Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: Bohemian

Apropo of the post immediately below, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the noun and adjective bohemian. N.B. the lower case b, please, so that you know that this worksheet doesn’t refer to the territory in Czechoslovakia, but rather those of us who have chosen unconventional lifestyles, mostly in the pursuit of deeper study and appreciation of the arts and sciences.

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: Carry a Torch for…

Here’s a Cultural Literacy worksheet on carrying a torch for another person. It’s an old-fashioned expression to be sure, but not one without its charms.

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, November 9, 2018: A Literacy Lesson on the Polysemous Word Bond

This week’s Text (after missing last week) is something I whipped up pretty much on the fly about three years ago when I was assigned an eight-meeting class conducted over eight weeks on math and science literacy. This literacy lesson on the polysemous word bond is, as I look at it now, an odd melange of stuff. Depending on what it is you want kids to understand, there are materials here for one extended lesson–I wrote this for a sixty-one-minute long period–or a couple of different short exercises.

The first document, because I worked in economics and finance-themed high school, is this Cultural Literacy worksheet on bond as a financial instrument. These two context clues worksheets on the verb and noun bond in the sense of attaching or joining follow; logically, I guess, this short reading and comprehension exercise on chemical bonds rounds out this deck. I also, for some reason, made up this learning support with three definitions of bond from Merriam-Webster’s 11th Edition.

Now that I think about it, Bronx County summoned me to jury duty before I had a chance to use this material. The coverage teacher who used it did say students received it relatively well.

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: Copyright

Since I’m already sitting here this afternoon, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on copyright. It’s something students with budding artistic talents and aspirations ought to know.

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: Caveat Emptor

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on one of the most commonly used Latinisms in the English language, Caveat Emptor. It means, of course, “let the buyer beware.”

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: Amortization

Here’s one more thing on this Tuesday afternoon, to wit a Cultural Literacy worksheet on amortization. Nota bene the Latin root mort in this word: it means death and also shows up in words like mortal and mortuary. This noun, coming from the verb amortize, which Merriam-Webster’s defines as meaning both to pay off (as a mortgage) gradually usu. by periodic payments of principal and interest or by payments to a sinking fund and to gradually reduce or write off the cost or value of (as an asset) can mean, given the presence of mort in it, to kill off a debt. Students might find that interesting. In any case, amortize does show up in the word root worksheet I have for mort, which I will post at some point.

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.

Arbitration (n)

Now seems like as good a time as any to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on arbitration. I do understand that this might be a dying art and practice: now when humans have conflicts, they take to Twitter or Facebook and excoriate their adversaries.

You know, kind of like the culture of high school.

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: Aristocracy

OK. here on a Sunday afternoon is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on aristocracy. By the strict definition of Hispanic Heritage Month, it’s another stretch. On the other hand, students need to understand the concept of aristocracy to understand land distribution across the Latin American world and its consequence, poverty.

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: Appalachian Mountains

Mark’s Text Terminal is about to move to another state, so I spent the day dealing with that. Here, as I wind things down, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Appalachian Mountains.

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: Apartheid

Now seems as good a time as any to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on apartheid, a horrorshow that many of us are old enough to remember and to have joined campaigns to abolish.

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.