European Union Center Hosts Summer Curriculum Workshop for K-16 Educators

(l-r): Workshop participants Lourdes Bustos, Christopher Bryant, Adam Stepinski, Cass Didier, and Robert Menner 

On July 9-12, the European Union Center hosted 13 educators on campus for a curriculum workshop, “Understanding Contemporary Europe: Spotlighting the Peripheries.” The word “peripheries” in the workshop title was used in a broad sense, intended to cover Europe’s external (geographical) and internal (societal) peripheries, as well as highlight topics that may be on the periphery of K-12 students’ knowledge.

While the EUC has organized multi-day curriculum workshops every summer since 2020, this was the center’s first in-person workshop since 2013. The 13 workshop attendees hailed from England, Poland, Ukraine, and six U.S. states and represented a wide range of subjects and grade levels. Several of the educators sponsor clubs that engage with global issues.

EUC Associate Director Markian Dobczansky introduces keynote speaker Carol Leff, Associate Professor Emerita of Political Science, on the first day of the workshop.

The workshop began on an exceptionally rainy Tuesday afternoon with a keynote talk by Dr. Carol Leff, who gave an overview of the geopolitical and security risks that the EU currently faces. Over the next two days, the educators attended lectures by University of Illinois faculty and staff on human rights, endangered and minority language policy, dark tourism, and more. The workshop also featured an evening screening of the 2012 Spanish silent film “Blancanieves,” which served as the foundation for the next morning’s presentation, by Dr. Lucía Sánchez-Gilbert, on contemporary film and Spanish national identity. The participants also went on a guided tour of Spurlock Museum and learned about the museum’s virtual offerings for K-12 educators.
 

Dr. Lucía Sánchez-Gilbert presenting on contemporary film and Spanish identity

Since almost all of the workshop participants came from outside Illinois, and several came from overseas, the EUC offered a few optional excursions. On Thursday evening, about a half dozen participants visited Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery to see Illinois’ first farmstead cheese-making facility and, naturally, take a few pictures with the goats and have goat cheese. On Friday, July 12, a few participants went to Krannert Art Museum for a guided tour, while others took a day trip to Springfield to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Illinois State Capitol, and Lincoln Home National Historic Site. 

Workshop participants Gregory Rabb, Adam Stepinski, Consuelo Johnson, Yana Tsykunkova, and Valeriia Tsykunkova visiting downtown Springfield

To see more photos from the workshop, visit the European Union Center’s Facebook page. For more information on previous summer curriculum workshops, see here.