Children of Other Lands

Social Studies for grades 2-4
Four 15 minute programs

Visit with four 8 and 9 year old children from Mexico, Canada, Ghana and Russia and see how they live, work, eat, go to school and play. This series will expose children to other worlds through the eyes of their peers.

ANDRES OROSCO OF MEXICO
SHEENA AZAK OF CANADA
GEORGINA WILLIAMS OF GHANA
SASHA LITVIN OF RUSSIA

ANDRES OROSCO OF MEXICO
Live-Action Video (c)1994

Eight-year-old Andres Orosco of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, spends his weekdays attending school, playing soccer and "espiro" with friends, and participating in other activities Mexican children enjoy. On weekends, his family travels to the ranch where his father works. Andres does chores on the ranch, but there's still time to ride horses and pursue other recreational activities. As viewers watch the program, they see how a child of an economically emerging country such as Mexico lives in two worlds - one modern, the other traditional. Andres' hometown dramatically set in a valley surrounded by the mountains of central Mexico both a modern industrial city and a beautiful, picturesque reminder of old, colonial Mexico.

Includes: 12-mim. Video,  Teacher's Guide

SHEENA AZAK OF CANADA
Live-Action Video (c)1995

The old and the new are shown with beauty and sensitivity in this intriguing profile of a 9-year-old Nisga'a Native Canadian. Sheena Asak lives with her family in Canyon City, a small, isolated village in British Columbia. Her father, chief of the Nisga'a Wolf Tribe, works long hours helping his children understand their rich heritage.

Sheena is shown with her family as they fish, camp, participate in tribal dances, and listen to elders as they pass down the tribal wisdom embodied in the Nisga'a oral tradition. She is also shown in school in a nearby town.

The program takes special care to show how Sheena's life has been affected by people and technologies far from her small village. It also takes careful note of mainstream Canadian culture so that students will come away with a realistic, well-rounded overview of life in Canada today.

Includes:  12-min. Video, I Teacher's Guide

GEORGINA WILLIAMS OF GHANA
Live-Action Video (c)1995

Nine-year-old Georgina Williams lives in Akropong, a picturesque town in Ghana's southern highland area. It's festival time, and as the program opens, the viewers see Georgina and her Uncle Kwame going to the local kente weaver to buy her first ceremonial dress. Georgina then attends a festival party at her fnend Anita Osuwu's house where they play typical Ghanian games, such as "Bamba Bambariya" and "Ampe."

Viewers are also taken to the Okuapemman School, where Georgina and her fellow students sing on their way to classes, encourage their classmates with syncopated applause, and play the "Shakey-Shakey" game during physical education class.

Viewers also go with Georgina and her mother and cousin as they shop at Akropong's colorful outdoor market and as they fix a traditional dinner.

In the program's finale, Georgina travels to a nearby town where she participates in one of the world's most beautiful and festive occasions, an Odwira Festival.

Includes:  15-min. Video, 1 Teacher's Guide

SASHA LITVIN OF RUSSIA
Live-Action Video (c)1995

Sasha Litvin goes to a special school for the performing arts in St. Petersburg,

Russia. The nine-year-old has been chosen to play Petrushka, the lead role in the school's "Fall Festival" program, and so must take an early trolley to rehearsals before class.

From early morning rehearsals to the final rousing performance of the "Fall Festival" program, viewers follow Sasha over a four-day period seeing how he lives in "the Venice of the North." Sasha is seen in school, at home, and at play in Krasnogvardisky, his neighborhood on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.

He is seen with his best friend, Dennis, aboard his father's boat. Sasha's father, a tug boat captain, takes the boys on a tour takes the boys on a tour of St. Petersburg from the Neva, the beautiful river that flows through the city. Special care has been taken to show how the typical Russian family lives today in the post-Communist era.

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