Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cross of Gold Speech

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold speech,” delivered to the audience at the 1896 national convention of the Democratic Party. Bryan is often used as a metaphor for the 19th-century American Populist movement–known as the People’s Party–and indeed the party nominated Bryan as its candidate in the 1896 presidential election.

The speech itself is both a representative ideological screed of populism, but also one of the classic pieces of American rhetoric. Bryan was a gasbag, so this speech is a stem-winder. As an illustration of certain tendencies in American political discourse, this speech is nonpareil.

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: Thriller

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the thriller as a literary genre. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and two comprehensions questions. In other words, a basic, but solid, introduction to this literary genre.

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: Synonym, Antonym

Here is another pair of Cultural Literacy worksheets that belong in the same post: the first on synonyms, which is a half page worksheet with a reading of two short sentences and two comprehension questions. The second, on antonyms, also has two short sentences as a reading, 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.

Cultural Literacy: Comparative, Superlative

Here’s a pair of Cultural Literacy worksheets that must go out together: the the first on the comparative form of adjectives is a half-pager with a reading of two sentences, the second of them a long compound separated by several semicolons, and three comprehension questions . The second covers the superlative form of adjectives; this is a full-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences, the second a compound, with three comprehension questions and a fourth independent practice exercises

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.

Cultural Literacy: Topic Sentence, Paragraph

OK, I continue to break into new material I developed during the pandemic. This pair of Cultural Literacy worksheets really should go out together. The first is a worksheet on the topic sentence of a paragraph. This is a half-page document with a two-sentence reading two comprehension questions.

That document’s obvious complement is this worksheet on the paragraph, as the reading nicely summarizes it, as the “basic unit of prose.” This is also a half-page document, but you’ll find a three-sentence reading with three comprehension questions.

In other words, a good general introduction, in two parts, to the paragraph in form and purpose.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Vidkun Quisling

While I very much doubt there will be much demand for it, here nonetheless is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Vidkun Quisling. This is full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and five comprehension questions.

Quisling’s surname name became a synonym for traitor and collaborator after his decision, which this document covers, to collaborate with the Nazis during during the German occupation of Norway in World War II. I first encountered this use while reading Christopher Simpson’s excellent book Blowback many years ago; he uses the term, in that study, “quisling governments” to describes the complicity of officials in the Soviet Baltic states and Ukraine in the Holocaust, particularly the events depicted in a film like Defiance–i.e. the role of the Einsatzgruppen in the early days of the the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

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: Confucianism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Confucianism. This is a half-page document with a two-sentence reading that yields three comprehension questions. A good general introduction, therefore, to a relatively complicated subject.

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: Buddhism

This full-page Cultural Literacy worksheet on Buddhism might serve as a full-period classwork enterprise, or as independent practice. The reading is only three sentences, but two of them are compounds. Five comprehension questions follow the reading. In my experience, which means interest but not involvement in Buddhism since I was a high school student myself, this is a solid general introduction to the precepts of the religion. The worksheet does not, however, deal in depth with the history of the religion–no mention, for example, of Siddhartha Gautama, only “the Buddha.” I know they are synonymous, but if you are teaching the standard global studies (as this material is designated here in New York State) curriculum, this document might not be what you need.

But you may alter it to your needs: like almost everything else here, this is a Microsoft Word document wide open to your editing and general manipulation.

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: Hinduism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Hinduism. This is a full-page document; the reading is four sentences long from which five comprehension questions follow. Hinduism–particularly its lineage leading to Buddhism–is a complex subjects to which. I’ll hazard a guess, entire academic careers are dedicated. Accordingly, there is a compound sentence in the middle of this reading on Hinduism and the caste system that may cause a bump in the road for emergent readers and new users of the English language.

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: Himalayas

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Himalayas. This document is a half-page in length (so there are two on every page) with a two-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. Basically, an introduction to the significant and dramatic geographic features of this mountain range in Asia.

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.