CultureGrams recently added
ten new country reports to
the Kids Edition, including:

• Afghanistan
• Bolivia
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Iraq
• Mozambique
• Panama
• Poland
• Ukraine

You and your students are certain to discover new and interesting things in these reports.

For example, did you know that:

• The name Iraq means “country with deep roots.”
  
  
• Many Afghans, especially children, wear a tawiz (charm) to protect themselves against evil.
  
  
  
• Mozambique’s flag is the only one in the world with a picture of a rifle on it—an AK47.
  
  
• Ecuador's rainforest is home to the world’s loudest monkey (the howler monkey) and smallest monkey (the pygmy marmoset).

These 10 were the countries most requested by teachers and librarians. Each report follows the template of our existing reports, with fascinating categories such as Holidays, Food, Games and Sports, Language, and Getting Around.

To ensure the authenticity of the cultural information, all reports are reviewed by native residents or other in-country experts. Be sure to browse through these new reports soon.

Plus, don't miss our free monthly podcasts, which focus on special topics and features in your subscriptions! No iPod is needed -- just a free copy of the Apple iTunes software. A new 1–3 minute podcast is posted every month. Our April edition, being posted soon, compares Google search results to ProQuest CSA resources like CultureGrams, eLibary, and SIRS.

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1. The five nations of Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—each became independent as a consequence of the collapse of what country in 1991?
   
   
2. Central Asia lies on what ancient trading route, once the primary link between Asia and Europe?
   
   
3. What sea straddles the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and covers only half of its pre-Soviet area due to the diverting of its source rivers?
   
   
4. Astana replaced Almaty as the capital of what country in 1997?
   
   
5. What are the two official languages of Kyrgyzstan?
   
   
6. To what religion do the people of Central Asia primarily adhere?
   
   
7. Kazakhstan has some of the world’s largest reserves of what valuable resource?
   
   
8. In a popular Central Asian sport, what do teams of horsemen try to carry through a goal without having it taken away by their competitors?
   
   
9. What dish, made with rice, meat, and carrots, is the national dish of Uzbekistan?
   
   
10. The Koepetdag mountain range forms Turkmenistan’s southern border with what nation?

1. Many Central Asians regard bread as a sacred symbol of life. In Uzbekistan, where bread is called nan, it is never thrown away or put on the ground. In Turkmenistan, bread is called chorek and accompanies every meal. It is never torn with one hand or cut with a knife, but respectfully broken with two hands; all pieces must be eaten.
   
   
2. Turkmens tie an alaja (a woven camel-hair talisman) to the steering wheel of their cars for good luck.
   
   
3. Kazakh boys like alchiki, a game similar to marbles but played with dried sheep bones.

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• Nunavut is known as the Land of the Midnight Sun because, close to the North Pole, the sun does not set for six months straight! During the winter, Nunavummiut (residents of Nunavut) experience the opposite effect, polar night, when it’s dark for months at a time.
  
  
• There are only 21 kilometres (13 miles) of highway in the whole territory! People travel mostly by airplane between communities, although they can travel by snowmobile in winter.
  
  
• Nunavut is the Inuktitut word for “our land.”
  
  
• The geographic centre of Canada is located in Nunavut at Baker Lake.
  
  
• The Inuit people have more than 20 different words for caribou.
  
  
• Canada’s only “four corners,” the place where Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut all meet, is located in the remote northern wilderness, hundreds of kilometres from any town.

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World Holidays Featured This Month

Rwanda – Genocide Memorial Day – April 7
Commemorates the start of the 1994 genocide.

Brazil – Tiradentes Day – April 21
Celebrates the death of Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (known as Tiradentes), a nationalist who died in the struggle for independence.

Italy – Liberation Day – April 25
Commemorates Italy's liberation in World War II.

Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, & Tonga – Anzac Day – April 25
Honors the armed forces and war dead.

Vietnam – Liberation of Saigon – April 30
Commemorates the 1975 defeat of South Vietnam.

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Grade level: 6–8

Objective: Students will use CultureGrams to compare the communication styles of Sub-Saharan African countries with communication styles in the U.S. or Canada.

National curriculum standard(s):

McREL Behavioral Studies Standards

Standard 1: Understands that group and cultural influences contribute to human development, identity, and behavior.

Level III [Grade 6–8] Benchmark 1: Understands that each culture has distinctive patterns of behavior that are usually practiced by most of the people who grow up in it.

Developed by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning

Time requirements
Preparation: 30 minutes
In-class: 50 minutes

Materials

CultureGrams World Edition:
Sub-Saharan African countries

Instructions

Explain to the class that the ability to communicate effectively across cultures can be vital—it can prevent war, make or break a business deal, and keep a traveler safe. What might be a harmless gesture or word in one region of the world can be offensive in another.

Other aspects of communication, including personal space, level of formality, and directness, also vary from country to country, and culturally savvy students know how to modify their communication styles according to their audiences.


1. Divide students into groups of three to four and assign each group to read a CultureGrams report for a different Sub-Saharan African country.
   
   
2. While reading the CultureGrams reports, ask students to focus on the categories of Greetings, Gestures, and Visiting to identify the countries’ communication styles, both verbal and nonverbal. (Consider level of formality, gender, situational context, personal space, gestures, etc.)
   
   
3. Have students consider the following questions: What communication practices are common in the country? What practices are taboo? How do people in the country regard body language, personal space, and eye contact? How might these communication styles be a product of other aspects of the culture (e.g., religion, family)? How are communication styles different from those in the United States or Canada?
   
   
4. Have each group give a short presentation comparing communication styles in the United States with those in their assigned African country. The presentations might include skits that represent encounters between someone from the United States or Canada and someone from the assigned African countries. These skits could depict both verbal and nonverbal communication, showing what misunderstandings might arise.
   
   
5. Talk with the students about how communication styles differ between cultures. In what ways are they similar? Why is it important to be aware of these similarities and differences?


Extension activity


• Acceptable communication styles not only differ from culture to culture but also from family to family. Ask students what types of communication rules their families stress. What might account for the differences they notice? Which similarities do most of them share?
  
  
• There are also generational differences in communication etiquette. What types of things do the students’ grandparents consider rude that is acceptable among today’s young people?

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