Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: Cossacks

Posted on November 5, 2021 | Leave a comment

Because I can’t ever remember hearing them mentioned once in 11 years of teaching global studies in New York State, I wonder if there exists any use at all, anywhere in the United States, for this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Cossacks. They are, or were, an important group of warriors and horsemen in Russia. Recently, they’ve made a comeback as part of a constellation of groups whose raison d’etre, as far as I can determine, is to extol the virtuous leadership Vladimir Putin and promote Great Russian cultural chauvinism.

This is a half-page worksheet with a symmetrical relationship between reading and comprehension questions: a three-sentence reading, and three 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.

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Cultural Literacy: Continental Congress

Posted on October 29, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Continental Congress. This is a half-page worksheet with a four-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. For its brevity, this document is a solid general introduction to the term and concept of the Continental Congress of North America. Users can, if so inclined, alter this Microsoft Word document to their classroom’s needs.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Constitutional Convention

Posted on October 27, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Constitutional Convention in the nascent United States. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three compound sentences and three comprehension questions that are in two or three parts each. As I looked at this document prior to posting it, it occurred to me that if probably would be better as a full-page worksheet with the questions broken up. Since this is a Microsoft Word document, you can alter it for the needs of your classroom.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Conscientious Objector

Posted on October 22, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a conscientious objector to war. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three compound sentences and three comprehension questions. The first question is in three parts, and it may be necessary to break it up for emergent or struggling readers. Once again, this is  Microsoft Word document, so you are free to do with it what you want or need.

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.

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The Weekly Text, 22 October 2021: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Water Bed”

Posted on October 22, 2021 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is a on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Water Bed.” I begin this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Latinism caveat emptor. As you probably know, this locution means “let the buyer beware.” However, in everyday discourse one will often hear someone say “there is a caveat” or “there are several caveats” in any given situation. Caveat by itself means (by  Merriam-Webster’s reckoning) “a warning enjoining one from certain acts or practices.” All of this is a roundabout way of saying that caveat emptor in particular, and caveat in general, are arguable words high school students should know by their graduation.

Anyway, you’ll need this PDF scan of the illustration and questions related to the evidence in this case to investigate it. And here is the answer key to solve the case and bring your culprit to the bar of justice.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: The Communist Manifesto

Posted on October 20, 2021 | Leave a comment

As long as I have my computer on this afternoon, let me offer readers this Cultural Literacy worksheet on The Communist Manifesto. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. In other words, the most basic of introductions to this world-changing book.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Che Guevara

Posted on October 8, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Che Guevara. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of five sentences and six comprehension questions. With this worksheet, I can say that the document joins a growing body of materials on Che Guevara on this blog.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Gringo

Posted on October 8, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the term “gringo.” This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of single compound sentence and two comprehension worksheets.

The reading offers no background on this term. Some years ago, for some reason, I read some on the origins of the word. While this Wikipedia page describes “gringo” as a slur. I never heard it or took it that way when I traveled through South America. Often, I thought, it was said in jest.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Banana Republics

Posted on October 8, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the term “Banana Republics.” This is a half-page worksheet with two simple sentences and two comprehension questions. The reading note that the “…term banana republic is often used in a disparaging sense” because “it suggests an unstable government.”

I’ve traveled a little bit in South America, and I never heard this term used there. In fact, the American writer O Henry coined the term to characterize the fictional nation of Anchuria, in his short story “The Admiral.” Given the United States government’s tendency to meddle in the affairs of the sovereign nations of Latin America, the epithet “Banana Republics” is a bitter irony indeed. If these nations suffered from unstable governments, in many cases it is the United States–and the United Fruit Company–that has destabilized them.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Barcelona

Posted on October 8, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Barcelona. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of three compound sentences and five questions. It’s a solid reading exercise, I think, for students who might struggle with sorting out the finer details in a passage of text. As a full-page worksheet, it might serve well as independent practice.

But you can do anything you want with it: like almost everything else on this blog, this document is formatted in Microsoft Word, suitable for export to a word processor of your choice, or edited and adapted for your classroom.

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.

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