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Volume
13, Number 2, Fall 2002
A
new vision updates 4-H Global and Cultural Education
By Betsy Knox
This
past year, a team of 4-H volunteers, experts in global and
cultural affairs, and 4-H staff members have been working
on ways to increase the number of opportunities for 4-H
members to explore the differences that make people unique
and the similarities they share.
They
have created a vision that hopes to use activities and opportunities
offered in counties throughout Michigan, nationally and
internationally that help young people understand themselves
and feel connected to their local and global communities,
that encourage a respect and responsibility for the world,
and that help them develop their ability to serve others
with wisdom, caring and humility.
What
everyone seems to agree on is that this new focus for global
and cultural education is not just about international travel,
although that remains a significant part of the new direction
for programming.
“I
think learning and experiencing other cultures makes someone
a better person with a more open mind to similarities and
differences,” says Laura, 15, of Newaygo County.
She
and other teens were asked what they wanted to see in 4-H
programming in this area at 2002 4-H Exploration Days.
“If
we don’t understand different cultures, then we become
ignorant of all the countries around us,” said Deidre,
14, an Oakland County 4-H member.
And
17-year-old Gretchen summed it up with: “If people
understand each other, they would be less inclined to hate.”
The
new program focus will include new learning materials; local
education opportunities that use the diverse resources provided
in communities; increased community, state, national and
international exchange opportunities; use of technology
to connect people from different geographic regions; and
expansion of the volunteer role in global and cultural education
program development.
Volunteers
working with young people today don’t have to wait
to began incorporating this new vision for global and cultural
education learning into their 4-H year.
Ideas
to Try
Here
are some ideas to try now for thinking and learning more
globally. Remember, after you do an activity, have a discussion
with your 4-H members that helps them reflect on what they
learned from the experience and then help them apply what
they learn to everyday situations they encounter that call
for thinking globally and with cultural awareness and sensitivity.
-
Develop a list of key words that you use in your 4-H project
area and have your 4-H members do the research to find
those words in a different language. Explore whether they
are used and mean the same across cultures. Look for similarities
in the word sounds and spellings across cultures.
- Pick
a country and plan a month- or yearlong study around the
people, history, political concerns and physical environment
of that country.
- Find
your local immigration services office and inquire about
ways your club can provide a community service to welcome
new immigrants to your community.
-
Have your teen 4-H members write their U.S. representative
and senator about international concerns that are most
important to Congress that teens can make a difference
with.
- Read
the international section of your local newspaper and
discuss how an issue in another country is similar or
different from the same issue in America.
- Interview
a grandparent who is a native of a different country about
his or her childhood memories before coming to the United
States. Have your members gather information that can
be used to record and document those experiences using
the Family Folklore: A 4-H FOLKPATTERNS Project (4H1330)
learning materials.
- Read
and discuss a book in which the main characters live outside
the United States. Have your students write and illustrate
short stories featuring themselves that mirror what young
people from other cultures experience. Discuss how they
are similar or different.
- Visit
UNICEF online at http://www.unicef.org
and discuss with your young people the issues that the
world’s children face. Explore which of the issues
are worldwide and which issues are unique to a particular
country or region.
- Make
crafts from around the world, then share and display them
at a cultural fair that involves members of those cultures
who live in your community. Invite them to talk about
the meaning of those crafts with your visitors.
For
more information on 4-H cultural and global education opportunities,
visit 4-H online at http://web1.msue.msu.edu/cyf/youth/culture.html.
Betsy
Knox is the state 4-H associate program leader for global
and cultural education and arts programming.
Copyright
© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Michigan State University
Last Updated: January 10, 2005
Last Reviewed:
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