by Aida Sherwani | 22 Jul 2025 | Europe, United States, Youth Voices
Racial bias isn’t readily apparent in Latvia. But simply how you use your voice can set you apart as a foreigner. People tell a young woman to be quiet. (Illustration by News Decoder) The first time someone told me I was “too loud” in Latvia, I laughed. Not...
by Lance Roller II | 29 Apr 2024 | Art, Media Literacy, Science
Ailments affect all kinds of people. But images doctors see in their textbooks and research journals don’t often reflect that. AI just makes it worse. Two medical illustrations by artist Ni-ka Ford. On the left is a depiction of botox injections. On the right is...
by Lance Roller II | 5 Mar 2024 | History, United States, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows
Thousands of Black Marines fought in World War II. But they had to fight for the right to do so. Now their nation wants to honor them, if they can be found. Montford Point Marines attend a Congressional Gold Medal Commemorative Ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington...
by Jaeda Liddell | 3 Nov 2022 | Art, Culture, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Thacher School, Youth Voices
Writing poetry helps 14-year-old Jaeda Liddell handle pent-up emotions. She gives voice to the anxieties and concerns of an entire generation. This article, by high school student Jaeda Liddell, was produced out of News Decoder’s school partnership program. Jaeda is...
by Jeremy Solomons | 21 Sep 2022 | Culture, Educators' Catalog, Personal Reflections
English may be the world’s lingua franca, but it can be full of bias. The words we choose can make us better global citizens — or destroy understanding. The Tower of Babel, by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Wikimedia Commons) “Language is the road map of a...
Global events are often reported from a U.S.-centric or Europe-centric perspective. Articles from the United States are peppered with analogies from baseball or American football, or are derived from a history of slavery. Stories from British papers often include language from colonial times. Correspondent Jeremy Solomons teaches us that to be a good global citizen, we need to take a look at the words we use and make sure they can be understood and accepted by people in different regions and from different demographics. Solomons shows us what it means to develop a global mindset.
Exercise: Solomons provides examples of words that might be problematic on a global level, such as “break a leg” and “come out of left field.” Can your students think of expressions that are unique to their country or region, and can they find a way to say the same thing in ways that might be better understood by someone from a different country and culture?