When I taught selling, before each class I used to assign a student to come up with news of the day or another topic (never the weather) he or she would use to engage a customer with some small talk before making their sales pitch, if they were on a sales call that day. I was reminded of this device, when I read about a Latin teacher who begins classes by asking if anyone has a silly question to ask the class in Latin.
With a globalization twist, I thought parents and teachers could ask young people, "Who can stump the family/class with a question about world affairs?" They could ask questions, such as, "What percentage of the Russian electorate voted in the March, 2018 presidential election?"
"Where does the Nile River split into the Blue Nile and the White Nile?"
"What is the native language of Kim Jong Un?"
MindWare, which claims to sell "brainy toys for kids of all ages," has another fun way to stimulate interest in the world. The company sells a line of dot-to-dot activity books with an "extreme" number of dots to connect to reveal: 1) world folklore, 2) world architecture, 3) the world's cats, and 4) the world's dogs. Each dot-to-dot puzzle is on heavy paper that can be colored with markets after the picture is completed. For more information, call 1-800-274-6123.
The earlier blog post, "Talk with the Animals," also suggests ways animals prompt a student's interest in the world.
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