October is Diversity Awareness Month. The United States has the most diverse population in the world. However, the creation of the European Union (EU) has produced a new political entity that can now challenge the U.S. on diversity of ethnic populations.

How is diversity impacting the lifestyles and cultures of Europe as a whole? What challenges to traditional culture, education, religion, and attitudes must be overcome for the EU to succeed?

Activity (Grades 9-12): Students will learn about the EU and participate in a model EU to debate issues facing the organization--"Model European Union." Students will need to access our CultureGrams World Edition and the EU website.

Briefly introduce students to the history and purpose of the EU. With roots of the organization dating back to the 1950s, the multinational umbrella government sets policies on everything from the economy to health. The organization has grown from six countries in the 1950s to 27 countries in 2005. Show the students the member countries on an EU map (including the candidate countries Croatia, Macedonia, and Turkey.)

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

Organize students into a model EU, with most of the class representing the member countries and a few representing the candidate countries. Each student should be assigned to represent a specific country, either an EU country or a candidate country. In order to participate in this activity, students should also read the CultureGrams report of the country they represent (and that of at least one of the candidate countries), so that they can support their country's interests in a debate.

Have the students each bring in at least one news article about an issue facing the EU. It might deal with new member states, economic policy, or how to govern the EU. After this initial preparation, pick three main topics to be debated, with at least one topic being the admission of new member countries.

Have students representing the member countries and candidate countries debate the pros and cons of admitting the new nations. Presentations should focus on the positive aspects of the countries and on what they can contribute to the European Union as a whole. Then have presentations on the other issues.

After all the presentations have been given, have the students vote on the topics. They should be able explain the rationale for their decisions to the class.