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Ways to Celebrate Cultures

Experience the world at home

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Ideas to Bring the World Home

Make a spicy dish from Laos, read a book written by a Japanese author, listen to a radio broadcast from Madrid—these are just a few of the fun and unique ideas below that you, your family, or your business can do to participate in and celebrate our international community. Find additional activities on our Events page.

Dining
  • Add a new item to your menu for the month and note the region/country.
  • Feature a wine or drink and note the region/country.
  • Host an evening event featuring a country, ethnic group, or region.
  • Print part of your menu in a different language, and add a few “Did you know?” facts about the region/country
Faith & Religion
  • 100 bells Saturday, March 1, at noon. If possible, wherever you are in the Upstate, ring bells 100 times for international peace and understanding. (Bergamo, Italy, rings 100 bells each night at 10 p.m., honoring a tradition of the upper city gates of Bergamo closing. It gave people time to enter or leave for the night.)
  • Organize an event featuring other religions, help create new understanding; host a speaker from that religion, show a video, read a book.
  • Feature your missions program or host a missionary and show a movie about the work.
  • Host a prayer session for international peace and understanding.
  • Have members who are first-generation from another country talk about the similarities and differences in religious practices of their home country.
Fun Ideas
  • March is Women’s History Month. Check out a historical female figure from another country.
  • Live global radio stations from every continent at tunein.com.
  • Free radio from around the world, browse by location and/or international music.
  • Add or view a video with international music on YouTube.
  • Search newspapers by region and country.
  • Check out an international movie or show on Netflix.
  • Check out National Geographic for resources and educational tools.
  • British Broadcasting (BBC) is one place to learn more about other faiths and practices.
  • Use Google Art Project to search by country and region.
  • Explore live exchange rates and convert various currencies to the U.S. Dollar.
  • Do something to honor the relationship between Greenville and one of its Sister Cities: Bergamo, Italy; Kortrijk, Belgium; Tianjin, Trade Free Zone, China
  • Host a meeting or small group lunch, invite a first-generation person from another country to talk about work or business practices in his or her home country—similarities and differences.
Reading & Library
  • Host an international day; read stories, learn a new game, put on a skit.
  • Put up a display featuring a different part of the world.
  • Have a parent/person from another country talk about day care or children’s activities in their country.
  • Make a snack from another country/ethnic group and talk about it.
  • Show a children’s movie or performance from another country.
School
  • Search the Port of Charleston website. Find a vessel and Google it to see where it has been and where it is going.
  • Check out Sister Cities International; how many South Carolina cities have a Sister City?
  • Read a book by an author from another country; children’s books, youth, or adult.
  • Develop a project using maps and map searches; connect products, services, or travel to/from South Carolina.
  • Learn about countries where classmates or teachers have visited. What are the similarities? What are the differences? What are the unique holidays and how are they observed?
  • In your county, how many companies do business with or in another country? How many churches/religious organizations have connections in another country? How many schools/colleges/universities have international connections?
  • How many classmates have Facebook links with people in another country? How are their lives different; how are they similar? How many people have pen pals, and if so where are they from?
Business
  • Search Google for your product/service/organization competitors in North America; then search for them in South America, China, India, Russia, Germany, and Italy. Watch, learn, and if you are really interested, you can translate them. Discuss differences and similarities.
  • Put part of your advertising in a different language, and see if you can reach a new customer/client.
  • Organize/host someone from another country to talk with employees or selected customer/client group about your services or product line in their country (differences in use, marketing, production).
  • Feature the inputs/ingredients your company uses that come from another country. Do you know which city/region from within that country your inputs originate? What is the history of the company that harvests or manufactures the inputs your company uses?
  • Prepare a display that shows off your company’s connections to the world.
  • Have your employees who are first-generation from another country talk about similarities and differences in work or business practices in their home country.
Daycare & Young Children
  • Host an international day; read stories, learn a new game, put on a skit.
  • Put up a display featuring a different part of the world.
  • Have a parent/person from another country talk about day care or children’s activities in their country.
  • Make a snack from another country/ethnic group and talk about it.
  • Show a children’s movie or performance from another country.
Family
  • Read a book by an author from a different country together.
  • Cook food from a different region of the world.
  • Invite a person from another country to join you for dinner, a movie, coffee, or a walk.
  • Focus on one region of the world (Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Caribbean, Europe or Oceania) each week of the month, talk about three countries, and eat one meal from that region.
  • Communicate and play games with other families from around the world. For example, visit Kids Park Japan.
  • Explore your family roots and ancestry, discuss areas where your family is from.
  • Host an internationally focused meeting, a speaker, DVD, and/or music.
  • Put up a display featuring a different part of the world.
  • Have someone from another country talk about similar programs.
  • Have employees/clients who are first-generation talk about the similarities and differences in organizations and practices in their home country.
Annually every March: “Learn a Foreign Language; Gain a New Perspective!”
  • Sponsor your own videocast competition for your students! Promote world language study at the elementary level in your district.
  • Start a Facebook or Twitter account for your foreign language club.
  • Produce a foreign language website recounting activities for the week; post on your district’s website.
  • Challenge your students to take the “Are you Smarter Than a Language Teacher” quiz, available on the ACTFL website.
  • Induct students into foreign language honor societies sponsored by AATF, AATSP, AATI and AATG,  and publicize the event in your local newspaper.
  • Invite administrators into your classroom to see current student projects and activities.
  • Invite administrators to judge world language activities.
  • Organize a foreign language film festival for your school and/or community.
  • Invite parents of your heritage language learners to visit your classroom to share their experiences and recognize them.
  • Encourage students to create bumper stickers, t-shirts, slogans, buttons, etc. and use them during Foreign Language Week.
  • Create an online scavenger hunt for your students.
  • Play international music during the daily announcements and let students and staff identify it.
  • Bring students to a Board of Education meeting and have them address the topic of the importance of second language study.
  • Ask School Board to do a Foreign Language Week Proclamation.
  • Have your students create posters to promote their foreign language using www.glogster.com
  • Have students identify their home language on large wall displays or hand prints, and write messages in their heritage languages.
  • Organize an Idol competition with international music and songs.
  • Present key information on daily announcements in multiple languages. Invite native speakers to read an authentic target-culture childhood story in the target culture and discuss in the target language.
  • Organize an International Career Fair and invite community members and business partners to participate.
  • Send a press release highlighting all your Foreign Language Week activities to local t.v., radio and newspapers.
  • Survey staff about languages studied/spoken, exchange experiences, travel experiences, heritages, and post results.
  • Hold a “People Who Inspire” event to highlight the accomplishments of multilingual/multicultural members of your community.
  • Organize or host an international dinner/festival/concert.
  • Do a live videoconference with a school in the target culture on a topic of study.
  • Invite professional dancers/musicians to perform for students.
  • ACTFL Foreign Language Advocacy. Tips on how to become a foreign language advocate in your community.
  • New York Association of Foreign Language Teachers. A repository of advocacy materials, including talking points, benefits of second language study, sample letters of support, articles related to business, the job market, national defense, and others.
  • California Foreign Language Teachers Association. Links to a wide variety of materials, including how to publicize your events and sample press releases –
  • Foreign Language Association of Georgia.
  • Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research at The Pennsylvania State University (CALPER). Documents, opinion pieces and news stories.
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