ENVIRONMENT Thanks to large-scale restoration efforts, the North Aral Sea has seen a resurgence of fish—a boon to the communities that rely on it. (National Geographic) Use our resources to learn more about how the Aral Sea was written off for dead to begin with, and why it won’t ever fully recover. Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers … Continue reading Once Written Off for Dead, the Aral Sea Is Now Full of Life
WORLD Space-age technology has revealed an ancient mystery on the ground. (New York Times) Download, annotate, and print your own map of Kazakhstan here. Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers’ Toolkit. Discussion Ideas Using satellite imagery, NASA recently documented a series of geoglyphs in a remote region of central Kazakhstan. What are geoglyphs? A geoglyph is a large … Continue reading Ancient Geoglyphs Discovered in Kazakhstan
Thursday, June 10th, ethnic violence broke out in the southern city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan. Shortly after, American newspapers and news channels began covering the story.
For many of us, Kyrgyzstan isn’t a country we hear about often. We’re
likely unsure of what language Kyrgyzstanis speak, what type of
government they have, how big the country is, where it is located, and
even how to pronounce or spell “Kyrgyzstan.”
Without context,
stories of violence in Kyrgyzstan on news programs and in newspapers
are nothing more than stories, confined to a 2D non-reality.
It’s hard to miss the commercials—or the buzz—for Borat, a new movie starring British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen as an inept and ill-mannered Kazakh journalist. The people of Kazakhstan are, understandably, a bit horrified at the false traditions—caging women and drinking horse urine, among others—attributed by Borat to the Asian nation. So what is Kazakhstan really like? Here are a few sites to give you … Continue reading Borat‘s Kazakhstan
