<p>It’s also a question of interest. French students learn about all the French-speaking countries, Spanish students about the Spanish-speaking countries, for a start. When I meet someone from another country, I’m curious about where they might be from (Polish worker in a hotel, Salvadoran roofer, Ethiopian taxi driver, soldier just returned from Okinawa, etc.). </p>
<p>Our kids were always encouraged to learn about other parts of the world. The atlas and encyclopedia were the most consulted books in our household (this was mostly pre-Google). A colleague from the U of Georgia once called our house and S1 (in middle school) answered and took a message. All he could tell me was that I had a phone call from Greece. It took me about an hour to figure out that the caller had told him is was Friend from Athens. I thought it was pretty impressive that S1’s first thought was Greece, and he had no clue there was an Athens, GA.</p>