CultureGrams & World Conflicts Today
Standards-Aligned Insight into Daily Life & Global Conflicts

National Curriculum Standards

McREL Arts Standards: Visual Arts

• Standard 1: Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes related to the visual arts.
• Level IV [Grade 9-12] Benchmark 2: Understands how the communication of ideas relates to the media, techniques, and processes one uses.

Developed by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning

National Standards for Social Studies: Culture

• Standard C [High School]: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity, so that the learner can apply an understanding of culture as an integrated whole that explains the functions and interactions of language, literature, the arts, traditions, beliefs and values, and behavior patterns.

Developed by the National Council for the Social Studies

• CultureGrams World Edition
• CultureGrams Online Edition: Video Gallery

1. Divide students into groups of three or four and assign them the task of planning an international short film festival. After screening several of the videos in the CultureGrams Video Gallery, each group should select four "short films" (video clips) for inclusion in their program. They should be able to justify the connections between the films--whether regional, thematic, or otherwise--and the order in which they have chosen to present them.
   
   
2. Students should then read the CultureGrams reports associated with their chosen films and, using that information as background, write paragraph-long introductions for each of their films that take into account the cultures they portray. Once finished, combine these pages into a comprehensive program and distribute it to the class.
   
   
3. Have each group do further research as needed on the specific topics of their chosen films so that they will be prepared for a Question and Answer session at the end of their program.
   
   
4. Allow some time in class each day for a week to have students present their films and field questions from the class.
   
   
5. At the conclusion of the film festival week, hold an awards ceremony where you--as the keynote speaker--discuss the ways in which film (or video) can influence the way we experience culture.