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Did you know?
The President’s Challenge Physical Activity and Fitness Awards program is a nationwide call to action for a healthier America. All you have to do to participate is be active five days a week for six out of eight weeks, and log your activity. The President’s Challenge offers programs for educators who want to help their students meet physical fitness, health, and active lifestyle goals.
Source:
The President’s Challenge website
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Summer is coming! For students and teachers alike, this often means a break from the school-year schedule of early mornings and evenings full of work. Perhaps this summer has travel in store, or volunteer work, or maybe just days on end of relaxation. Or maybe this summer you’ll indulge in some of your favorite sports and games.
Peace Corps Volunteers the world over use sports and games as a chance to share U.S. culture with their host communities, and to learn a little about their new places. Youngsters in Nepal and the Philippines love to learn the American “Hokey-Pokey,” just as new volunteers in Zambia and Honduras feel more at home when they join in a soccer game with a crowd of locals.
In this issue, discover resources that feature sports and games that have shaped the experience of Peace Corps Volunteers and the communities they serve, including a new slide show about how students study, live, and play in Namibia. As the school year comes to a close, maybe you can take some time to teach your students games that children are playing in other countries. And whatever you have coming up for you, have a wonderful summer!
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Slide Show: Go to School for a Day in Namibia! Through studying, working, eating, and living together—and through playing together as well—Namibian schoolchildren form new families as they grow and learn. Peace Corps Volunteer Elissa Milanowski provides a unique glimpse into this world in her narrated slide show. |
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Podcasts: Soccer Until Dusk and “Magic” Pablo Peace Corps Volunteer Mark Brazaitis reads his poem about the role of soccer in a small Guatemalan town, and tells a story of how sport helped to build his friendship with a boy in the community. Share the podcasts and accompanying lesson plans with your students. Lessons: 1 | 2 | 3 |
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Online Game: Peace Corps Challenge
Peace Corps Challenge gives players the opportunity to work in the fictional village of Wanzuzu as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Kids must work with local villagers to solve eight different challenges facing the community: water contamination, sanitation and disease, microfinance, barren fields, malaria, soil erosion, girls’ education, and agroforestry. Check out World Wise Schools’ lesson plans to go along with the game.
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Video: Cultural Gaffes at Home and Abroad You responded, and we listened! View the newest version of our enormously popular Cultural Gaffes video for handy advice on how to build your cultural sensitivity. |
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Peace Corps Teens website: Test your knowledge with trivia quizzes from around the world! |
| Ask a Volunteer (continued) |
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Q: What types of sports or games do children play in your country of service?
A: As an environmental education volunteer in Nicaragua, I work in rural elementary schools. My kids have various games they play during recess. They love to play baseball and kickball, but they use only two bases instead of three. They also like to play the game Red Rover, as many children do in the United States.
Another popular game is The Cat and the Mouse, where the students form a circle in which one student, the mouse, stands. Another student, the cat, stands outside the circle. The students in the circle protect the mouse from the cat, but once the mouse leaves the circle, the cat can chase the mouse. The goal is for the mouse to leave the circle and return to its protection before the cat can grab it.
An interesting observation that I've made is the different levels of gender integration among my schools during these games. My schools that are located closer to the area's large town tend to practice more gender integration in the games. However, my schools that are more remote and removed from the larger town display more traditional exclusions of women in sports-like activities, especially baseball and kickball. For this reason, I place extra care in encouraging the inclusion of girls in all the activities we do together, and have thankfully observed marked changes in their attitudes.
Alex Fuller-Young, Environmental Education Peace Corps Volunteer, Nicaragua
A: I am in South Africa, and the kids here are really big into soccer (football). There's also cricket, but I don't think that's as widespread with kids. There's also something called netball, which is like a cross between volleyball and basketball.
Casey Frazee, NGO Development Peace Corps Volunteer, South Africa
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| Seeking an Education Specialist |
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The Coverdell World Wise Schools program provides a variety of services and materials to help American schoolchildren learn about, understand, and appreciate the diverse cultures and issues of the world. The education specialist will be part of a small team developing content about global issues based on the Peace Corps Volunteer experience, and providing support and technical assistance to K-12 educators in the use of CWWS resources to develop “globally ready” kids.
The candidate should have the ability to develop curriculum content in multiple media formats, represent and promote curriculum projects to agency and external stakeholders, inspire and communicate clearly with program constituents, participate and contribute as an integral part of a small team, and facilitate professional development activities for K-12 educators. Professional teaching experience is required; experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer is desirable. Location: Peace Corps Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
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Q: What types of sports or games do children play in your country of service?
A: Soccer, or “kora,” as it is lovingly referred to here in Morocco, continues to show itself truly to be “the world's game.” Luckily for me, my community received donations of used jerseys. The uniform tops offer a more “professional” feel to our afternoon battles overlooking the Middle Atlas Mountains.
—Tricia Friedman, English Education Peace Corps Volunteer, Morocco
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New Spanish Resource!
Dive Into Ecotourism! Enjoy our new Spanish transcription of Peace Corps Volunteer Joe Kennedy’s short film about life and work in the Dominican Republic, where he helped his community develop areas for tourists to stay active while they enjoy the environment. |
Save the Date! Educating for a Flattened World
On October 15 and 16, 2009, join us at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, DC for our second Global Issues in the Classroom conference. This event will bring educators together to explore and enhance strategies for integrating global issues and cross-cultural understanding into the curriculum. Questions? Contact us |
Help World Wise Schools Serve You Better!
When you visit our website in July, you may be prompted to participate in a brief online survey. Just a few minutes of your time spent answering our questions will help us to know what you would like more of, what needs improvement, and how we can do a better job of meeting your needs for global issues resources for your classroom. |
Correspondence Match Tip of the Month
What happens to your Correspondence Match now that the end of the school year is fast approaching? For most of you, nothing will change; the matches are designed to last the volunteer’s entire service, usually two years. We recommend that you stay in touch with your volunteer over the summer, just to keep your correspondence active and ready to start again in earnest when the new school year starts.
If you know that your volunteer is ending Peace Corps service over the summer and you would like a new volunteer, please let us know by sending an e-mail. This will allow us to place your name on the teacher waiting list as soon as possible. |
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