Welcome to Cultural Connections

A teaching resource about Senegal and West Africa, for educators providing meaningful thematic lesson plans, web quests, and manipulatives connected to State of Michigan Standards and Benchmarks. The themes of globalization, migration, language policy, literacy, and popular culture are incorporated in lessons ranging from family and community life for the elementary classroom to structural adjustment at the university level.

NEW, Summer 2009 Seminar
and Field Work in West Africa

Making Cultural Connections Across the Atlantic

This four week experience will take educators from the U. S. Midwest to West Africa, where they will learn about the education, health, culture, languages, public policies and the arts in two West African countries. Those who travel during summer 2009 will have an opportunity to work with educators living in West Africa, collect artifacts that can be used to teach about these regions, develop service plans and/or policy alternatives, and collaborate on the development of curriculum boxes based on these experiences. Learn more >>>

West Africa and U. S. Midwest: Consequences of Globalization

(Seminar, Overseas Research, Collaboration & Curriculum Development in Mali and Senegal, West Africa)

This seminar, West Africa and U. S. Midwest: Consequences of Globalization, is available for educators, school teachers, university professors, and graduate students in the humanities, social sciences, health and human services, area studies, and foreign languages. Participation in this seminar is required as a part of your application to take part in a 4-week Overseas Field Work experience in Mali and Senegal during summer 2009. Learn more >>>