While a college student as Vasser, OZY Genius Winner Elise Shea started rethinking the way humanitarian aid is delivered. She turned to OZY with her idea to use a digital language-learning platform that lets refugee tutors teach foreign language skills to college students and receive a payout of about $5 per 30 minutes for each session, now Conversations Unbound. Elise is just one of many amazing leaders taking part in GlobalMindED 2021, join her today at 4:00 ET.
Register for all of this week's incredible leaders and programs, and read Elise's story below.
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What is Conversations Unbound and what does it do?
Conversations Unbound (CU) is a nonprofit organization that pairs students learning Arabic, Spanish, French, or German with online tutors fluent in these languages. CU tutors have a background of forced displacement.
We specialize in collaborating with educational institutions (universities, high schools, study abroad programs, etc.) to integrate CU into their courses so that it complements their language curriculum. But any language learner, whether in school or learning on their own, can use CU!
What was the inspiration for starting CU?
We live in an era with increasing numbers of forcibly displaced people and heightened levels of societal resentment towards displaced communities. This was the catalyst for us — then a group of undergraduate students at Vassar College — to figure out how we could provide livelihood support for forcibly displaced people, so they could feel empowered despite their challenging circumstances. We also knew that bridging the gaps between people from different backgrounds and creating opportunities for cross-cultural connection would be vital to countering the proliferation of anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric.
What makes CU different?
CU fills a key, problematic gap in the available online language learning field. Other platforms are not easily accessible to forcibly displaced populations because they have numerous barriers to entry, such as requiring a university education; requiring an intensive application process, which is inaccessible to those with limited computer literacy; shutting down tutor profiles when tutors miss session requests; and providing few payout options, which is a critical hurdle since many displaced populations are unable to access mainstream money transfer services. Many of these platforms are for-profit and take a commission from the tutors’ earnings — companies are profiting off of marginalized communities. We set out to change all of that.
CU has developed our own online language learning platform for tutors and students. Our platform makes it easy for displaced communities to start tutoring and use the platform wherever they are in the world. It provides multiple payout options and is designed to meet our tutors’ needs wherever they are. The platform is user-friendly for students and tailored to work seamlessly with educational institutions.
CU does not take a commission from the tutor’s earnings — we are fully grant- and fundraiser-based — so CU tutors receive 100% of what they make.
Tell us about your impact.
Since 2016, 870 students have used CU and completed 3,100 session hours. Students tell us that CU is an integral part of their language learning process.
"I really enjoyed the discussions as they were engaging, culturally relevant, and also allowed me to practice my speaking, listening, grammar, and vocabulary. It was a great experience to be able to practice my conversational ability outside of the classroom, which I believe is extremely important to learning another language, especially when we do not have as many opportunities to speak in a classroom setting." - CU Spanish Student, 2018
"Being able to have a conversation for a full 30 minutes, ungraded and not judged, was super helpful to boosting my confidence in speaking." - CU German Student, 2020
CU tutors have earned $44,000, which has helped tutors pay for key expenses like their rent and work permit costs. Some tutors who began their online teaching career with CU have leveraged their talents and are now full-time online language tutors for students around the world. The supplemental income tutors earn through CU supports their economic empowerment and agency.
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Tell us a bit about CU’s tutors.
Our tutors are exceptional individuals who share a love of their language and a passion for sharing their culture. They are originally from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Mexico, Venezuela, the United States, Burkina Faso, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All CU tutors undergo a vetting process to ensure their fluency and ability to facilitate online conversations with a range of students (beginners to advanced). CU hosts annual workshops to ensure tutors are well-trained in a range of online language-teaching techniques from the basics of how to drill down vocabulary and complex grammar to how to integrate games, role-play, YouTube videos, songs, etc. into the conversations.
Why should students use CU?
Students not only have the opportunity to strengthen their foreign-language conversational skills, but they also have the chance to meet people who have different lived experiences and have rich, cross-cultural dialogue. Students, sign up here.
Why should educators use CU?
Educators use CU to reinforce their course material and give their students more opportunities to practice their conversational skills. The conversations could be tied directly to what students are learning in class (new vocabulary or grammar) or discussions about their readings. Some professors have chosen to let their students pick what they want to discuss, such as learning a dialect, practicing new expressions/slang, or simply talking about each other's culture and day-to-day life. Whatever the format, CU gives language students opportunities to practice speaking outside of the classroom in a more informal and low stress environment. CU has also worked with non-language courses, such as a history course on colonialism in the Middle East, where students have conversations in English with their CU tutor about topics related to their coursework. In every class, CU works hand-in-hand with educators to determine the best way for CU to complement the course curriculum, and then CU takes the lead on coordinating the program from start to finish — no added pressure on the educator.
Without CU, the students learning Arabic at Vassar would have had no real consistent interaction with native speakers outside of class. This real life encounter with speakers of the target language in a more personal environment can help many learners to make a personal connection to the language and to the culture it vehicles. There are valuable opportunities for learning by doing that CU conversation partners can offer, which we cannot always replicate in the classroom. - Mootacem Mhiri, Lecturer in Arabic, Vassar College
What can readers do to get involved?
Momentum around CU is building, but we need your support. Do you know someone who is learning Arabic, Spanish, French or German? Forward them this newsletter and sign-up form to start learning with CU. Are you an educator interested in using CU? Take two minutes and register for a free trial session with CU or just email us. Join our CU community by signing up for our newsletter or following us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter!
