Category Archives: English Language Arts

This category contains domain-specific material–reading and writing expository prose, interpreting literature etc.–designed to meet the Common Core standards in English language arts while at the same time being flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse and idiosyncratic learners.

Cultural Literacy: Internment of Japanese Americans

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II. I don’t want to belabor the point, but this is not one of the proudest moments in this nation’s history. But come to think of it a bit, especially given the recent spate of racist attacks against Americans of Asian Pacific descent, it might not be a bad idea to teach this as a cautionary tale about nationalist bigotry.

In any case, this worksheet is long enough that you could–especially if you teach social studies–use it as independent practice, i.e. homework.

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.

Everyday Edit: Yoshiko Uchida

In observation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2020, here is an Everyday Edit worksheet on Yoshiko Uchida, the Japanese-American writer who suffered the indignity of internment in California during World War II (see above). Please don’t forget that the generous proprietors of the Education World website give away for the taking a yearlong supply of Everyday Edit worksheets. I’ve used these documents to very good effect in my classrooms over the years.

Kyoka

“Kyoka (Izumi Kyoka, 1873-1939) Japanese fiction writer and playwright, known for his many tales of the bizarre, grotesque, and supernatural. One of the most distinctive Japanese stylists, Kyoka rejected the modernist trends of Meiji literary movements such as shizenshugi, which promoted a tedious confessionalism, and sought inspiration in traditional motifs and sources. His work thus recalls the nativism of Ueda Akinari and foreshadows the neotraditionalist writing of Tanizaki Jun’ichiro. The unorthodox quality of Kyoka’s writing has also been seen as symptomatic of a well-documented psychopathology, including  mother fixation and assorted obsessive-compulsive disorders.

One of Japan’s greatest authors, Kyoka has been little translated—in part owing to his notoriously difficult, labyrinthine prose style. Translations include the short stories Koya hijiri (1900; tr The Saint of Mount Koya, 1956) and Sannin mekura no hanashi (1912; tr A Tale of Three Who Were Blind, 1956). Kyoka was also a playwright, and many of his works were performed for the popular Shimpa stage.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Origami II

OK, blink and you’ll miss this post. I write this on April 2, 2020, a day on which the even dumbest, most highly ideological governors in the United States finally yielded to the expertise of public health experts and issued stay-at-home orders for citizens of their states. Yesterday on the news, a reputable source reported that worldwide, 90 percent of schoolchildren are home. That means there are a lot of kids who need something to do.

So, I will press my luck and post another batch of material that does not belong to me in any sense of the word. Depending on which history of the paper-folding art you read, origami has been around for 1,500 to 2,000 years. But these documents come from a book that I am confident remains under its publisher’s copyright. So I won’t crosspost these or in any way promote them (hint: I will post a total of five origami posts, but you’ll need to search them in the search bar in the upper-right-corner of this website). Ready? Here we go.

origami 12 boat; origami 13 house; origami 14 piano; origami 15 oblong box; origami 16 fox; origami 17 sitting fox; origami 18 cicada; origami 19 pigeon; origami 20 pelican; origami 21 pin wheel.

This set of folding terms and directions will help direct this activity. Here is a wikiHow article on how to make origami paper. Finally, here is a link to a plethora of YouTube instructional videos for origami.

Term of Art: Word Salad

“Word Salad: One of the most common symptoms of schizophrenia is a disturbance in the use of language. Rather than select words which make communication possible, schizophrenics may combine words in idiosyncratic ways, or use associations that are out of context. This tendency may generate a minor language disturbance; or, in extreme cases, a word salad in which the combination of words is unintelligible to the listener and so makes communication impossible.”

Excerpted from: Marshall, Gordon, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Word Root Exercise: Liter

OK, finally this morning, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root liter. While it sounds like it should be related to a measure of liquid (as we use it by itself in English), it actually means letter. Now you know why you find it at the root of words like literature in English. Needless to say, this is a very productive root in English.

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.

Rotten Reviews: On Mark Twain

“A hundred years from now it is very likely that ‘The Jumping Frog’ alone will be remembered.”

Harry Thurston Peck, The Bookman 1901 

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998. 

John Lennon

OK, I’m drawing down to the last couple of posts for this morning. Here is a high-interest (depending on whom you’re teaching, I guess) reading on John Lennon 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.

Term of Art: Collective

“Collective: Indicating a group or aggregate of persons or things, e.g. the nouns ‘herd’ and ‘grove.’”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

Contraption (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun contraption. Kids who have been read to as children very likely have heard and therefore understand this word; kids who haven’t enjoyed the benefits of nightly story time, and English language learners, probably have not. In any case, it is a word in common enough use in English that kids ought to know it.

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.