Curated OER
How a Writer Conveys Descriptions With a Wallop
Students identify strategies the author used to vividly convey qualitative and quantitative aspects of life in China, then use those strategies in writing of their own. They examine the author's writing style and techniques to learn some...
Peace Corps
Starting Off the Day (and School Year) in Ukraine
Students compare the first day of school in Ukraine with the first day of school in the United States, including the challenges students and teachers both face in each country. They respond in class, in their journals, to the following...
Curated OER
The Rigors of Learning a New Language
Students consider the immensity of the the task the author undertook to learn Chinese. They examine the rigors involved in learning another language-particularly one as notoriously difficult as Chinese and compare aspects of Chinese...
Curated OER
Waking Up, Stepping Out
Young scholars focus on a rich and colorful description of a culture unfamiliar to most of them. They compare the similarities and differences they find between Nepali culture and their own and determine our similarities as people can...
Curated OER
Seeing the World in New Ways
Students probe their own histories to record how they have had to expand their world views. They determine "Everyone has a culture. It influences how we see the world, ourselves, and others." The explain the concept of cultural...
Curated OER
Using an Author's Clever Strategies in One's Own Writing
Students examine specific clever strategies of the author and incorporate them in their own writings. They emulate Storti's strategies in writing an arresting lead and share their pieces in a class discussion, allowing them to critique...
Curated OER
Defining Culture
Young scholars define culture and examine how it affects them. They describe how their culture has shaped them, define the concept of culture, and explain some of the attributes of culture. The research the customs and culture of the...
Curated OER
Identifying and Using Parallelism and Balance in Literature
Students examine the story for use of balanced sentences and parallelism-two literary devices-and then practice using those devices in writing of their own. They combine the simple sentences grammatically into one correct sentence. A. I...
Curated OER
Recognizing How Another Culture Differs From One's Own
Students identify and understand the significant cultural traits described by the author. They discover how the concepts of time and punctuality can differ markedly in the United States and another country and determine that In some...
Curated OER
Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
Learners determine the importance of recycling to reduce waste, to employ trash in useful ways, and to save the environment. They estimate the percentages of landfill waste that items constitute, based on what they found in their own...
Curated OER
Sleuthing a Writer's Skills
Students examine the author's lively text to determine how she achieved her many literary effects. They discover the author's techniques in describing people and events, in setting tone, and in establishing pace. They reflect about the...
Curated OER
Using a Mentor Text to Develop a New Style of Writing
Students examine some of the author's writing traits and then make an effort to incorporate his style into their own writing. They show how richly written literature can be used as a mentor text, or model, for improving one's own writing.
Curated OER
What Is Good Use of Time?
Young scholars delve into questions about how best to use one's time-in one culture or another. They explore the kinds of choices students will make about their use of time and consider the statement: "We are shaped by the values of the...
Curated OER
Do You Really Know What Wealth Is?
Young scholars examine what it means to have wealth-a concept that turns out to be philosophical as well as economic-and examine the importance of music. They examine the concepts of wealth in Mali and in the United States and consider...
Curated OER
Geography, Climate, and Community in the Dominican Republic
Students familiarize themselves with the geography and culture of the Dominican Republic. They use primary source materials on the Dominican Republic to explore the question: How does where you live influence how you live? They describe...
Curated OER
Is That a Fact?
Students write examples of facts and opinions on the board. In groups, they develop their own definitions for facts and opinions and share with the class. In new groups, they complete a worksheet in which they place statements into the...
Curated OER
Using Effective, Evocative Writing as a Model
Students analyze the author's style to learn techniques for strengthening their own writing. They re-read "Music in the Fields" and highlight images that create vivid pictures in their minds-places where Young "shows, not tells" and...
Curated OER
Generalizations: How Accurate Are They?
Students examine how generalizations can be hurtful and unfair. They devise ways to qualify statements so they avoid stereotyping other people and recognize and modify generalizations. They think about generalizations and stereotypes...
Curated OER
A Fundamental of Culture-Cultural Context
Students examine how the unwritten rules of culture depend upon the context in which an event or behavior takes place. They explain cultural context and develop a poster, multimedia presentation, or radio spot that illustrates how...
Curated OER
Coming to Terms With Cultural Differences
Students discover that it is possible to be challenged and "culture-shocked" by the norms of one's own culture when returning home from having been away and living in another culture. They examine and compare the customs of modern...
Curated OER
Breaching the Gulf Between Cultures
Learners study the dynamics, the challenges, and the rewards of adjusting to a new culture, as illustrated by the author's account of his father's coming to terms with Sri Lankan customs. They reach the enduring understanding, "It is...
Curated OER
Brief Encounters (Building Bridges)
Students experience what it is like to confront and deal with a culture highly different from their own. They gain skills in observing and describing behaviors and develop an understanding of how our cultural values influence the way we...
Curated OER
Interpreting Behavior: Expanding Our Point of View
Students study the importance of understanding behavior from the perspective of the culture in which that behavior is the norm. They determine that understanding another culture involves being able to interpret behaviors, customs,...
Curated OER
Where Life Is Too Short
Students study the impact and implications of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa and beyond. They explain how the AIDS pandemic is affecting multiple aspects of life in South Africa and why life expectancies differ dramatically among...