An exceptional series of multi-cultural children's stories ...

One Globe Kids – children’s stories from around the world, by Round by Design, has found a unique and undiscovered niche in the educational market and we think that they are onto something big! Children can “visit” friends from around the world and learn how different cultures operate. There are a total of eight friends at this time: Gabou and Valdo from Haiti, Jenissa from Burundi, Floor and Lars from The Netherlands, Luna and Lucian from NYC, and Aji from Indonesia.  The developer,Anne Glick, plans to be adding more friends periodically and has two in the works right now. Each child tells their story of life, in a typical day format. The photography is fabulous (think National Geography) and that component alone makes this app well worth your time.

Anne Glick traveled extensively to develop this enriching app and did the gorgeous photography herself. The stories are available in three different languages and provide exposure to the native tongue of the children. After hearing real stories from around the globe, which are narrated by young, yet very professional sounding children, you are given a chance to record yourself speaking and counting in the new friend’s language. (Dutch, Creole, Kirundi, English, Bahasa). The app features other ways to interact with your new friends, the “Adventure” part of the story lets the child decide what course they want the story to take and what to do, activity wise. “Tell me about yourself” features listening and recording a conversation with new friends.

Teachers love this app! In addition to the varied cultures, students can learn interesting, kid-friendly facts about each country they visit. The potential for learning geography is a real bonus!

Recently, a New York Times article discussed the overwhelming positives to exposing children at a young age to different cultures, “…extensive interpersonal contact counteracts biases by letting people from hostile groups get to know one another as individuals and even friends.”

• Early exposure to other cultures in a constructive and socially rich way can fundamentally change how we perceive each other.
• Seeing someone else as “just like me” instead of as an “other” makes intergroup contact easier and less prejudiced.
• The more time you spend with someone, the more likely you are to feel like you know him.  (This is one reason I wanted to give such an in-depth view of each child’s life, so users can see them in many situations and contexts.  It’s also why I chose photos over video. I like the book experience and feel that you can study an image, really examine it, and get physically close to it, more via photos and a video.  Given the OGK purpose, video seemed too fleeting.)
• Sharing stories with someone else (in OGK, children in the series ask about the user, creating the dynamic of interaction and sharing) makes you feel closer to them.

Each new friend invites you to play their games, learn their language and share their food – safe, international travel from your living room for world explorers 3 to 99 years!

The Globe We Share
•Designed to foster curiosity and openness, preparing children for success in the globalized world.
•Many educational uses – Ideal for classroom and home-based projects and discussions. 
•Excellent way to bring international topics to life

Classroom Version:

Round by Design has just released a classroom version called, One Globe Kids 1. The developers behind these ingenious apps has been round the globe to bring you and your students a classroom version, which is void of any in app purchases! Perfect for the classroom, this app addresses much needed cultural diversity awareness in one gorgeous photograph after another!

In the Classroom: 
•Each title is adaptable to student age and interest – keep topics simple or use it as a launch pad to explore complex international subjects;
•Social and emotional learning – discuss how children in the stories feel in different situations, what may be influencing their emotions and how students would feel in those situations;
•Compare and contrast themes and situations in the different stories with each other and with experiences of children in the class. 
•Use titles as a starting place for student presentations and country research.

One Globe Kids 1 INCLUDES EIGHT TITLES:
•Valdo in Haiti
•Gabou in Haiti
•Floor in The Netherlands
•Lars in The Netherlands
•Aji in Indonesia
•Jenissa in Burundi
•Luna in New York City
•Lucian in New York city

This app has been thoroughly evaluated by our staff. Please click on the 'star ratings' tab above, to see how it fared in all nine of our rating categories. See synopsis tab for more details about the storyline.

This review was originally published by TeachersWithApps.com on October 15, 2013. Teachers With Apps was co-founded by Jayne Clare, a Special Education teacher, and Anne Rachel, an artist and Early Childhood educator.

Their goal is to be a credible resource for quality educational apps. Created to help parents, grandparents, teachers, administrators and anyone else, wade through the vast number of  ”educational” apps being introduced on a daily basis.

Teachers With Apps was founded by two lifelong educators and is dedicated to the idea that quality mobile educational apps are the tools of the future but they need to be used responsibly. Remember, not all educational apps are created equal.

All reviews are of the app, not the platform/device. Based originally on iPad versions. Minor technical details may vary.