Birds of a Feather

This activity demonstrates to participants that people bring different talents, perspectives, and backgrounds to groups and helps them understand the benefits of forming diverse groups. 

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Pair Up

This activity invites participants to consider how they view people based on appearance and discuss two-way relationships. 

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CERCLL Collection for Language Teachers

This collection includes activities and simulations geared toward intercultural learning in the world language classroom.

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Purdue University School of Languages & Cultures Intercultural Learning Study Group, Fall 2019

This  collection  includes assessments, activities, and readings pertaining to intercultural learning. 

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Building the Skill of Empathy for Language Learners

This collection includes activities that help learners grow in empathy.

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Activities Easy to Adapt for Courses in World Languages

This collection includes activity ideas for intercultural learning in the world language classroom.

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Assessment of/as Intercultural Learning in World Languages

This collection includes recommended inventories, debriefing tools, and surveys for assessing intercultural learning.

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Frameworks and Theories for Intercultural Learning in the Language Classroom

This collection includes resources for language teachers pertaining to intercultural learning benchmarks, assessments, activities, and more within the language classroom.

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Beans Don't Have Culture

This simulation encourages participants to examine "the range of possible perspectives that can be brought to bear on [the] complicated work of international development and humanitarian aid."

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Reducing Stereotype Threats

This activity, created by Dr. Dan Jones, CILMAR, is based on the chapter by Toni Schmader, William Hall, and Alyssa Croft, “Stereotype threat in intergroup relations”. This activity will help participants recognize the mechanisms that cause negative impacts of stereotyping. This activity explores the ways to combat negative performance by identifying and removing stereotype threats. This activity and handout are especially beneficial to instructors and program leaders in addressing issues of academic performance among marginalized and minority students.

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Scenery, Machinery, People

Scenery, Machinery, People asks learners to analyze who in their lives they categorize as scenery to be observed or ignored, who is machinery to be used, and who they actually allow to be the people. Learners also analyze to whom they themselves might be scenery, machinery, or people. After this analysis, we discuss the energy that must be expended to let someone move from scenery to machinery and from machinery to people. It’s really much easier to leave people in the category that you originally put them in. For example, the person who takes your money at a fast food place is just a machine until you ask them how their day is going. Only then do they begin to move from being machinery toward being a person. But as a participant once told me, “If I wouldn’t give you a kidney, then I don’t have the energy to let you be in the People category.”

Likewise, if you are used to seeing students who are different than you in some way as only the scenery, it is easy to leave them there, to other them, and not to ever really get to know them. Only when we exert the energy to change our sorting mechanism to default to “different than me is more interesting than same as me” will we begin to see progress in our students—and in ourselves.

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Six Differences

“Six differences” asks participants to find someone in the room who is different than themselves in six ways which aren’t appearance-based. “Six differences” is a great way to partner people up for “25 Questions.”

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Different Similarities

 “Different Similarities” offers polarized students the opportunity to see how they are similar to someone that they thought was much different, and it also gives students who minimize difference the opportunity to find out just how different they might be than others. 

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Twenty-five Questions

“25 Questions” gives practice for domestic and international students to ask one another interesting questions that they might not think of on their own.

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Living in a Bubble & Auditing Your Personal Networks

In the activity entitled “Living in a Bubble,” learners analyze the places that they regularly go for sameness and difference and discuss the pros and cons of experiencing heterogeneous and homogeneous communities.

A similar but different tool which increases self-awareness about our own personal networks is entitled Auditing Your Personal Networks. In this activity, participants sort their contacts based on feelings of intimacy—how close they feel to people in different zones. Groups include personal relationships in the middle, social relationships in the blue circle, and the public in the outermost circle. Participants put actual names in each circle and then talk about how they could draw more people into their circles.

Both the Bubble and Auditing tools begin with a reading of a 2019 article from The Atlantic by Green entitled “These are the Americans who live in a bubble." The Auditing tool also includes a reading of an article by Kos entitled “Relationship circles—the most important diagram of your life.” The sources for these are included in the HubICL Toolbox.