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Earth Week sessions:
International Youth: Strategies for Inclusive, Just, and Equitable Climate Leadership Ash Pachauri; Co-Founder and Senior Mentor, Protect Our Planet Movement and Drishya Pathak; POP Movement, India lead this panel of international students including Summer Benjamin; POP Movement Peter Gruber International Academy, US Virgin Islands, Caroline Sandberg; Tahoe Expedition Academy, USA, Tsague Dongfack/Willy Endelson; POP Movement, Cameroon, Ricardo Delgado; POP Youth Mentor, Arturo Michelena University, Venezuela, and Zoe Ricardo Rivera; CEI University, México
How Environmental Justice and Equity Can Help Solve the Climate Crisis Part 1 Courtney Knight; Founder and Managing Member, Capstone Capital Advisors and Susan Kidd; Executive Director, Center for Sustainability , Agnes Scott College lead this panel discussion with Anamarie Shreeves; Environmental Education Programs Manager, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Eriqah Vincent; Network Engagement Director, Power Shift Network, Dr. Dana Williamson; EPA Environmental Health Fellow, Assoc of Schools and Programs of Public Health, and Gwendylon P. Smith; Executive Director, Collier Heights Association for Revitalization, Resilience, and Sustainability.
How Environmental Justice and Equity Can Help Solve the Climate Crisis Part 2 Dr. Kyle Whyte; Professor of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, leads panel discussion with Ka’illjuus / Lisa Lang; Executive Director, Xaadas Kil Kuyaas Foundation, Dr. Kelsey Leonard; Assistant Professor, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Brittany Judson; Just Growth Consultant Partnership for Southern Equity, and AJ (Andrea) Grant; President, Environmental Communications Associates.
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We focus on short-term projects, 5-20 hours to complete.
Students have completed projects like:
- Designing PowerPoint decks
- Website Development
- Creating Infographics
- Social Media Creation, Management, Campaigns
- Online Research
- Virtual Assistant
- Writing Blogs
- Logo Design
- Lead Generation
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Click below to watch the Inclusive Leader Award Ceremony featuring inspirational messages from the diverse Award Winners
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GlobalMindED and the SDG Impact Fund are delighted to announce GlobalMindED's Donor Advised Fund. 2020 is the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations and the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Women's Declaration and Action Platform. Many from around the world are thinking of 2020 as the gateway to our most vital decade for delivering equity, the Sustainable Development Goals, and a world where all can thrive. Our key time for these outcomes is 2020-2030.
GlobalMindED DAF and the SDG Impact Fund are a powerful combined force for good as the 2019 year comes to a close and we reflect on the gratitude and the commitments we make to the causes we care most about. The DAF offers immense power and flexibility for giving prior to the year's end as you plant seeds of generous intention for 2020 and the decade ahead.
When you contribute to GlobalMindED, you support First Gen students. We have served more than 400 students by connecting them to role models, mentors, internships and jobs. Your generous support will allow us to take our work 10x and reach these talented students at scale who lack the resources and support we provide. Your support also helps teachers who can't afford the conference fees, faculty at colleges which are under resourced and students who persist at those universities despite food insecurity and/or housing insecurity.
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Links to read about Inclusive Leaders, many of whom are African American and people of color:
Curated sessions from GlobalMindED 2020 YouTube channel:
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From the Center for Positive Organizations:
From the Economist:
From Forbes:
From Harvard Business Review:
From the World Academy of Art & Science and UN; Geneva Global Leadership in the 21st Century econference:
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Listen here for an interview with Pam Newkirk, GlobalMindED speaker and author of Diversity Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion- Dollar Business.
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Meet GlobalMindED Founder, Carol Carter as interviewed by Tim Moore on his podcast Success Made to Last: From Success to Significance
Listen to Part 1 of Carol's interview
Listen to Part 2 of Carol's interview
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Recent GlobalMindED Newsletter Profiles:
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Since 2006 when the flagship TGR Learning Lab opened its doors in Anaheim, CA, TGR Foundation has had a lot to celebrate, including its most recent milestone of one million students impacted by TGR EDU: Explore, alone.
Developed in partnership with Discovery Education, TGR EDU: Explore is a free digital resource library that offers interactive web experiences, lesson plans, training videos and tools for educators, students and families to explore new disciplines and gain skills for a modern and expanding workforce.
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As you start the New Year, are you looking for ways to re-engineer your classroom culture? Check out Designing the Future: How Engineering Builds Creative Critical Thinking in the Classroom. The associated website has lots of activities, projects, and resources you can implement immediately. Our fall workshops using the book as a roadmap for change have been highly successful. Start designing the future today - try using the customized Study Guide for a book study in your PLC. Or contact ProjectEngin or Solution Tree to learn how you can bring professional development based on Ann's book to your school, district, or conference.
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THE FLYOVER NATION
Energy's Role in a Troubled Heartland
By J.C. Whorton
A unique and timely discussion of the challenging issues facing the country’s troubled Heartland.
Since the beginning of westward expansion into the Heartland’s vast regions, natural resource development has played a historic role in shaping its communities. Today, domestic oil and gas development offers one of the strongest prospects for the Heartland’s present and future prosperity as well as the nation’s re-emergence as a dominant player in the global energy economy.
The U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, two circumstances that are universally disrupting international geopolitical order. The earth has a finite supply of natural resources and a rapidly growing and over consuming population.
As America positions itself for a very uncertain and constantly evolving global marketplace, will the Heartland become America’s “great connector” or “great divide”?
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J.C. Whorton is a senior level energy and financial professional with over forty years of essential experience. Having a ranching and Native American heritage, Mr. Whorton is a strong advocate for rural education and economic development initiatives.
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