Cuba Beside Us is a video made by American students about their experience traveling with Windsor Mountain ’s Cuba Friendship Exchange and living, working and playing for four weeks with Cuban youth and exploring the interface of their respective cultures. This project represents a collaboration between Windsor Mountain International Center for Experiential Learning, the Cuban Ministry of Education, and Global Action Project, Global Citizens Circle.

The U.S.-Cuba Exchange demonstrates the power of experiential education and young people building bridges of friendship with a politically isolated country. It shows students evaluating their experiences in the field through the magnifying lens of the camera, and provides an excellent launch pad for in-depth classroom discussions.

This curriculum guide is designed to support the Cuba Beside Us documentary in the classroom. The guide is simply an entry point for potential discussions, activities, assignments, research topics, and collaboration with other classes and/or organizations. It is intended to be a supplemental learning tool, to be used in conjunction with traditional lessons that cover the social, political, cultural, and economic history of Cuba. An excellent example of such a lesson can be found at this web site link: http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/us-cuba/q.html This lesson provides a comprehensive framework for a unit on Cuba.

In conjunction with the curriculum guide this video can provide motivating images of Cuba, general background information, suggested discussion questions, essay topics, class activities, and comprehensive resource lists, affording students and teachers a greater understanding of:

~ The power of cultural exchange programs in improving international relations
~ US-Cuban relations at the most basic level (friendship ambassadors)
~ Different social and economic structures
~ The importance of participating in civil society and engaging in democracy
~ The Cuban people and much of their culture and history as illustrated by
    the images captured on film

**As your students view the video, keep in mind that the participants chosen by the Cuban Ministry of Education were carefully selected, and that the views they express in the video are consistent with the mandates of their Cuban education. We encourage you to address this idea with your students and use it as an opportunity to challenge your students to always look deeper, and explore the many sides of any issue.

The project participants and developers welcome your feedback. Please direct any comments to sarah@WindsorMountain.org or:

Cuba Beside Us
One World Way
Windsor, NH 03244