“Beneath the blossoms with a pot of wine,
No friends at hand, so I poured alone;
I raised my cup to invite the moon,
Turned to my shadow, and we became three.”
Li Po,“Drinking Alone in the Midnight” (eighth cent.) (translation by Elling Eide)
Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes
Tagged asian-pacific history, poetry, professional development
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Polynesia. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one sentence–a long compound that might be best broken up for emergent and struggling readers–and two comprehension questions.
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.
“Chingiz Aitmatov: (1928-2008) Kirghiz novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. Born in the Central Asian republic of Kirghizia, Aitmatov inherited a love for Russian literature from his father (who died in 1937, a victim of Stalin’s terror) and for traditional Kirghiz folktales and customs from his mother. In 1952 he qualified as a veterinary technician and published his first story. After a period of study in Moscow, Aitmatov returned home to work as a journalist in 1958 and soon gained a national reputation with the publication in the journal Novy mir of ‘Jamilya’ (1959), a love story that challenged both traditional Kirghiz custom and the new ‘socialist’ morality. This and other short stories were followed by two thoughtful novels, Proschai, Gulsary! (1966; tr Farewell, Gulsari, 1970) and Bely parakhod (1970; tr The White Ship, 1972). Aitmatov is best known in the West for his play (written with Kaltai Mukhamedzhanov) Voskhozhdenie na Fudzhiamu (1973; tr The Ascent of Mount Fuji, 1975). A subtle treatment of the suppression of dissidents, it caused a sensation when first produced in Moscow in 1973. One of the few genuinely talented writers to emerge from the government’s drive to transform the non-Russian nationalities into parts of the total Soviet state, Aitmatov began increasingly to criticize the impact of Russification, collectivization, and a non-nomadic way of life on traditional Kirghiz society. A subsequent work to appear in English is the novel The Day Is Longer Than a Hundred Years (1980; tr 1983). One of this most recent works, Plaka (The Executioner’s Block, 1986) was received with much interest in Russia.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
He has been in the news recently for his new book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, which tells the story of the attack he suffered in August, 2022, while onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, so now is a good time to offer this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Salman Rushdie. This is a half-page document with a reading of two sentences, on relatively simple, the other a longish compound, and two comprehension questions. The reading does mention the Satanic Verses controversy (which may have motivated Mr. Rushdie’s attacker) and the fact that it necessitated that Mr. Rushdie go into hiding.
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.
“Shwe Dagon: Pagoda in Yangon (Rangoon) that is the center of Burmese religious life. A Buddhist temple complex begun in the 15th century, Shwe Dagon is constructed of brick in the form of a cone and is completely covered with gold. Raised over a relic chamber, it was rebuilt several times and was brought to its present height of 326 feet (99 meters) in 1841 by King Tharrawaddy. The pagoda sits atop a hill that rises 168 feet (51 meters) above the city.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
For the third Friday of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2024, here is a reading on the Four Noble Truths and the Eighfold Path along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.
I guess that is enough said.
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.
“Geometry enlightens the intellect and sets one’s mind right.”
Ibn-Khaldun, Muqaddimah vol. 3 (ca. 1380)
Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the racist concept of the Yellow Peril. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and two comprehension questions. There is a parenthetical element at the end of the reading the advises interested parties to See internment of Japanese Americans. If you want to take this further, you’ll find a Cultural Literacy worksheet on that topic under this link.
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.
“Etel Adnan: (1925-2021) Lebanese poet. Adnan’s works record the devastation of Beirut by civil war. Adnan is a Lebanese Christian who writes in both Arabic and French, and much of her work has been translated into English. Her seven volumes of poetry include Arab Apocalypse (1980) and From A to Z (1982). She renders the effects of the war in fragmentary poems that are formed from shards of language, often punctuated by abstract drawings, barring the reader from assembling a coherent narrative. Her one novel, Sitt Marie Rose (1982), also resists a linear reading: it is told not only from the perspective of its female protagonist, a Christian supporter of the Palestinian resistance, but also from that of the Phalangist Christians who hold her hostage. Adnan’s manipulation of the point deftly illustrates the complexities of the Lebanese political crisis.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Vishnu, the Hindu deity known as The Preserver. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two simple sentences and two comprehension questions. Once again, just the basics.
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.
Mark's Text Terminal 
You must be logged in to post a comment.