Today's students are heirs to a world that grows smaller and more interconnected with each day. This semester our "Windows on the World" series gives students opportunities to learn about some lesser known countries and people groups to broaden students' views of the world and to increase their international literacy.
Each presenter will discuss his/her particular country and share the geographic location, the landmarks, government, culture, homes, food, and transportation of that country. The worldview of your students will expand as they learn more about different cultures.
Lesson plans and/or descriptions are available online for each topic!
REGISTER Online for all Videoconferences: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool/registration.htm
Target audience: students in grades 5 -12
Times: 9:00 - 9:45 and 10:00 - 10:45 AM (CENTRAL time zone)
Format: 45-minutes formatted into 30-minute presentation, and then
15-20 minute Q & A
Cost: $75 per site
Questions: Chandra Allison, at (615) 322-6511 or email chandra.allison@vanderbilt.edu
FOUR videoconference topics:
1) TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2010 - "EGYPT"
Presenter: Sherif Barsoum
EGYPT has captured the imagination as words such as the Nile, pyramids,
King Tut, and mummies evoke images of mystery and grandeur in our minds. Egypt
is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across the densely-populated centers of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
2)WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2010 – “UYGHURS (Ethnic Group in Western CHINA)”
Presenter: Stacey Irvin
The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang province (Uyghurstan) in the People’s Republic of China. Most Uyghurs are Sunni Muslim Turks. In modern usage, Uyghur refers to settled Turkic urban dwellers and farmers of Kashgaria or Uyghurstan who follow traditional Central Asian sedentary practices, as distinguished from nomadic Turkic populations in Central Asia. The Bolsheviks reintroduced the term Uyghur to replace the previously used "Turk". Uyghurs are recognized as a separate ethnic group by the Chinese government.
Large diasporic communities of Uyghurs exist in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Smaller communities are found in Mongolia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Russia and Taoyuan County of Hunan province in south-central Mainland China. Uyghur neighborhoods can be found in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney, Washington D.C, Munich, Tokyo, Toronto, Istanbul.
3)THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2010 – “KURDISTAN, the other Iraq”
Presenter: Charmaine Jamieson
The people of Iraqi-Kurdistan invite you to discover their peaceful region, a place that has practiced democracy for over a decade, a place where the universities, markets, cafes and fair grounds buzz with progress and prosperity, and where the people are sowing the seeds of a brighter future. With a population of nearly 5 million, the three governorates of Duhok, Erbil and Suleimani cover four times the area of Lebanon and larger than that of The Netherlands.
Nashville, TN boasts a huge immigrant population, and many of these are political refugees. One particularly significant group, especially considering the current Iraq War, is the local Kurdish population. Many Kurds come to Nashville to escape persecution in the Middle East. The best-known example of this dates to 1988, when Saddam Hussein waged genocide against Iraqi Kurds. Thousands of Kurds were killed by chemical warfare and mass destruction, and even more simply disappeared. This, however, was only the culmination of past persecution and violence against the Kurds in Iraq and elsewhere.
4) WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2010 - “HAITI”
Presenters: Colin Dayan and Jane Landers
Presenter Jane Landers will discuss how French Saint Domingue (HAITI) became the richest sugar colony in the world and how its oppressed slaves accomplished the revolt that led to Haitian independence.
Presenter Colin Dayan will discuss current events in Haiti and discuss what is needed to provide real help to Haiti. On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti and devastated the capital city, Port-au-Prince. Colin says the best aid for the earthquake-ravaged nation of HAITI is to empower the Haitian people.
Haiti, in the West Indies, occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. About the size of Maryland, Haiti is two-thirds mountainous, with the rest of the country marked by great valleys, extensive plateaus, and small plains.
Haiti was the first independent nation in Latin America and the first independent black-led republic in the world when it gained independence as part of a successful slave rebellion in 1804. Despite having common cultural links with its Hispano-Caribbean neighbors, Haiti is the only predominantly French-speaking independent nation in the Americas. Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas.
Register quickly! These will fill up fast!
Patsy
Patsy Partin, M.Ed
Director, Virtual School
Vanderbilt University
2007 Terrace Place
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 322-6384
www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool