Middle School Students to See the World at World Cultures Day
DATE: Thursday, October 13, 2005
CONTACT: Lara Kain, Outreach Coordinator, Center for Russia, East Europe,
and Central Asia (CREECA) and Center for European Studies (CES),
UW-Madison,
(608)
265-6298, outreach@creeca.wisc.edu
MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS TO “SEE” THE
WORLD AT WORLD CULTURES DAY
Madison, WI – Approximately 150 Wisconsin middle school students,
including 40 from the Dane County area (Cherokee and O’Keefe Middle
Schools) will participate in the first UW-Madison World Cultures Day, an
international education event being sponsored by the Wisconsin International
Outreach Consortium. The event is Wednesday, October 19th from 9 am to
2 pm at the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street, Madison.
The Wisconsin International Outreach Consortium (WIOC) is a consortium of eight UW-Madison International Institute area and international studies programs
which are also federally-funded national resource centers. The International
Institute has the largest number of federally-funded national resource
centers in the nation. WIOC provides resources and expertise on world areas
to K-12 teachers, post-secondary educators, businesses, the media, and the community
at large.
Modeled after the highly successful World Languages Day at
UW-Madison, which annually draws several hundred high school students
from around the state, World Cultures Day is a pilot project targeted to a younger audience. It is designed to better acquaint students with the world’s regions,
peoples and cultures.
The students will participate in large- and small-group
activities, including Brazilian martial arts, Turkish culture and folk
dancing, traditional Asian
theater, Arab pop music, Javanese and Indian dance, and African drumming.
The events are interactive and participatory. The activities are led by
UW-Madison faculty, staff and students.
WIOC programs include the African Studies Program, the Center for East Asian Studies, the Center for European Studies, the Center for Russia, East Europe
and Central Asia, the Center for South Asia, the Center for Southeast Asian
Studies, the Global Studies Program and the Latin American, Caribbean and
Iberian Studies Program. Also members of WIOC are the Center for International
Education and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, both
at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
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