Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, much of the work of which, as is relatively common knowledge (I hope), was done by Chinese immigrant labor.
That’s the reason it shows up during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
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.
“Forty-nine alone escapes the Eastern suspicion of anything to do with the number 4 (which has a tonal connection with the Chinese word for death). This is because it is the sum of seven times seven, and ‘seven’ is very propitious because it sounds like ‘arise’ and can also mean ‘togetherness.’ For the superstitious, rather than writing forty-nine by itself, seven times seven is often used or tacked on beside it. So forty-nine has become the Eastern world’s preferred length of time for fasting, and cleansing rituals, as well as being the period of time for a requiem ritual after a death.”
Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Here, on a Tuesday morning, is a short independent practice on Babylonia. Independent practice is a something of a euphemism for homework, though I think it better reflects my own goals for students completing these kinds of assignments.
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.
“Japanese novelist. Oe is widely read in his own country and considered by many to be the finest writer of his generation. His first work, a novella called Shiiku (1958; tr The Catch, 1972), describes the friendship between a Japanese boy and a black American prisoner of war. Published while Oe was still a student, it received the prestigious Akutgawa award. In Oe’s early works, madness and violence are commonplace. His fiction explores Japanese feelings of betrayal, dislocation, and alienation in the wake of World War II, and his political writings focus on Japan’s search for cultural and ideological roots. Oe’s later works reflect his intense and painful experience as a father of a brain-damaged child: Kojinteki na taiken (1964; tr A Personal Matter, 1968); Man’en gannen no futtoboru (1967; tr The Silent Cry, 1974); and Warera no kyoki o ikinobiru michi o oshieyo (1969; tr Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness: Four Short Novels, 1977). Oe’s style has been described as innovative, wild, and vital and has angered certain critics by flouting prevailing Japanese literary conventions of delicacy and simplicity. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994, only the second Japanese writer so honored (Kawabata was the first, in 1968.).”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged asian-pacific history, fiction/literature, readings/research
There aren’t many Monday mornings left in the school year; while I dislike wishing my life away, I am looking forward to the summer, ergo the end of the school year. Who isn’t at this point in the year?
Anyway, on this Monday morning, here is a Cultural Literacy Worksheet on the Ottoman Empire.
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.
“Organization formed on 23 April 1933 to protest an ordinance forcing Chinese hand laundries in New York City to cease operations. It defeated the ordinance and became the foremost agency in the struggle for the economic, political, and civil rights of Chinese laundry workers; it also helped to launch the Chinese language newspaper China Daily News (1940-89). At its peak, the organization had 3200 members. During the 1950s it was harassed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for alleged ties to communism, and several members were deported. The alliance took part in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and remained in operation into the 1990s.
Renqiu Yu. To Save China, to Save Ourselves: The Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992).”
Excerpted from: Jackson, Kenneth, ed. The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
For the first text of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I offer a materials on one of the most ignoble pieces of legislation ever to pass through our legislative and executive branch, the Chinese Exclusion Act.
So, here is a reading on the Chinese Exclusion Act along with this comprehension worksheet on it. Finally, here is an Everyday Edit on the late Senator Daniel Inouye (and if you want or need more Everyday Edit worksheets, I highly recommend visiting the Everyday Edit page at Education World, where you will find the generous proprietors of the site give away away a yearlong supply of them for free!).
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.
“Third secretary-general of the United Nations (1961-1971), the first Asian to hold the post. Born in Myanmar (Burma), he was educated at the University of Yangon but had to leave before graduating. He taught high school before entering government service. Posted to the U.N. in 1952, he became Burma’s U.N. ambassador in 1957. In 1961 he became acting secretary-general after Dag Hammarskjold’s death; he became permanent secretary-general in 1962. In his two full terms (1962-1971), he played a diplomatic role in the Cuban missile crisis, devised a plan to end the Congolese civil war (1962), and sent peacekeeping forces to Cyprus (1964).”
Stevens, Mark A., Ed. The Merriam Webster Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Here, on a Thursday morning, is a short independent practice assignment on Buddhism. In other words, this is homework; I don’t use the word in my classroom because it is loaded. In any case, consistent with Alfie Kohn’s book The Homework Myth, which exercises a large influence on my thinking on this issue, I try to help students understand the difference between homework qua homework and independent practice, which calls upon them to practice that day’s classwork on their own.
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.
Posted in Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets
“Japanese film director. Kurosawa gained international recognition with Rashomon (1950), which won first prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1951. Other noteworthy films include Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954; remade by Hollywood as The Magnificent Seven, 1960), Throne of Blood (1957; an adaptation of Macbeth), Yojimbo (1961), Dersu Uzala (1975), Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985; an adaptation of King Lear), which received the National Film Critics Award for best picture of 1985.
Widely recognized as one of the greatest directors of all time, Kurosawa helped introduce Japanese film—and Japan itself—to the world. His distinctive ‘international’ style is immediately accessible to foreign audiences, whether the subject is rampaging Samurai or corporate intrigue. In this sense, his work many contrasted with the more understated, ‘quintessentially Japanese’ films of his great contemporary, Ozu Yasujiro.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
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