Tag Archives: asian-pacific history

Cultural Literacy: Genghis Khan

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, May 1st begins Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Initially, I was concerned that I lacked significant materials to observe the month properly; however, upon review of the Text Terminal Archives, I find that I have an abundance of materials to offer in observation of it.

So, let’s start with this Cultural Literacy Worksheet on Genghis Khan. As a college professor of mine once put it, he was an “industrious fellow.”

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.

Year One: The Beginning of Chinese Civilization

The year 2696 used to be considered the start date for Chinese civilization, for the winter solstice of that year was held to be the beginning of the reign of the Yellow Emperor. Most historians had accepted that that the period of the Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors is mythic time, though Huangdi was honored as the man who taught the Chinese to how to build shelters, tame wild animals, build boats and carts, and plant and reap the five cereals, while his wife taught weaving and silk-making, and their chief minister set out how to write, keep laws, and the annual calendar.

If we were all to agree to a new world calendar system, the Chinese Year One would not be such a bad start date, for it calibrates pretty closely with other great memory pegs of world history, such as the construction of the first pyramid (2630 BC), the first era of Stonehenge (3100-2400 BC), and the first recorded king (Enme-Barage-Si of the Sumerian city-state of Ur, c.2600 BC).”

Excerpted from: 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.

6,585 Days of the Saros Cycle

“There are 6,585 days between one solar eclipse and another, which is 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours. This has been known, observed, and calculated for many thousands of years, but was probably first chronicled in ancient Babylon (in Mesopotamia, in modern-day Iraq). It would later be disseminated by the Greeks as the Saros Cycle.”

Excerpted from: 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.

10,000 Blessings of a Peach

 “’Ten thousand’ is poetic Chinese for ‘infinite,’ as in ‘May the Emperor reign 10,000 years’ or, as it now says over the gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen) in Tiananmen Square, ‘May the People’s Republic of China last 10,000 years.’ This unit of time is symbolized by a peach, as the Chinese delight in making associations between the sounds of tonal connections of (otherwise unconnected) words. So when you look at Chinese imagery, be it an ancient watercolor or a strident propaganda poster, keep an eye out for a propitious scattering of peaches, birds, bats, and vases. A bird, especially a crane, has tonal connections with ‘harmony,’ a bat with ‘prosperity,’ a vase with ‘peace,’ and, as we have already heard, a peach can say ‘10,000 years.'”

Excerpted from: 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.

The Weekly Text, December 15, 2017: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Hammurabi’s Code of Laws

For some reason, I thought I’d posted this reading on Hammurabi’s Code of Laws and the comprehension worksheet which complements it. This material, I would think, is a cornerstone of an introductory global studies class.

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.

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit on Learning and Personal Nobility

“Education is not merely a means for earning a living or an instrument for the acquisition of wealth. It is an initiation into life of spirit, a training of the human soul in the pursuit of truth and the practice of virtue.”

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (1900-1990)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

Cultural Literacy: Mecca

Here is a Cultural Literacy Worksheet on Mecca, which might be handy in the toolbox of any global studies teacher.

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 Weekly Text, March 31, 2017, Women’s History Month Week V: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Murasaki Shikibu

The last day of March is also the last day of Women’s History Month. This week’s Text is a reading on Murasaki Shikibu. Lady Shikibu wrote what is arguably history’s first novel, The Tale of Genji. Here is a comprehension worksheet to accompany the relatively short reading.

And that is the last Weekly Text for Women’s History Month. I hope they’ve been useful. Next week I’ll return to posting less theme oriented material; I think I have a grammar lesson queued up.

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.

Isolate (vt), Isolation (n), Isolationism (n)

It’s the time of year that the global studies class in which I am co-teacher studies the succession of Chinese dynasties. This unit necessitates a discussion of isolationism. My co-teacher asked me to prepare a context clues worksheet on the term, so I did. I think it’s necessary when teaching this word to begin with the verb isolate. This is one of those tricky polysemous words that has a different general meaning than say, in biology, chemistry, or even linguistics.

If you want your students to understand isolationism as a political and diplomatic term, then you might find useful these three context clues worksheets that begin with the verb isolate (and include the nouns isolation and isolationism). Also, here is a lexicon for these words for your class linguist.

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.

Filial (adj) and Piety (n)

Here’s a context clues worksheet on the adjective filial that I use when I teach the concept of filial piety in Confucian philosophy. Writing that sentence, I realized I needed to go back to my warehouse and bring out this context clues worksheet on the noun piety.

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.