TeachMideast is a website designed for K-12 educators featuring a plethora of innovative new resources on the Middle East and Islam.  The site includes essays, classroom activities, downloadable multimedia content and interactive Google Earth tours. We hope you will find it easy to browse subjects through our eight themes on the top bar of the website, and through the Google Earth tours we have designed for each theme.  

The site is organized by the eight themes you see across the top bar of our home page. We recommend that you begin by choosing one of these themes.  Each theme features a  Google Earth tour located at the top of the page. You will also find various scholarly essays, classroom activities and downloadable multimedia content. 

Google Earth tours can be accessed by clicking the “View in Google Earth” link above the top right hand corner of the map. 

Get Google Earth for free at http://earth.google.com/intl/en/.  Follow the downloading instructions.

Tours appear as maps on the Teachmideast website.  To view them in Google Earth, select the “View in Google Earth” button at the top right corner of the map.

To get the most out of your Google Earth tour, make sure that roads and 3D buildings will be displayed.  Look in the bottom left corner of the Google Earth interface and check the boxes for “Roads” and “3D Buildings.”

You are ready to start your tour!  Simply select the tour from the “Places” menu on the left hand side of the screen and double-click where it says “Click Here to Start Tour.”  From here you need only push the Play button on the bottom of the screen to advance to each stop on your tour.

Keep in mind you have full 3D movement in Google Earth!  Use the tools in the top right corner of the screen to tilt, twirl, and zoom-in on areas of interest. Pause the tour at anytime and we encourage you to  explore the surrounding areas.

Google Earth has many more features that may be used in your Middle Eastern tours.  A comprehensive Google Earth user guide can be found at http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v5/.

We welcome any suggestions for additions in content, or for improvements we can make in the website.