Teacher Information for Student Activities

Responses to Texts and Events
Teacher Information | Student Worksheets

Texts as a Reflection of Past Realities--Annals, Reports and Novels
Teacher Information | Student Worksheets

The Effect of Change
Teacher Information | Student Worksheets

These student activities encourage students to interpret the ways people express themselves, and to develop their own personal expression skills.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• discuss themes and issues in texts with challenging structures and ideas
• construct responses to interpret the themes and issues
• draw on knowledge of linguistic structures and features to explain how texts are constructed
• consider the contexts in which texts were created and how these are reflected in the texts
• gather, select and organise information effectively for specific purposes
• convey detailed information and explore different perspectives of complex issues through writing for specific and general audiences
• revise their writing to sharpen the meaning and effectiveness.

Suggested Approach

Students should work in groups or pairs. Discussion about interpretation of students' writing is encouraged. Redrafting, revising and accepting critical comments from the teacher and peers is also encouraged for these activities. Teachers are advised to visit websites prior to class to familiarise themselves with the demands of the texts chosen for this work.

1 Portrait of Murasaki Shikibu

Write a pen portrait of Murasaki Shikibu, the author of the world's first novel The Tale of Genji, based upon biographical details and her writing.

Suggested Approach

Students will need some support in their reading and interpretation of the extracts of Murasaki Shikibu's writing. They should be encouraged to think of her as an educated, dignified but unconventional lady of the court and to make judgements accordingly. Group discussion should be encouraged to allow a wide consideration of her personality as it is revealed in the source.

2 Report on Interview with Han Suyin

Write a report or article for a newspaper based on the Asiaweek interview with Han Suyin, a seasoned commentator on current issues affecting China.

Suggested Approach

Revise the main characteristics of material in Chapter 5 'Reports and Memoirs' in Reflections. Examine the main characteristics of reports and articles with the class, devising a procedure for collecting, processing and conveying information prior to commencing this task.

Write a poem expressing your feelings about a personal situation that is difficult to come to terms with or which seems puzzling and unfair.

Suggested Approach

Read or revise Chapter 4 'A Matter of Time' in Reflections. Ask the group to consider the forms, structures, subjects and language of the poetry included, so that some consideration is given to the variety of ways in which students can express their personal views before proceeding to the task.

TEXTS AS A REFLECTION OF PAST REALITIES--ANNALS, REPORTS AND NOVELS

These student activities encourage students to explore the role of creation stories, and administrative documents such as annals and reports, in the community, and the associated cultural beliefs as expressed in stories about the origins of the community and its environment.

Students look at Shinto creation stories of Ancient Japan. This website is part of the World Civilizations website that includes sections about ancient China, India, Islam and Buddhism.
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/ANCJAPAN/CREAT.HTM

The beginning of Shinto is associated with this period.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• explore different perspectives of issues through reading texts
• construct written and spoken responses to relate these perspectives to their personal understandings of the world
• consider the contexts in which stories were created and how these are reflected in texts
• draw upon a range of strategies to maintain understanding through dense or extended texts
• gather, select and organise information effectively for specific purposes
• convey detailed information and explore different perspectives of complex issues through interacting with peers in structured situations
• use and experiment with a range of linguistic structures and features to influence audiences
• critically evaluate others' spoken texts and use this knowledge to reflect on and improve their own.

Write a creation tale to explain the origins of a natural phenomenon or an important aspect of life, so that the story can be told to inform your community. Arrange a story-telling for the class to share their creation stories.

Prepare an oral report for your class describing the Nihongi, including the period in which it was written, its contents, its styles of writing and what you think was its purpose.

Prepare an oral report for your class describing an imaginary day at court as seen by a court official. This could take the form of a dramatic piece to be acted out in class.

Suggested Approach

These tasks should be undertaken in groups so that students are able to draw on a variety of talents, skills and knowledge in the reading and comprehension of the texts, and in the development of oral presentations.

Groups will need to be well organised. They may need some teacher support to understand the stories. Students should be encouraged to be imaginative and adventurous in their interpretations. Historical accuracy is only a broad goal. Display of personality and an appreciation of social or political context is to be encouraged.

Additional Web Resources

The following websites will give you more background on Shinto.

• For a definition of Shinto terms see:
  http://www.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/bts/index.html

• A glossary of the Yamato court and the Nihongi is to be found at the following site.
  http://ias.berkeley.edu/orias/hero/yamato/characters_yamato.html

These student activities encourage students to explore the effects of change on communities as shown by the personal expression of observers and participants.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• discuss themes and issues in texts with challenging structures and ideas
• construct responses interpreting the themes, recognising that texts are constructed for particular purposes and to appeal to different groups
• identify the effect of context, audience and purpose on spoken texts
• control linguistic structures necessary to communicate ideas and information clearly in written and spoken texts of some length and complexity
• discuss and experiment with linguistic structures and features that enable speakers to influence audiences.

Suggested Approach

This student worksheet could be combined with studies of Chapter 3 or Chapter 6 of Reflections

Students should form groups and do either activity 1 or 2 on the worksheet.

In preparation for activities 1 and 2, discuss the issue of change in the community with the class and its implications for traditional beliefs and customary practices, socially and in the world of business and technology. The class should consider why people change and why they may be reluctant to do so. Ask students to think about the ways that technology and global pressures may affect social practices and attitudes in the community.

Support the class with reading, interpretation and discussion of the texts indicated. Students will need to aquire some skill in interpretation as preparation for the script writing.

Discuss typical human responses to the situations in these texts so that students are able to understand and identify with the characters, settings and topics of conversation.

Write a short script of an interview about cultural or technological change in your community or in some other setting and perform it in class. What have people chosen to change and what have they chosen to keep with the passing of time?

What To Do

Develop a script of an interview with three members of a community (perhaps from different generations) talking about -- or arguing about -- the kinds of changes that have happened in the community.

Write a short script about cultural or technological change in your community or in some other setting. What have people chosen to change and what have they chosen to keep with the passing of time?

What To Do

Stimulus material: reactions to the International Monetary Fund's demands for changes in Asian countries.

Develop a script of a discussion among a group of Asian business people, or a dialogue between an elderly teacher of traditional ways and medicine and a group of young people.

Develop a website guide to inform people about the availability of Asian culture and literature websites.

What to Do

This is an exercise in search technique development. Students could be introduced to the Boolean search technique to locate literature from a specific country. A number of search engines explain aspects of Boolean search through the Help function. This technique is best learned through practice, however an explanation of how this approach selects texts is very helpful for remembering the best search techniques. Teachers should check with students once the search is begun, as students may need assistance to refine their searches once they have sampled some sites.

Refer to the Anthologies Resources page for a list of search engines and guidelines for using search engines effectively.