site. Learn about your students' backgrounds to find countries and regions to explore using activities on the site. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast your culture with that of a different country.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Global Flow of People - Nikola Sander, Guy J. Abel, and Ramon Bauer
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): continents (49), countries (77), cross cultural understanding (120), migration (59)
In the Classroom
Share The Global Flow of People with a projector or on an interactive whiteboard as part of any global studies unit. After finding the numbers of people migrating, have students brainstorm or collect ideas for the reasons of migration on a collaborative bulletin board like Scrumblr, reviewed here, quick start- no membership required. Challenge students to explore further and share their findings with a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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