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Critical Mass

Another activity that gets at this idea of how we sort people is called Critical Mass. This particular activity builds off of a reading in Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi, entitled “The Strength of Stereotype Threat: The Role of Cues.” Steele begins the chapter by talking about how it felt for Sandra Day O’Connor to be the only woman on the Supreme Court. There was a little less stereotype threat when Ruth Bader Ginsberg (RBG) was added, but there were still a lot of comments by reporters that mentioned “one of two women on the court.”  It wasn’t until there were three women on the court  that it began to feel like women had reached critical mass and that RBG, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan could speak on behalf of their own opinion and not on behalf of all women.

After reading the chapter on critical mass and stereotype threat, we ask participants to look at their own college’s webpages and analyze who is represented, who is missing, who might feel excluded, whether the pages challenge or reinforce stereotype, etc.

 

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Language, Culture, and Perception: The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

This tool comes with a complete lesson plan for talking through each of the videos and applying the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. In the particular context of the class in which we talked about sorting, this could have made a nice follow up to talk about how each of their languages reinforces the way that they categorize objects, ideas, and even people. I especially like this particular activity because it asks viewers to either watch the movie Arrival or to watch one of the many YouTube videos about Arrival, along with a popular TED talk by Lera Boroditsky. 

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Language Coding

Kris Acheson-Clair has created another variation of Language Envelopes, which she calls Language Coding, that asks learners to sort sentences in a similar way to sorting objects. We offer both a hard copy of this for you to use with a group face-to-face and a ready-to-use jamboard for your use with virtual groups.

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Language Envelopes

If you were to visit my office, I have 30 envelopes each containing the items that you see on the screen. Depending on how many students are in the room, I number them off in such a way that there are two 1’s, two 2’s, two 3’s, two 4’s, etc. in the room, and no one originally sitting side by side has the same number. The two people who have number 1 sit facing one another with the envelope of objects between them. The two people who have number 2 sit facing one another with the envelope of objects between them. The two people who have number 3 sit facing one another with the envelope of objects between them, etc. until the entire room is paired off with someone that they were not sitting by when they came in the room.

Silently, one member of the pair empties out the envelope and sorts the objects while the other person in the pair observes. When all is sorted, the observer guesses the sorting logic that was used, and the sorter acknowledges whether the observer is correct in their guess. Then the roles reverse—the sorter becomes the observer, and the observer becomes the sorter.  Taking turns, each player should get to sort 3 times and observe each time, each time using a different sorting logic.

Let me give you an example of a couple of ways that I’ve seen this sorted. If I were to put the pencil, the nail, the screw, the coffee stirrer, the stick, the toothpick, and the Q-tip into a pile together, you might guess that I had sorted those objects by what qualities? If I put the feather, the leaf, the shell, the rock, and the stick together, you might guess that I sorted those objects by what characteristic?

As I said, I facilitated this activity with the group, and then we discussed the natural ability and tendency of humans to sort and our ability and tendency to see the similarities of things that have been sorted. I am going to leave this story for a time and come back to it in the end, so I can tell you what else is in the HubICL that you might be interested in for answering this question.

As a result of the pandemic this past year and so many things moving to on-line learning, this particular tool in the HubICL also includes a jamboard for you to use and copy, so you can partner off participants into breakout rooms, and they can manipulate pictures of the items, just as they would the real items.

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How Effective Are Training Games?

In this article, Thiagi details important questions for facilitators to ask themselves to ensure effectiveness when deciding which facilitation activities to use. 

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So Many Games

In this article, Thiagi highlights his philosophy on game facilitation and adaptation, encouraging facilitators and trainers to consider new ways of implementing old games to build their skills and encourage new learning objectives.

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Games, Training Games, Simulation Games,…

This article delineates important characteristics of games, training games, and simulations. 

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The Second Revolution

This article details the history and vision of the "simulation and games movement."

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Simulation Games: An Analysis of the Last Decade

This article presents an analysis of decades of simulation research to identify patterns, issues, and areas of opportunity.

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10 Secrets of Successful Simulations

This article includes tips for simulation success, defined as an "aha" moment for learners. 

