Bringing the world to our schools

iFest Education Programs bring the world to our schools. Our mission is to inspire children of today to become global citizens of tomorrow.

In addition to the educational activities, exhibits and programs onsite, the Houston International Festival produces a comprehensive education program for students in elementary to high school levels built around the study of art and culture in general with a focus on the honored country theme. The programs are designed to expose young people to the culture, language, art, geography, government and customs of the Bringing the World to Our Schools

honored country in an innovative and lively manner. iFest education programs now reach close to one million children in 56 Texas school districts! Everything begins with the Teacher's Curriculum Guide exploring the art, culture, language and history of the spotlighted country at the Houston International Festival, providing text and exercises for teachers to present in the classroom.

Current and past iFest Education Programs include:

Award winning Teacher's Curriculum Guide
Educational activities, exhibits and programs onsite at the outdoor festival
Words Alive! Writing competition for college scholarships for junior and senior high school students
Recycle Art Contest
Decorate Your School
Artists in the Schools: performances in inner city schools by local, national and international artists
Guest performers of the festival interact with Houston artists and students in workshops, courses, lectures and seminars
Visiting dignitaries from the honored country visit local schools
The International Children's Day Parade, a multi-cultural program of 500 elementary school children acting as representatives of Houston's 16 Sister Cities
Kids Day at the Festival
Professional Development workshops for educators to earn continuing education credits
Target Kids Free Program - all children twelve and under are free to the festival anytime!

2010 iFest Teacher's Curriculum Guide

The cornerstone of the education program is the Teacher's Curriculum Guide, a comprehensive guide featuring 200 pages of background information and educational materials for teachers in grades K through 12. The Houston International Festival has been publishing the Teacher's Curriculum Guide for more than 20 years. Many thanks to the generous support of Chevron, the presenting sponsor of this year's guide.

Each year, the guide is carefully researched, written, published and distributed free of charge to school systems and libraries through the Greater Houston area. The guide is a valuable teaching aid to be integrated into lesson plans. Students learn about the honored country's art, culture, education, history, politics and economics for the entire school year leading up to the Festival events in the spring. Over 10,000 copies and cds of the guide are distributed free of charge every year to 1,471 schools in 54 school districts in seven counties within Texas reaching a potential 900,000 students.

The honored region for the 2010 Houston International Festival is the Caribbean. Enjoy this Guide as you would the Caribbean culture itself. Explore the customs, crafts, foods, dance, literature and arts of this diverse and important culture. Immerse yourselves, your students, schools and neighborhoods in the numerous opportunities the Houston International Festival offers. Then plan on visiting the Festival April 17-18 and April 24-25 in downtown Houston, where you can see, touch, taste and experience the knowledge and awareness the curriculum guide has brought you. In particular, don't miss the Chevron Caribbean Living Museum, where you can enjoy a cultural journey through the Caribbean.

We are very proud of this year's Guide on the Caribbean, beloved by Americans for its superb music and lovely beaches, but also burdened by the economic and political problems of the developing world. The material in this Guide is intended to shine a light on the historical roots of some of those problems, while also emphasizing the wonderful cultural contributions the Caribbean has bestowed upon the world. Of course, we hope this material will inspire teachers, students and parents to want to come to the festival in April, when we will have a chance to illustrate some of the historical and cultural information in this book with on-site exhibits and performances. But our long-range intention is for this book to be used in classrooms and libraries in the Houston area as a resource for teachers to take students on a cultural journey and explore the rich history of the Caribbean.

Presenting Sponsor of the 2010 Teacher's Curriculum Guide