Preparing students for diverse friendship is an essential part of helping children feel safe, happy and ready to engage within our rapidly changing world. When children feel comfortable approaching and befriending those outside of their familiar bubble, they gain self-confidence and life experiences that they would never otherwise have. They are better equipped to engage, to problem-solve, and to adapt to new situations.
For over 70 years, researchers have studied what makes people from different groups get along or not get along and One Globe Kids puts these findings to work in a global context.
By working with One Globe Kids, children gain:
Global knowledge: Deepening their awareness of families, communities and cultures around the world, including their own, and explore what makes them similar and unique.
Culturally-open attitudes: Developing a mind-set and attitudes that are open to differences and sees similarities as opportunities for positive connections.
Contact skills: Building self-confidence and comfort interacting with peers in other groups through imagined contact and role-play.
Prosocial behaviors: Practicing prosocial behaviors of sharing, working together, trusting, helping and empathy with those in their familiar bubble and beyond.
Teachers working with the One Globe Kids K-2 ELA curriculum will find definitions for Global Friendship goals per grade. We recommend visiting at least three friends in three different countries to see impact