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Active Involvement: Simulation Games and Teaching

This article discusses what needs to be present in design and implementation for effective simulation results.

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The Educational Effectiveness of Simulation Games: A Synthesis of Findings

An article that sheds light on simulation design and effectiveness, and the variables that impact learning from simulations.

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Creating effective learning environments and learning organizations through gaming simulation design

This article from Willy C. Kriz provides guidance for instructors and facilitators on solution-oriented simulation design aimed at learning and sustainability. 

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The Power of Simulation-based e-Learning (SIMBEL)

This article from Randall Kindley, PhD, provides design strategies for instructors and trainers within e-learning contexts. 

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A Field Guide to Educational Simulations

This guidebook from Clark Aldrich provides facilitation tips for trainers and instructors.

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The Myths and Realities of Simulations in Performance Technology

This other article from Thiagi is excellent for trainers, providing additional details to address and debunk misconceptions about simulations.

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Play For Performance Archive

This article archive provides activity ideas, an interview with activity trainer, and facilitation techniques. 

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Simulation Games with Embedded Puzzles

This article provides simulation activity ideas that include embedded puzzles.

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Misconceptions About Simulations

This article from Thiagi is excellent for trainers, addressing and debunking misconceptions about simulations.

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CILMAR Annual Cycle of Assessment: 2022 Report

A report assessing whether CILMAR met its goals in 2022. 

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New Activity Checklists

This is the checklist we used to assess and include andragogical, developmental, experiential, transformational, constructivist, and critically inclusive aspects into intercultural learning activities. 

The Ramping Up - New Activity Checklist Version 2 includes the items from our whiteboard brainstorming session during the workshop.

*Both Word docs and PDFs included.

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One Woman Is Holding Politicians Accountable for Nasty Speech. It’s Changing Politics.

This article introduces Tami Pyfer, Utah Demonstration Project Lead of the Dignity Index, a rhetorical scoring scale for politicians developed to address issues of scapegoating, polarization, and other divisive language in politics. 

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Ramping Up: From Theory to Facilitation Presentation Slides

These are the slides we used in our pre-conference presentation.

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Does Country Equate with Culture? Beyond Geography in the Search for Cultural Boundaries

This article explores culture beyond country borders.

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Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

This book by Benedict Anderson discusses nationalism, detailing that humans of different cultural groups have always contested territorial control through war, migrated for multiple reasons, co-existed, and intermingled. 

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Human Values Continuum

This activity challenges participants to recognize and analyze their reactions to a variety of cultural values. 

Within our session, we used this tool as an opportunity to practice assessing and developing intercultural learning tools after completing the New Activity Checklist.

Overview: This lesson plan will challenge participants to recognize and analyze their reactions to a variety of cultural values. In this activity, participants will move to various locations around the room based on their opinions about value statements read by the facilitator.

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Hofstede Website Activity

For this activity, participants refer to the Hofstede Insights website and explore the cultural proclivities of their own cultures as well as compare them with others’ cultures, understanding that these are generalizations. Additionally, participants examine the generalizations presented on the website and reflect on the complex nuances that are excluded from these over-simplified categories.

Within our session, we used this tool as an opportunity to practice assessing and developing intercultural learning tools after completing the New Activity Checklist.

For this activity, participants will refer to the Hofstede Insights website and explore the cultural proclivities of their own cultures as well as compare them with others’ cultures, understanding that these are generalizations. Participants will examine the generalizations presented on the website and reflect on the complex nuances that are excluded from these over-simplified categories.

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HubICL presentation - 1/24/23

This presentation is an outline of our time together on 1/24/23, covering the development of the HubICL Toolbox, areas beyond the Toolbox, and ways you can get involved. Feel free to follow along during the presentation and/or use it as a reference in the future.

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Teaching Students to Describe, Interpret/Analyze, Evaluate

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Geography

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Pre-work for In-person consultation

This presentation provides tips and tricks for most efficiently finding HubICL resources on a particular topic.

