Global Clubs towards Intercultural Curricula

Project Directors: Kathy G. Short (University of Arizona)
In partnership with Worlds of Words and the College of Education at the University of Arizona.

There is a growing interest in the use of children’s literature within FL teaching (Bland, 2014) and research has demonstrated that engagement with global literature can be a significant means of building intercultural understanding among younger learners (Short, Day & Schroeder, 2016; Wissman, 2017). This project builds on two previous CERCLL projects—the Language and Culture Book Kits and Globalizing the Common Core State Standards—which both worked to expand the opportunities that K-8 students have to build cultural literacy by engaging with world languages and global literature. In this new project, Dr. Kathy Short and a team of graduate students will organize and coordinate an afterschool club at an elementary school in Tucson where students will use the books and materials developed as part of these previous projects. In addition to developing a set of instructional strategies for both curricular and extracurricular settings, the after-school club will allow the project team to document children’s responses to the materials and serve as on-site professional learning opportunity where teachers can experience the potential of a global approach.

The Global Clubs towards Intercultural Curricula project will:

  • Develop, pilot and refine a world languages and global literature K-8 curriculum and related instructional strategies in an afterschool club;
  • Record learner engagements with global literature to be used for professional learning and as a data source for reviewing pedagogical processes;
  • Open the afterschool club to teachers to serve as professional learning site;
  • Share the resulting teacher handbook–including strategies for engaging children with global literature and world languages–as an open-access resource on CERCLL’s website.

Note: The pandemic has restricted the in-person club activities, and though materials will be forthcoming, the final form and publication date will need to be determined.