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Reflections
This book is out of print.
Thoughtful, critical reading of the challenging texts in this collection, designed for Years 9 and 10, will give students a richer understanding of the Asian region. Reflections offers some political comment and stories of political standpoints, alongside folktales and oral histories. It incorporates satirical cartoons, extracts from renowned Indian and Indonesian novels, personal memoirs and visual texts from China, and mythical tales from Laos.
Reflections challenges the way students see the world by showing them the varied experiences of people across Asia. It is backed up by extensive teaching notes.
- Index
- Reflections: Texts as a Reflection
Reflections: 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.
1 Creation Tale
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.
2 The Nihongi
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.
3 A Day at Court
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
