Article
Passion for Carolina Navigators
ID # 3780
In class today my group came up with a very influential statement for a theme to define intercultural education. We see ourselves as promoting an appreciation of cultural similarities and differences in a way that fosters global awareness, addresses generalized fears, and redefines culture for local youth. This sentence brings excitement to my face on what Carolina Navigators has the potential of doing in our own life and the lives of youth. The activity we did in class of picking out magazine pictures that represented intercultural education in our own eyes was a great way to expand our thoughts and broaden our own perception of the term. We chose pictures to incorporate diversity: food, colorful flowers, children, different races, etc. Explaining intercultural education to someone who wasnt familiar could be done in numerous creative ways, like the magazine collages. The passion for other cultures around the world and appreciation of what we do for them and they do in return for us, is an exciting concept. People involved with programs like Carolina Navigators are becoming more interculturally educated and more globally aware each and every day. I would point out advancements in infrastructure or technology that would not have happened without the help due to trading with other countries and relationships with them. This term always leads me to specialization and how that is such an important concept in todays society. We produce products and crops that we can produce efficiently, while other countries produce their strong points as well and then we exchange.
In my presentation I want to take my students back to the clueless mindset I had before venturing on the mission to Nicaragua, and let them figure out for themselves the culture shock I experienced two summers ago. They will develop a global perspective through my pictures and videos in a PowerPoint presentation. I am going to ask personal questions to the children, such as, Can you imagine life like this? My goal is to put the children in the Nicaraguans shoes. I will read from my journal I used while in Nicaragua, about my thoughts, feelings, and details throughout the day, to almost make my presentation an intriguing story. I want curious minds and eager eyes from the kids, and I am hoping they have many questions for me when the time comes for a break. They will be globally intrigued by the end, and just as I pondered, they will ponder, Do we live in the same world they do?