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A demonstration of 5 scaffolded activities for engaging with audiences concerning intersectionality SIETAR 2022 National Conference Presentation

These slides were part of the "A demonstration of 5 scaffolded activities for engaging with audiences concerning intersectionality" presentation at the SIETAR 2022 National Conference in Omaha, NE.

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Reducing Stereotype Threats

This activity, created by Dr. Dan Jones, CILMAR, is based on the chapter by Toni Schmader, William Hall, and Alyssa Croft, “Stereotype threat in intergroup relations”. This activity will help participants recognize the mechanisms that cause negative impacts of stereotyping. This activity explores the ways to combat negative performance by identifying and removing stereotype threats. This activity and handout are especially beneficial to instructors and program leaders in addressing issues of academic performance among marginalized and minority students.

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Coming Out Meatless Podcast Transcript

This is a transcript of the following podcast: 

Antolini, T. & Gross, R. (Hosts). (2015, September 10). Coming out meatless. In Gravy (No. 21) [Audio podcast episode]. Southern Foodways Alliance. https://www.southernfoodways.org/gravy/coming-out-meatless-gravy-ep-21/

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An experiential and interactive lesson plan for appreciating difference NAFSA Bi-regional VI VIII 2022 Presentation

These slides were part of the "An experiential and interactive lesson plan for appreciating difference" presentation at the 2022 NAFSA Bi-regional VI and VIII in Pittsburgh, PA.

 

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Interactive (even fun!) resources for reviewing the Intercultural Development Continuum

These slides were part of the "Interactive (even fun!) resources for reviewing the Intercultural Development Continuum" presentation at the 2022 NAFSA Bi-regional VI and VIII in Pittsburgh, PA.

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A toolkit for building intercultural empathy through non-verbal communication NAFSA Bi-regional VI VIII 2022 Presentation

These slides were part of the "A toolkit for building intercultural empathy through non-verbal communication" presentation at the 2022 NAFSA Bi-regional VI and VIII in Pittsburgh, PA.

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Ritual

An activity from Thiagi: "As a teenager, if you ever desperately wanted to belong to a group but you were not permitted to do so, you know how it feels to be excluded. This jolt deals with the concept of exclusion (and inclusion) in groups."

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Poker Face

This activity challenges participants to interrogate how stereotypes affect our first impressions and the value that we place on others. In this activity, participants will place one card from a deck of playing cards on their forehead. They will then interact with each other based on the values on their cards. They will then reflect on how they were treated and how they treated others based on those values. Additionally, they will relate these experiences to issues of diversity, inclusion, and cultural norms.

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Pacing

This activity challenges participants to recognize different communication patterns involving pacing. They will also reflect on how differences in pacing are perceived and how they might interact with individuals who use different patterns from them. In this activity, participants will first learn three different ways that people pace their communication. Then, they will role play using these patterns and discuss how they managed these various roles.

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The Parable

This activity uses a parable—a story that typically imparts a moral lesson—to get participants thinking about cultural differences and similarities. Participants will first read a parable that is provided to them and then discuss their assumptions and moral judgments of the characters based on their own cultural values.

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Hum Tum

This scene from Hum Tum is a great way to introduce the Dynamic Conflict style (indirect communication and highly expressive in the lower right quadrant) of the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory (ICS). The Intercultural Conflict Styles Activity + Role Play in the HubICL (link provided in post) presents an example of how you might use this film clip in an activity. 

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Intercultural Conflict Styles: Activity + Role Play

This activity introduces participants to the Intercultural Conflict Styles and gives them an opportunity to explore their own conflict style and learn about others’ styles. To enrich the activity, participants can take the fee-based inventory if time and funding allows, but the activity can still work without taking the inventory. The goal of this activity is to encourage participants to consider how their conflict style has formed over time and how their and others’ styles impact conflicts.

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Types of Conflict & Identifying the Source Activity

This activity gives participants the opportunity to re-envision conflicts by considering the source(s), toward more effective and enduring resolutions.

