WTO Educational Initiative

[Northwest International Business Educators Network]

Dear NIBEN Member:

Today marks the first day of the World Trade Organization's Ministerial
meetings in Seattle. The occasion of the 1999 Seattle Round provides an
excellent opportunity to educate ourselves and students about the WTO.
We would like to share with you a curriculum that was produced jointly by
University of Washington CIBER and World Affairs Council entitled
"Approaching WTO Education: How to Bring WTO into Your Classroom"  for
students in grades 6 - 12. We have taken care to provide a balanced
perspective of the WTO that advocates no single viewpoint.  The curriculum
challenges students and teachers to think critically about the various
issues, often controversial, that surround WTO's activities. The
curriculum is available online at http://www.washington.edu/wto/classroom. 

The curriculum is part of a larger CIBER educational initiative, The WTO
Student Ambassador Program, in which University of Washington students
learn about the WTO and are then matched with middle and high school
classrooms in the region.  Two ambassadors visit each classroom to work
with the younger students on an interactive WTO trade dispute scenario.
To date, over 30 UW student ambassadors have visited close to 50
classrooms in Washington State.

This model of "students teaching students" has proven quite successful and
we are now exploring ways to continue the program past the conclusion of
the WTO meetings in Seattle.  We see this as a valuable outreach model
for engaging students in understanding complex yet critical international
issues.  

For those of you interested in hearing live coverage of WTO events this
week, you can link to webcasts of the Official Proceedings of the WTO
Ministerial at http://www.wtoseattle.org/

Sincerely,

Debra Glassman 				Victoria Helm
Asst Faculty Director, CIBER		Managing Director, CIBER