Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: The Mikado

Strictly speaking, this Cultural Literacy worksheet on The Mikado has little or nothing to do with Asian Pacific History, either locally or globally. I should have known this, because as a middle school student, I served as an usher for a production of the play by my city’s Gilbert and Sullivan repertory company.

But if we think of this play as an attempt at representation, then there is something juicy to talk about here. I doubt Gilbert and Sullivan are exactly au courant in classrooms these days, so I also doubt that this document has much use or currency. Rather than throw it away, however…. Well, enough said.

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: The Taj Mahal

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Taj Mahal. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and two comprehension questions. Somehow, it is at once a spare and thorough introduction to this important piece of global cultural heritage.

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, 16 May 2025, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Mohandas Gandhi

This week’s Text, for week three of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2025, is this reading on Mohandas Gandhi with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

I think it’s safe to assume that I needn’t belabor the world historical importance of the man the world knows by his honorific, Mahatma.

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: Siberia

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Siberia, that vast area of the Eurasian, or Asian, continent, depending on how you parse these things.

This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and four comprehension questions. Let me extend the usual warning about the reading: these are long, complicated compound sentences that really will need to be separated and made simpler for emergent or struggling readers. There is a clause about the metaphor “sent to Siberia” as a form of punishment by isolation that could be omitted–or not, if you are interested in assisting your students make connections between the concrete and the abstract.

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: Suharto

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Suharto who bears that name alone because, according to his Wikipedia page, “In this Indonesian name, there is no family name or patronymic.” This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and four questions.

And here, I suppose, is another item that surely has vanishingly little currency in classrooms in the United States, despite this nation’s meddling in Indonesian affairs, including support for Suharto, whose dictatorship was one of the most corrupt and brutal in the bloody twentieth century.

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: Tokyo

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Tokyo. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and five comprehension questions. The first sentence in the reading is a compound separated by a semicolon–in other words, ready-made to be edited for any striving readers you may serve.

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: Teheran

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Teheran. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two compound sentences, both of which are quite long and should absolutely be edited or adapted for striving readers, 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: Humanist

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the humanist as, well, a human concept. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two long, compound sentences–yes, you will probably want to shorten them for striving readers–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.

Cultural Literacy: Individualism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on individualism. This is half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading (the last one is longish, which may need to be shortened) 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.

Cultural Literacy: Imperative

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the imperative form of verbs. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one compound sentence separated by a colon–which makes it easier to read–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.