Educator Spotlight: Sharing Diverse Student Stories

Maeve Hitzenbuhler empowered English language learners to share their migration journeys through drawing and writing. Students authored books, which they shared with the school and their community. Maeve’s National Geographic Educator Certification capstone project is titled Invisible to Visible. Continue reading Educator Spotlight: Sharing Diverse Student Stories

Preschool Aims to Keep the Dakota Language Alive

UNITED STATES A young educator plans to open an immersion school in Minnesota, where only five Dakota first-language speakers remain. Funding and staffing challenges often face such schools, but Vanessa Goodthunder is determined to “help heal historical trauma.” (Christian Science Monitor) How are Native Americans in California working to preserve another endangered language? Watch this great video lesson from our partners at the Global Oneness … Continue reading Preschool Aims to Keep the Dakota Language Alive

Hello! Whales Can Imitate Human Speech

SCIENCE Killer whales able to copy words such as ‘hello’ and ‘bye bye’ as well as sounds from other orcas. (Guardian) What other animal sounds can whales imitate? Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of resources in our Teachers Toolkit. Discussion Ideas An orca named Wikie has quasi-successfully imitated basic human speech. According to the Guardian, what two elements make genuine human speech possible? … Continue reading Hello! Whales Can Imitate Human Speech

Generation Gaps, Social Studies, and Learning Through Language

Sandhya Narayanan is just one of the women speaking at our Expand the Field event on Tuesday, February 11, 2019. Learn more about the events and get tickets here! National Geographic Explorer Sandhya Narayanan grew up hearing five different languages spoken at home (Malayalam, Hindi, English, Tamil, and Bengali) and many more spoken around her in the international city of Toronto. This multilingual environment made … Continue reading Generation Gaps, Social Studies, and Learning Through Language