Bringing Europe Into Your Classroom

Inside Germany’s Giant Hungry Flightless Bird Problem

Audubon

Sami Emory

Sept 26, 2020

In this article, a journalist investigates the unlikely success of an escaped, endangered and flightless giant South American bird in a German Biosphere reserve.

Possible questions to ask your students

• (Before reading) What sort of animals do you expect to be in Europe or in Germany?  Why do you expect to see them there? What kinds of plants and animals would you be surprised to see if you visited Europe?
• How has the Greater Rhea/nandu benefitted from (or been disadvantaged by) human actions?
• If an animal is endangered in one region, but is successful in another, should it be internationally protected? should hunting/ poaching be allowed internationally?

If you have an article to recommend, please contact us at  europe@international.wisc.edu

This season’s European Book recommendations focus on migration and immigration. The first is the recently released “Nowhere Boy” by expatriated American author in Brussels, Katherine Marsh.

In this story, Fourteen-year-old Ahmed fled a life of uncertainty and suffering in Syria, only to lose his father on the perilous journey to the shores of Europe. Thirteen-year-old Max never wanted to move from America to Brussels, Belgium and continue his life of failure, this time at a French-speaking school. But with one startling discovery, Max and Ahmed’s worlds collide, changing everything they know about heroism, hope, and love.

For more mature readers, try the fast-paced “Exit West” by British author, Mohsin Hamid.
Mohsin Hamed’s novel of the strife created by the Syrian Civil War is told through the lens of the love affair of young Nadia and Saeed. The pair find one another as their country teeters toward violent conflict and explosive unrest climbs to a terrifying fever pitch, forcing the couple to flee for survival through the mysterious doors into a labyrthine West.

Spring 2020, Estonia

The Man who Spoke Snakish

By Andrus Kiviraehk

Fall 2019, Ireland 

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

By Patrick Radden Keefe

BBC (UK)

Spiegl (Germany)

Le Monde (France)

Independent (Ireland)

Nordstjernan (Sweden)

El Pais (Spain)

Resident (Portugal)

Polskie Radio (Poland)

Flanders News (Belgium)

Politiken (Denmark)

EU Confidential (Politico): A weekly podcast featuring keynote interviews on the forces shaping Europe.

Talking Politics: Launched after the Brexit vote in 2016 by Cambridge University professor David Runciman, Talking Politics is a weekly podcast that covers international and domestic affairs.

The World in 30 minutes with Mark Leonard: Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, explores the big issues in foreign policy and Europe’s role in the world.

The Europeans: An award-winning podcast looking at politics and culture around the continent. It delves into stories that don’t get attention in the national media and interview fascinating people across Europe, from writers to activists, scientists to chefs.

The Political Party: Comedian and former political advisor Matt Forde interviews figures from the political world, such as current and former MPs, journalists and diplomats from all parts of the political spectrum.

How to Invent a Country: When did countries become countries? Misha Glenny speaks on the borders, the stories and the people of countries, with a focus on European nations.

The History of Rome: A weekly podcast tracing the history of the Roman Empire, beginning with Aeneas’s arrival in Italy and ending with the exile of Romulus Augustulus, last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.

The British History Podcast: The BHP is a chronological retelling of the history of Britain with a particular focus upon the lives of the people.

Comedy

Call My Agent! (France): At a Paris talent firm, A.S.K, agents attempt to save their flailing business while confronting realities like sexism, ageism, and the gender pay gap in movies and TV.

A Very Secret Service (France): A posh series that lampoons Cold War-era politics and bureaucratic absurdity with dry wit. The French secret service inducts the main character, André, without warning or training, and we follow him as world paranoia boils and the fight for Algerian independence turns France on its head.

Fallet (Sweden): A spoof of police procedurals with spunk, verve, and a lot of heart. The Swedish series follows a Stockholm homicide detective and British chief inspector, both uninvested and incompetent, who are paired up to investigate the murder of an Englishman at a last-ditch effort to save their jobs.

Rita (Denmark): Rita, a Danish teacher, is “too cool for school,” but in this comedy, she actually cares about her students, and her unorthodox attitude is a hallmark of her equally unorthodox approach to her pupils.

Merlí (Spain/Catalonia): A free-thinking firebrand lands a gig teaching high school philosophy just as bankruptcy forces him to move back in with his mother. Complicating matters is his son, whom Merlí’s ex drops off just as he’s evicted, and who turns out to be a student in his class.

Drama

Dark (Germany): Dark clouds loom over the nuclear power plant that dominates the town and hangs over the complex storyline. Teenage boys start to disappear from the town, and these events prove to be the threads that reveal the dark, interconnected relationships of various citizens and the secrets they hold.

Occupied (Norway): In the not-so-distant future, the Norwegian Green Party, an environmentally friendly political formation, has taken control of the country, and has used their power to totally cease production of fossil fuels. When the oil stops flowing, the EU authorizes Russia to conduct a soft invasion of Norway and the geopolitical intrigue begins.

Money Heist (Spain): “The Professor” rounds up a group of talented criminals in hopes of pulling off the biggest heist in history. With high stakes, it’s a pulse-pounding action that manages to frame the story as thoughtfully as possible between gunshots and car chases.

Elite (Spain): Described as Riverdale meets Gossip Girl meets Big Little Lies, this show is full of teen melodrama. However, the material is elevated thanks to an inventive story structure that plays with the timeline, a reinvention of character tropes, and a murder mystery intertwined alongside the typical teenage drama.

Suburra: Blood on Rome (Italy): Instead of drugs or money, it is land that is at stake in this particular crime drama. A small group of young upstart criminals hatch a plan to get some land and establish themselves as underworld players. Our antiheroes quickly discover that there are many more experienced and more powerful hands playing this game, and that they might just be in over their heads.

• EU Simulation (The Chocolate Simulation)
• Parental Leave Simulation
• Migration Simulation
• Climate Change Simulation