Utah State Library Youth Services

ONE WORLD, MANY STORIES 2011 WEBLIOGRAPHY
A compilation of websites from Rhonda Puntney’s CEO newsletter. Rhonda is the new President of the Collaborative Summer Library Programs.

Websites are loosely categorized by the following categories:
Food, Stories and Songs, Literature and Bibliographies, Customs and Cultures, Miscellaneous, and Extras Not in the Newsletter

FOOD

Dining Customs of Different Cultures–http://life.familyeducation.com/cross-cultural-relations/behavior/48976.html

Table Manners Across Cultures–http://www.videojug.com/interview/table-manners-across-cultures-2

Teach about Other Cultures Through Food–http://www.suite101.com/content/social-studies-cultural-unit-lesson-plan-a171552

Agropolis Museum: Food and agricultures of the world–http://www.museum.agropolis.fr/english/index.html
This website for the Agropolis museum in France is about food and how humans have produced it over the centuries. The exhibits offer a fresh way of looking at food and the role it plays in society. Visitors should not miss the fascinating and moving virtual exhibit “The Banquet de l’Humanite (The dining table of the world)”, which explains the ongoing struggle for food worldwide. The exhibit, which is a sculpture at the physical museum, is pictured on the site, and it features clay figures seated around a table representing the world. Visitors will read that the figures represent countries with low, medium, and high rates of food production, and food information on each country can be linked to in the text below the sculpture. Additionally, there are two clay figures that aren’t even seated at the table, and they are called the “Excluded Ones”. They represent the “new poor people in a society of mass consumption.” They are often unemployed, homeless or poor city dwellers. The “World’s Food” virtual exhibit offers basics about food and human nutritional needs. Visitors should be sure to click on the colorful boxes at the top of the page, to see images of similar types of food, but in different cultures. (From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2011. http://scout.wisc.edu/, 2/25/11)

STORIES AND SONGS

Story Lovers Multicultural – Worldwide Stories–http://www.story-lovers.com/listsmulticulturalstories.html
This is a link from the Story Lovers website, includes a bibliography and web links of multicultural stories, myths, finger plays, songs and more.

Aaron Shepherd’s World of Stories–http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/
From the venerable Aaron Shepherd, here’s a list of stories from around the world that you can retell. Organized by genre, these include folktales, legends, magicial tales and much more. Also indicated are country/culture, theme, age appropriateness, and number of words.

Mama Lisa’s World–http://www.mamalisa.com
Mama Lisa’s World is a collection of children’s songs and nursery rhymes from around the world. Whatever the culture a child belongs to, whatever the flag he or she lives under, this is the place to find the lyrics to kids songs, in English and in the original languages! Some songs include MP3′s and Midi music.

Folktexts–http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
Features public domain folktales from many countries categorized by theme, topic, or event.

LITERATURE AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Cooperative Children’s Book Center Multicultural Literature Page–http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/multicultural.asp
There is no single definition of the term “multicultural literature” as it is applied to books for children and young adults. The CCBC uses the term to mean books by and about people of color.

All children deserve books in which they can see themselves and the world in which they live reflected. Multicultural literature belongs in every classroom and library — on the shelves and in the hands of children, librarians, and teachers. The challenge for librarians, teachers and others is identifying authentic, reliable books by and about people of color. This page is designed to provide resources to aid in that search.

Multicultural Children’s Literature–http://www.multiculturalchildrenslit.com/
Welcome to the wonderfully diverse world of children’s multicultural literature, “literature that represents any distinct cultural group through accurate portrayal and rich detail” (Yokota, 1993, p. 157). Such literature appears in different genres which together present a multitude of perspectives about the lives, culture, and contributions of each cultural group to American society. This web site contains links to annotated bibliographies of children’s multicultural books appropriate for the elementary grades (kindergarten through grade six). Cultural groups currently listed include: African Americans, Chinese Americans, Latino/Hispanic Americans, Japanese Americans, Jewish Americans, Native Americans, and Korean Americans. Books are categorized by genre: realistic fiction, information (non-fiction), traditional literature, biography, historical fiction, poetry, and fantasy.

Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library SRP Booklists–http://dpi.wi.gov/rll/wrlbph/summer_2011.html
The Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library has created booklists for the “One World, Many Stories” and “You Are Here” themes. These are items that are available in audio book format at the WTBBL.

CUSTOMS AND CULTURES

Kids.gov Social Studies World Cultures–http://www.kids.gov/6_8/6_8_social_studies_countries.shtml
The 5th through 8th grade section here contains a great list of websites that could be listed here independently.

Cultures and Customs Around the World–http://library.thinkquest.org/J0111929/

Multicultural and Intercultural Games and Activities–http://wilderdom.com/games/MulticulturalExperientialActivities.html
From Wilderdom, which is known for team building resources. You’ll find many games and activities from other cultures for kids of all ages and adults.

