Teach and learn culture with help from the Smithsonian

Amy Hunt
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage offer a vast array of cultural learning resources for educators, students, and the curious. Here, we’ll highlight some of the resources to help make your own classroom, or independent educational endeavors, more interactive and in-depth.  

Rapport

DLIFLC's Rapport is six to eight hours of language and culture pre-deployment training. It is mandatory training for all civilian and military U.S. Army personnel deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Cultural Orientation

DLIFLC's Cultural Orientation introduces a given cultural group, combining brief language exchanges with an objective and practical look at daily life in different contexts.

Legends & Folktales

DLIFLC's Legends & Folktales offers short animated pieces introducing famous myths, legends, and folktales from cultures across the globe to enhance cross-cultural literacy and provide insight into societies.

Headstart2

DLIFLC's Headstart2 includes 80 to 100 hours of instruction, interactive tasks, language-specific pronunciation guides, cultural familiarization and orientation modules.

West Point cadets experience cultural lessons first hand

DLNSEO Culture Team
The U.S.-China Disaster Management Exchange (DME) promoted strategic dialogue with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to foster mutual trust and understanding. The DME allows hands-on and side-by-side interaction between the U.S. Army and PLA on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) operations. This year, West Point cadets participated for the first time.

DoD Directive 5160.41E

This directive reissues DoD Directive (DoDD) 5160.41E to establish Defense LREC Program policy and assign responsibilities.

Foreign Service Institute (FSI)

With decades of experience in providing training to other agencies on a reimbursable basis, the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is uniquely qualified to support other agencies, particularly those who have a need for knowledge of foreign languages, cultures, or international affairs.