Intercultural Knowledge

America ReFramed:  (Intermediate - Advanced) World Channel program showcasing more than 170 videos with stories, voices and experiences that reflect the diversity of the U.S., including more than half produced by female filmmakers, and a third by BIPOC filmmakers. 

• Fannie Lou Hamer's America: The film, produced by Hamer's great-niece, explores and celebrates the lesser-known life of a Mississippi sharecropper-turned-human-rights-activist and one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest leaders, and includes audio recordings and archival video footage of Hamer's powerful speeches, soul-stirring songs and impassioned pleas for equal rights.

• Geographies of Kinship: The film connects the complex personal histories of four adult adoptees born in South Korea with the rise of the country’s global adoption program. Raised in foreign families, each adoptee sets out on a journey to reconnect with their roots, mapping the geographies of kinship that bind them to a homeland they never knew. 

The Change Agent: (High Beginner - High Intermediate ESOL) A biannual electronic magazine for adult educators and learners published by the New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) at World Education, with curated submissions from adult learners across the U.S. (MA adult educators have free access to this site with login massachusetts / changeagent). Issues related to Intercultural Knowledge include:

• Indigenous Peoples (Issue # 48, March 2019)

• Hair (Issue #46, March 2018)

• Talking about Race (Issue #42, March 2016)

• Celebrations (Issue #41, Sept 2015)

• All About Food (Issue #39, Sept 2014)

Global Oneness Project: (Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) Stories and lessons provide opportunities to examine universal themes that emphasize themes of common humanity—identity, diversity, hope, resilience, imagination, adversity, empathy, love, and responsibility. 

Google Arts & Culture: (Multilevel) This site offers broad collection of educational resources, including virtual tours of museums around the world, details about significant historical events, biographical information about artists and other important historical figures, and photo collections from thousands of places around the world. 

The History of White People in America: (Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) Through musical animated shorts, Webby-nominated THE HISTORY OF WHITE PEOPLE IN AMERICA examines how skin color has come to define race in our country. The shorts capture the truth of what it means to be American – that “us” and “them” are constantly redefined, that our racial history deserves contemplation, and that above all else we are bound by our rich differences in experience and identity. 

• How America Invented Race

• How America Outlawed Interracial Marriage

• How America Made Skin Color Power

Listenwise Audio Story Collections (Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) A library of audio podcast excerpts with associated supports on topics of interest.  Highlighted collection focuses on themes of overcoming challenges, and the evolution of personal identity. 

• Perseverance: These 13 stories of individual journeys of accomplishment, full of twists and turns, speak to the power of perseverance, no matter what obstacles threaten to block the way. 

• Shaping Identity:  Nine stories focus on different elements of individuals' sense of personal identity across a variety of cultures. 

The Moth:  Moth stories are true, as remembered by the storyteller and always told live, and can be accessed through the Moth Radio Podcast as audio stories, with some stories also available on the Moth's YouTube channel.  

Recommended stories with a focus on Intercultural Knowledge include: 

Audio:

• Olive Oil Eyes (Suzie Afridi): love story between a Christian Orthodox Palestinian woman and a Muslim Pakistani man. 

• The Love I Chose (Harjeet Kapor): a man has to decide between his romantic relationship and his loyalty to his parents

• Black History Month 2020 (Devan Sandiford) a story about one man's challenges being brown in the world; (Al Sharpton) the development of a preacher's inspiration and talent to speak from the heart

Video:

• The Cultural Wall (Katiana Ciceron): facing a language barrier, a young woman finds a strategy to build a cultural bridge with her mother

• The Beginning of the Rest of Life (Jahvannia Darlin): a young woman finds the courage to tell her family that she is gay

• Lost (Ellie Lee): an artist and documentary filmmaker loses three years of work in an unexpected accident and finds it hard to continue

• Saying "I Love You" (Wendy Suzuki): a Japanese American describes her path into a science career and how it relates to her family relationships

• Don't Look Back (Ishmael Beah): a young man comes to NY as a teenager after years fighting as a child soldier in Sierra Leone and gets a second chance at childhood

• Roar (Amanda Gorman): a young woman takes her mother's advice while auditioning for a part in a play

Muslim Youth Voices: (Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) World Channel Collection of short films created by Muslim youth from six U.S. cities illuminates the many identities and experiences of youth and Muslim life in America. 

National Association of Black Storytellers: (Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) A collection of resources including recorded stories by African-American storytellers. 

• Brother Blue Confesses (Thomas Southern):  a man describes in lyrical verse his love for the woman who became his wife

• Daddy's Little Girl (Sharon Holley): a woman reflects on her relationship with her father, with a particular focus on their shared appreciation for the written word in many forms, and his enduring influence in her life. 

• Grandma: A Recipe for Life! (Denise Chapman-Acosta): story of an African-American elder who lived to 110 and served her community and faith in many ways.

• My Black Sings (Olivia Charmaine Morris): a young woman shares in poem and song the struggle to overcome prejudice against her as a black person, and fights complex stereotypes to celebrate her unique sense of self

Newsela Text Sets: (Low Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) Sets of thematically connected texts on a wide range of topics related to race, culture, history, social justice, and more. 