Multicultural Education Internet Resource Guide–http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/Multi.html
This guide to over 50 web sites was created to assist multicultural educators in locating educational resources on the Internet. World wide access to multicultural information and current events in other regions makes the Internet an important educational tool. Teachers through the internet have access to lesson plans, on-line photo galleries, stories, maps, virtual field trip, international radio programming, and e-mail pen pals. In the multicultural classroom these resources can be used to create thematic units. Other sites, such as those devoted to art and geography can supplement an existing lesson. Many of the sites listed are source sites with lessons, pictures, problems and quizzes on-line, and other sites are Index sites which provide extensive links related to a subject of interest. A listing of professional organizations for multicultural educators is also provided. Highly recommended sites are marked by an “*”.

Encyclopedia Smithsonian’s World Cultures–http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia/Search/World%20Cultures
Includes links to online Smithsonian exhibits, fact sheets, reading lists, research and much more.

ALSC’s Great Websites: Cultures of the World–http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwebsites&template=/cfapps/gws/displaysection.cfm&sec=36
A superb collection of ALSC-vetted sites including National Geographic Kids and UNICEF’s Voices of Youth.

MISCELLANEOUS

Magnificent Maps–http://www.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/
The British Library has a few maps in its collection, and it is an institution that is well-positioned to create an exhibition with the title “Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art”. This digital exhibit is meant to complement an in situ exhibit that explores these main themes through 80 different maps. On this site, visitors can look over four of these marvelous maps in exquisite detail, and also watch and listen as the exhibit’s curators talk about each work. The maps include the Psalter World Map from 1625, which is most likely a copy of the lost map which decorated King Henry III’s bedchamber in Westminster Palace. “The Island” map shouldn’t be missed either, as it satirizes “the London-centric view of the English capital and its commuter towns as independent from the rest of the country.” The site is rounded out by a blog maintained by the curators, and it is worth a look. (Scout Report, 9/3/10)

Hot Air Balloon–http://www.hotairballoon.com/
Here you will find a directory and calendar of hot air balloon festivals, rallies and events around the world.

Teach the Earth–http://serc.carleton.edu/index.html
The Science Education Resource Center (SERC), with financial support from the National Science Foundation, presents this portal for educators who teach geo-science. Hundreds of teaching activities are available including visualizations, data sets and models, lab activities, projects, virtual field trips, and writing assignments. Topics for the activities include climate change, geochemistry, earth surface, energy/material cycles, ocean, solar system, earth history, and more. Teachers may also want to check out the section on methods. These strategies, such as cooperative learning, gallery walk, and others, could also be used effectively to teach other subjects. (Education World Site Reviews, 11/2/10)

Flags of the World–http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/
Flags of the World (FOTW), founded in 1994, is the Internet’s largest site devoted to vexillology (the study of flags). Here you can read more than 47,000 pages about flags and view more than 87,000 images of flags of countries, organizations, states, territories, districts and cities, both past and present.

National Geographic Video: Animals, Travel, Kids–http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/
The “Video” section of the wonderful National Geographic website has so much to offer visitors. Many of the videos are just several minutes long, such as the two minute and twelve second video taken of an Australian sea lion attacking and eating an octopus, with a “Crittercam” that is attached to the sea lion. The videos are divided into six categories, including “Adventure”, “Animals”, “Environment”, “Kids”, “Movies”, and “Music Videos”. Within each of the categories, there are at least half a dozen subcategories, so visitors have a constant supply of videos, with new videos added frequently. The homepage of the Video section has “Featured Videos”, and presently includes a very timely four minute segment entitled “Egypt Antiquities Damaged, At Risk During Unrest” about the damage that looters had done to artifacts at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The “Movies” category contains mainly clips or previews from films, and visitors should check out the four clips from the movie “God Grew Tired of Us”, about former child soldiers of Africa. (From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2011. http://scout.wisc.edu/, 3/4/11)

Planet Earth on YouTube – Metafilter–http://www.metafilter.com/101281/The-Definitive-Look-at-the-Diversity-of-Our-Planet
The breathtaking TV series is now available in its entirety on YouTube. Here are the links. (Neat New Stuff I Found This Week, http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html, Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2011, 3/11/11)

National Geographic Travel and Cultures–http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/
Travel tips, blogs, photos, contests and much more.

EXTRAS NOT IN THE NEWSLETTER

Peace Corps Educators Page–http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/educators/
Includes lesson plans, multimedia material, service learning project suggestions, enrichment projects, and more. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter.

Kid Activities Diversity and Multicultural Theme Introduction–http://www.kidactivities.net/category/DiversityMulti-Cultural.aspx
Songs, crafts, bibliographies, foods, games much more. Includes a section on saying “thank you” in almost 30 languages, with phonetic pronunciation.

United Nations Cyberschoolbus–http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/

LearningLanguages.net–http://www.learninglanguages.net/SPT–Home.php
Brought to you by the University of Wisconsin and the Internet Scout Project, this site is a compilation of educational resources to teach languages and world cultures. Subject areas include: architecture, art/sculpture, family, film, folklore, food, history, indigenous peoples, literature, music, performing arts, politics, regions, religion, sports, travel