Student Essays Reflect on "One World" Issues

From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report. One World Education is a group with a program in which teachers develop teaching materials based on student writing. The students are in middle and high school and write essays about cultural and global issues. Students are invited to write about an issue they find important. Then professionally developed learning materials based on chosen essays are used in schools to teach other students. Eric Goldstein is the executive director of One World Education, based in Washington. He says the nonprofit group has worked with over 1,500 student writers. He says 350 teachers use the One World curriculum. He says the essays can serve as a writing and learning guide for thousands of students. Mr. Goldstein is a former classroom teacher himself. He and another teacher began forming plans for One World Education in 2006. The group publishes a study unit each month from August through May. Each unit of the curriculum starts with an essay, called a "One World Reflection." The subjects have ranged from single parenthood to protecting rainforests to exploring Arab cultures, says Mr. Goldstein.Laila Kunaish of Washington wrote about her feeling that media reports in the United States are often unfair to Muslims. A learning activity based on her reflection called for students to collect examples of media stories and discuss whether or not that was true.Laila was chosen as a One World Student Ambassador last year. Twelve students are chosen yearly. Their reflections are published on the group's website with learning activities and reading and writing aids. For VOA Learning English, I'm Laurel Bowman. (Adapted from a radio program broadcast 13Mar2013)