Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: Mount Everest

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Mount Everest. This is a half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. A nicely symmetrical inquiry into Mount Everest.

Which is, after all, the tallest peak in the world. The mountain fascinated my crowd in high school, and we all rushed to see The Man Who Skied Down Everest when it arrived in Madison in early 1976. After seeing it, alas, we ridiculed it as an ego-driven mess that would have been better titled The Man Who Fell Down Everest.

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: Moguls

The last time I taught a Global Studies course here in New York City, they were part of the curriculum, so here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Moguls. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and three comprehension questions. And even in that brief reading? The editors of The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy manage to explain the Mogul (Mughal) dynasty in India, but also to observe that the word mogul also connotes “…a great personage or magnate.”

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: Upanishads

Last but not least this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Upanishads. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one sentence and one comprehension question.

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: Uzbekistan

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Uzbekistan. This is full-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and seven comprehension questions. You’ll notice that several of the questions (and you’ll find this in most of the Cultural Literacy worksheets that deal with nation-states) deal with the geographical location–bordering states around the compass rose, basically–of the country in question.

These questions, and the sentences that inform the answers, can be a bit much for emergent readers or students using English as a second language. Your can easily (this document, like nearly everything you’ll find on Mark’s Text Terminal, is formatted in word for ease of adaptation and manipulation) edit out those questions, as well as the sentences that drive them. Similarly, these can be simplified.

But bear in mind that I saw these as an opportunity for students with low literacy to stretch out a bit, and deal with some readings with a slightly greater pattern of complexity.

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: Taoism

Here, in what appears to be a spate of posts on religious and philosophical themes, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Taoism. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. A basic, symmetrical introduction to this school of thought and belief.

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: Yin and Yang

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of yin and yang might be of some use in your classroom. I know it was something that greatly interested my pals and me back in high school.

This is half-page worksheet with a reading of two longish sentences and two comprehension questions. I don’t think these two sentences, while long, will cause much problems for students, even those struggling with reading. But what do you think?

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: Gulf Stream

As it is, as I understand it, the Gulf Stream influences the climate along the East Coast of the United States, and is particularly important to Northwest Europe. Here, then, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Gulf Stream. This is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. A spare, but effective, introduction to this climatological 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: Seller’s Market

As it is a common expression–both in its literal and metaphorical sense–in everyday English, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the seller’s market. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences 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: Pulitzer Prize

Here’s another item, a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Pulitzer Prize, for which I anticipate exceptionally low interest. This is half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and three comprehension questions. If you are teaching anything do to with journalism, this might be of some use to you and 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: Role Model

As I have always thought role modeling is an important element of any teaching practice, I think this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a role model is a bit overdue. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of four straightforward sentences and three comprehension questions.

This document might be modified into a full-page worksheet with some critical questions about who might best be characterized as role model. In terms of design, the worksheet looks a bit crowded to me. It is, like just about everything on Mark’s Text Terminal, formatted in Microsoft Word for ease of adaptation, editing, or whatever else you might want to do with it for benefit 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.