Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: Portugal

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Portugal. As presently formatted–in Microsoft Word, which means, like almost everything you’ll find on Mark’s Text Terminal, you can revise and edit this document to suit the needs of your students–this is a two-page document with a reading of six sentences and nine comprehension questions. For its size (relatively large for this series of documents as I have prepared them), it is a remarkably thorough introduction to this nation-state.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Tango

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the tango, the dance that originated on the Rio de la Plata, which forms the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. I learned, while conducting the modest research this post required, that the tango in 2009 joined the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List at the proposal of the Argentinian and Uruguayan governments.

In any case, this is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading and one comprehension question; it is the sparest of introductions to a fascinating cultural phenomenon.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Third World

I am not entirely at ease publishing this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of the “Third World”  because it is a term that I have always found patronizing at best. Nonetheless, as long as we humans consider “development” the ultimate achievement, then I suppose we will consider “underdeveloped” nations subordinate in rank to the “developed” world–you know, those countries that have allowed their heavy industries to create toxic waste dumps and foul the air with relative impunity.

Happily, this half-page document, which includes a reading of two sentences and two comprehension questions, focuses on the non-aligned (with neither the United States nor the Soviet Union during the Cold War, which isn’t entirely accurate in any case) character of African, Asian, and Latin American nations.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Latin America

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the term Latin America. This is a half-page reading with a single-sentence reading and one comprehension question. This is, in other words, a basic definition of the term. It clears up, for the students with whom I use it, any confusion about this simple yet encompassing noun phrase.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Ponce de Leon

Here is Cultural Literacy worksheet on Juan Ponce de Leon. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and three comprehension (two of them together on one line) questions. This is the conquistador who went to Florida in search of the (or a?) fountain of youth.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Miguel de Cervantes

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Miguel de Cervantes. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two short sentences and two comprehension questions. A nice little symmetry that includes mention of Don Quixote.

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.

Cultural Literacy:

Here, finally on this Friday morning, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of the clockwork universe. This is a half-page document with a two-sentence reading (the second of them a long compound) and three comprehension questions–with two of them on the same line. This is a spare but relatively thorough summary of the concept of the clockwork universe.

In any case, like almost everything on Mark’s Text Terminal, this is a Microsoft Word document, so you can tailor it to the needs of your students.

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.

Cultural Literacy: John Calvin and Calvinism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on John Calvin and his doctrine, Calvinism. This is a half-page worksheet that contains two readings from The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. They are separated. The first is on John Calvin the man, and is two-sentences; the second is on the doctrine of Calvinism, and is four-sentences long. Three comprehension questions follow both of these readings. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but a recent Secretary of Education of the United States apparently believed all that nonsense about predestination in Calvinist doctrine.

As with virtually everything on Mark’s Text Terminal, this is a Microsoft Word document, so you can manipulate it for the needs of your students. I thought these combine well, but they also might be better off separated into two separate documents. You can do with it as you wish.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Blue-Collar

As I prepared this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of “blue-collar” work, it occurred to me that this is not an adjective I hear much used anymore. I certainly remember it well from my childhood and young adulthood, particularly the latter period, when I did quite a lot of blue-collar work myself.

Should your students stumble across Paul Schrader’s excellent film Blue Collar (as I did at age 19), this document may assist students in understanding its title. Otherwise, well, I’m not sure about this worksheet’s currency. If you use it, as always, I would be interested in hearing how.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Bee in One’s Bonnet

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “a bee in one’s bonnet.” This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one long compound sentence and three comprehension questions. A quick drive by a useful abstraction, in other words.

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.