Frontline World: Stories from a Small Planet
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/index.html
Frontline World offers a glimpse into the lives of people across the globe through video and additional resources.Frontline World tells stories in video; each feature is about twenty minutes in length and can be viewed from the site in four- to eight-minute clips. Each story is accompanied by relevant content to provide background information and to extend the topics brought up in the feature. For example, if you view the video “Romania: My Old Haunts” you will see and hear about changes in the economic and cultural systems since the overthrow of the socialist government in 1989. In addition to the video, you may consider the facts and folklore of vampires and Transylvania as portrayed in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, or explore Father Grigore Dancus’s journal, an eyewitness account of the Nazi persecution and eventual deportations of 40,000 Jews in Maramures County, near Romania’s border with Ukraine and Hungary.Rich multimedia content brings the world to your classroom and provides engaging new ways to present cultural and geographic topics. Search for Belize and find stories and audio examples of the musical traditions of “Paranda,Punta and Punta Rock” that reflect influences of West African and Carib Indian roots. Try a search for Vietnam and you can view the slideshow “Liquid Vietnam” featuring images of the watery landscape and clearly demonstrating role lakes, rivers and wetlands play in the lives and livelihoods of the people who live there.
Interactive features provide a way to engage students directly in world issues and news events. Students who decide how to allocate their dollar spent on coffee — how much to the grower? trader? shipper? roaster? retailer? may be surprised to see how their estimates for fair compensation compare with market rates. Readers are encouraged to contribute their reactions by answering specific story-related questions on moderated discussion boards. Keep up with events by subscribing to the Frontline World Newsletter.Use the Educators page to locate activities to use in the classroom. Teaching ideas are organized by topic (currently there are activities for culture, geography, history, economics and politics) and are aligned to national standards. Locate content on the site by searching or view the stories by place, by date or by theme. You may select articles, images or video clips to enhance your presentations or assign elements of the site for students to use independently.Note: Since there is a great deal of violence in the world, not all content from Frontline World may be relevant or appropriate for students in your classes, please preview materials before using.
