Monthly Archives: October 2023

The Weekly Text, 17 November 2023, National Native American Heritage Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Imperialism

In the second week of observation of Native American Heritage Month 2023, here is a reading on imperialism along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Imperialism may seem indirectly related to Native Americans, except that imperialist projects around the world have been–and in many real ways continue to be–deleterious to indigenous communities.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Tupian Languages

“Tupian Languages: Family of South American Indian languages with at least seven subgroups, spoken or formerly spoken in scattered areas from south French Guiana south to southernmost Brazil and Paraguay and east to eastern Bolivia. About a third of the estimated 37 known Tupian languages are extinct. The largest subgroup, Tupi-Guarani, includes the extinct language Tupinamba, the source for borrowings of many New World flora and fauna terms into Portuguese and hence other European languages. Another language of the subgroup, Guarani, is spoken as a first or second language by more than 90 percent of Paraguayans, who consider it a token of Paraguayan identity.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: Incas

Last but not least this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Incas. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions. A clear, cogent, and symmetrical introduction to a great civilization.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Ojibwa or Chippewa

“Ojibwa or Chippewa: Algonquian-speaking Indian people who formerly inhabited a region north of the Great Lakes but who during the 17th-18th centuries moved west to what is now northern Minnesota. Each Ojibwa tribe was divided into migratory bands. In the autumn, bands separated into family units for hunting; in summer, families gathered at fishing sites. They grew corn and collected wild rice. The Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, was the major Ojibwa religious organization. The Ojibwa are one of the largest Native American groups in North America today, numbering about 50,000 in the U.S. and over 100,000 in Canada.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: French and Indian Wars

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the French and Indian War in the British Colonies in North America. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of five sentences and five comprehension questions. The reading explicitly connect sthe French and Indian War to the Seven Years War, which I’ve rarely seen done in social studies classrooms where I have been a co-teacher. In general, historians regard the French and Indian War as the North American theater of the Seven Years War.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Mohawk

“Mohawk: Iroquoian-speaking people North American Indian people, the easternmost group of the Iroquois confederacy. The Mohawk lived near what is now Schenectady, New York, They were semisedentary; women practiced corn agriculture while men hunted during the fall and winter and fished during the summer. Related families lived together in longhouses. Most Mohawk sided with the British in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, in the latter under Joseph Brant. Today they number about 10,000 and work in various fields, notably the structural steel industry.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

The Weekly Text, 10 November 2023, National Native American Heritage Month Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Native Americans

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States, though given what has imperialism has wrought on indigenous peoples around the world, it ought to be a global observance in by opinion. I am a week behind with posts for this month because I wanted to post the sixteen-lesson Styling Sentences unit seriatim, which caused it to run into the first Friday in November.

So, as there are four Fridays in September, the four posts for this month will run into Friday, 1 December. Problem solved.

Without further ado, then, here is a reading on Native Americans from the Intellectual Devotional series of books, along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Georges Clemenceau on the Passion of the Functionary

“There is no passion like that of a functionary for his function.”

Georges Clemenceau

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Need

Here is a worksheet on the verb need as it is used with an infinitive. I need to move these worksheets out of my data warehouse.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

The Devil’s Dictionary: Intoxication

“Intoxication, n. A spiritual condition that goeth before the next morning.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000.