•  A Mile in Our Shoes: A collection of text sets focused on the varied experiences of African-Americans, Latinx Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Rural Americans, American Muslims, LGBTQ People, People with Disabilities, Immigrants, Refugees, Veterans, and others. 

PBS: (Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) NEPM and PBS have curated FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more for Massachusetts K-12 teachers; many materials can easily be adapted for use with adult learners. Of particular note are:

• Black Culture Connections Collection

• History Video Collection 

• U.S. History Collection

Pulitzer Center: (Advanced ESOL) The Pulitzer Center raises awareness of underreported global issues through direct support for quality journalism across all media platforms and a unique program of education and public outreach.  In the area of Intercultural Knowledge, several Issue collections are noteworthy: 

• Bringing Stories Home

• Indigenous Communities

• Women

• Religion

Stories from the Stage: (Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) An award-winning WORLD Channel original series featuring live storytelling broadcast weekly on public television on a range of topics with a diverse array of storytellers.

• Food for Thought: Stories about food leading to unexpected transformations. 

• Growing up Asian: perspectives on personal experience of growing up Asian American. 

• Growing up Black : perspectives on personal experiences of growing up Black in America.

• Holiday Horror: Stressful and exciting holiday adventures. 

• Holidays: The Good, The Bad: a variety of stories about intense and diverse holiday experiences. 

• Mealtime: Food lives at the place where connection, community-- and sometimes courage -- meet. 

• Pride: a decision, an accomplishment, standing up and being true to who they are. 

• Mi Familia: Families are made of unique individuals with different takes on life, bound together by love. 

• Sugar & Spice: stories about how food can influence people in unusual ways.

• Welcome to the Neighborhood:  Stories about how neighborhoods are ever-changing environments. 

StoryCorps: (High Beginner - Intermediate ESOL) An archive of animated excerpts from StoryCorps recorded interviews, that help "build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world." StoryCorps has organized collections of interviews that represent a diverse range of people: immigrants, LBTQ individuals, Black Americans, the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, Latinx Americans, the elderly, and healthcare workers.  A new initiative is American Pathways, developed to record, preserve, and share the stories and experiences of refugees, asylees, immigrants, and Muslims living in the United States. Also of note is the recent project, One Small Step, inviting people with different political views to record a StoryCorps interview with each other in order to foster respectful discourse and civic engagement.

Highlighted stories focus on building understanding from people with different backgrounds:

• Driving Lessons (Mohammad Ashraf Faridi & his son Mohammad Faridi): animated: dialog between a young man and his father, reminiscing about his father's work as a taxi driver while he grew up in New York City)

• On the Record (Jamal Faison & Born Blackwell) animated: dialog between a young man recently released from jail and his uncle

• The Bookmobile (Storm Reyes & Jeremy Hagquist) animated: story of the life-changing arrival of a bookmobile to a migrant labor camp

• Dad and Son Discuss Growing up Black in Mississippi (Albert and Aidan Sykes) animated: 2015 interview between 9 year old son and his father

• The Golden Rule (Amina Amdeen & Joseph Weidknecht) animated: dialog between a Muslim woman and a Trump supporter about shared moment in a 2016 political rally

Take on America with OZY: World Channel program highlights discussion and debate among specific subcultures of the U.S.

• Black Men in Baltimore: topics include the justice system, politics, opportunity, racism, fatherhood

• White Women in Nashville: topics include religion, guns, #MeToo movement, feminism in the age of Trump

• Latino Families in New York City: topics include immigration, religion, relationships, AOC, the impact of Trump

• Asian-American Millenials in San Francisco: topics include affirmative action, stereotypes, dating, Hollywood whitewashing

TED Talks: (Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) TED is a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world, dedicated to the sharing of powerful ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. Recommended TED Talks on the topic of Intercultural Knowledge include:

• Jennifer L. Eberhardt: How Racial Bias Works - And How to Disrupt It (Jun 2020)

• Sara Jones: My Story of Love and Loss as a Transracial Adoptee (Sept 2019)

• Kori Carew: Just Belonging: Finding the Courage to Interrupt Bias (Mar 2018)

• Valerie Alexander: How to Outsmart your Own Unconscious Bias (Sept 2017)

• Priya Vulchi & Winona Guo: What it Takes to Be Racially Literate (Nov 2017)

• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story (Oct 2009)

• Mellody Hobson: Color Blind or Color Brave? (Mar 2014)

Ted-Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing: (Intermediate - Advanced ESOL) Ted-Ed lessons, developed by teachers, include selected excerpts of full-length TED Talks, with accompanying discussion and comprehension checks, and may be animated. Recommended lessons in the area of Intercultural Knowledge include:

• How quickly do you judge a face? 

We Speak NYC: (Low Intermediate - High Intermediate ESOL) We Speak NYC videos tell the stories of New Yorkers who have come from all over the world to make New York City their home. The show helps English language learners improve their language skills, learn about their rights, and access City services. The videos focus on important topics and model language that you can use in your everyday lives, and the site also provides episode scripts, study guides, short stories, and vocabulary sets with images and words.