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Re-imagining Rhetoric Activity

Foss and Griffin (1995) re-imagined traditional rhetoric by creating an alternative way of communicating across differences in opinion, namely through invitational rhetoric (IR). IR is a rhetorical practice that welcomes and honors all perspectives on a topic without the traditional rhetorical practices of persuasion and domination. This activity encourages participants to discover new ways of discussing and disagreeing across differing perspectives and provides real-world examples of IR practices.

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Invitational Rhetoric Activity

Invitational rhetoric was created with the goal of understanding one another rather than persuading others to believe what the rhetor believes. As an alternative to contemporary communication theory (rhetoric as persuasion to change other people), invitational rhetoric fosters strong relationships. In this activity, participants will practice offering perspectives without the goal of persuasion, and practice listening to other’s perspectives without judgment.

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What I've Learned Grieving on the Job

In her article, Lisa Lackey sheds light on the realities of grief and loss, presents a call and challenge to companies and organizations as they consider grief leave policies, and shares about the ways in which grief and loss disproportionately affect Black women.

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Zipair Becomes First Japanese Air Carrier to Put Crickets On Menu

This Japanese airline now offers a new menu item - nutrient-rich crickets - for the sake of sustainability!

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'Hangry is a Real Thing': Psychologists Find Link Between Hunger and Emotions

This article legitimizes "hangry" feelings with a research study that explores the link between feelings and hunger.

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What Teaching Looks Like

This powerful Elon University Open Access Book Series gives us photographic glimpses into "what teaching looks like" in higher education.

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Ethics Across the IDC

This activity familiarizes participants with the Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC) and provides opportunities for applying the five orientations of the IDC to different case studies.

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Intercultural Learning Through a Japanese Cooking TV Show

This article and embedded YouTube clip shed light on a popular Japanese TV show in which two celebrity chefs enter a stranger's home to cook dinner in their kitchen with only the ingredients found in the home. What viewers should know, however, is that this is an extremely unlikely occurrence in Japan - strangers don't tend to invite themselves into someone's home, let alone cook in their kitchen! 

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Favorite Food Words Celebrating Julia Child's 100th Birthday

This blog post shares fun food verbiage in honor of Julia Child's 100th birthday. 

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Will You Receive Food as a Guest at Someone's House

This highlighted map indicates where in the world you might expect (and not expect) to be given a meal as a guest.

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"Black sounding" Names and Their Surprising History

This video provides important insight into the meaning and history of Black naming traditions. 

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Chef Crystal Wahpepah on the power of Indigenous cuisine: ‘Native foods are overlooked’

 This article features a spotlight on indigenous cuisine chef Crystal Wahpepah and highlights the compelling and influential nature of Native American cuisine.

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Names That Are Unfamiliar to You Aren't "Hard," They're "Unpracticed"

This article describes the importance of attitude in learning others' names.

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Peek-a-Who Names Review

This intercultural learning tool helps participants learn, remember and correctly pronounce each others' names.

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Name Roulette

This intercultural learning tool helps participants learn each others' names and pronounce them correctly.

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The Importance of Getting to Know our Students

This Facebook post emphasizes the importance of building relationships with students toward more effective teaching.

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Name Story, aka The Name Game

This intercultural learning tool allows participants to engage with each others' names and understand the importance of using names and pronouncing them correctly. It also emphasizes the importance of understanding the cultural significance of names, as well as different cultural naming practices.

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Say My Name

This intercultural learning tool allows participants to engage with the importance of names and identity and teaches key name usage practices and understanding.

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Career Coach: The Power of Using a Name

This article demonstrates why it is so important to call individuals by their name when interacting with and referring to them. 

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Naming Students is Even More Crucial in Online Classes

This article emphasizes the importance of calling students by name, especially in online instructional contexts. This crucial practice allows instructors to acknowledge individual student's unique identities and connect and engage with students in meaningful ways. 

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‘Blackness Deserves a Seat at the Seder’

Black American Jews say they are seeking ways to bring their full identity to the symbolic food of the Passover meal.

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Researchers in Valencia pinpoint unwritten rules of paella

"Vidal says there are as many recipes as there are cooks and what makes a good paella is a matter of opinion, except in Valencia, where it’s a question of science."

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