In this lesson plan, students will learn about the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. In the introductory first lesson, they will see how animals are often used as symbols. In the second lesson, they will hear one of several versions of how the 12 animals were chosen. They will then focus upon a few of the animals in the story and see how they can be used as symbols of certain human characteristics. In the third lesson, they will be introduced to the other animals of the zodiac, and they will be given a chart on which they will assign traits to each animal. Then they will consult a number of websites to find the traits traditionally associated with the animals, which they will add to their list. Then, they will come up with a number of ways to compare and contrast the animals in the list. In the third lesson, they will focus upon the animal associated with the year of their birth, learning about its traits and discussing whether or not these apply to themselves and their peers. Finally, each student will make an acrostic, combining the letters of his or her first name with adjectives that relate to his or her zodiac sign.

This resource was designed for a student interested in learning about Hispanic Civilization and Culture, and it may be especially interesting to a student of the Spanish language, however, no Spanish language knowledge is required. Nonetheless, there will be some opportunities to learn some language basics as language and culture are closely related.It is intended as a one-semester college-level course.The content is practical, authentic and engaging, but more importantly, it allows students to acquire much more than the basics of Hispanic Civilization and Culture. 

The Kindergrams Classroom Guide, intended for use with the Kindergrams audio files, helps strengthen young children's cultural curiosity and allows them to compare their own customs, traditions, and beliefs to other children and families around the world. 

These two Google Sheets were created to assist teachers using the Legends and Folktales "Lecture" found here: https://www.oercommons.org/courses/legends-and-folktales

The videos are organized by theme on Sheet 1. On Sheet 2, problematic or adult/mature themes are noted as this was originally published as a third grade "lecture". There are some fantastic, concise, interesting videos on the site, but they are jumbled by theme and it is time consuming to search through them. This list was created to save teachers time.

The author is not affiliated with the Department of Defense or the Defense Language Institute - Foreign Language Center.

The most comprehensive atlas of world history online!

A free atlas of world history with over 1,000 maps and articles to connect the history world into one navigable resources. Use it to navigate maps and summaries of world nations throughout their histories; see what was happening around the world at a specific point of history; or understand the connections between places and events. The TimeMap comes with teaching activities and lesson plans.

It also contains background essays on regions, time periods and civilizations, making it a great resources to understand the context of history.

This course considers reggae, or Jamaican popular music more generally—in its various forms (ska, rocksteady, roots, dancehall)—as constituted by international movements and exchanges and as a product that circulates globally in complex ways. By reading across the reggae literature, as well as considering reggae texts themselves (songs, films, videos, and images), students will scrutinize the different interpretations of reggae's significance and the implications of different interpretations of the story of Jamaica and its music. Beginning with a consideration of how Jamaica's popular music industry emerged out of transnational exchanges, the course will proceed to focus on reggae's circulation outside of Jamaica via diasporic networks and commercial mediascapes. Among other sites, we will consider reggae's resonance and impact elsewhere in the Anglo Caribbean (e.g., Trinidad, Barbados), the United Kingdom (including British reggae styles but also such progeny as jungle, grime, and dubstep), the United States (both as reggae per se and in hip-hop), Panama and Puerto Rico and other Latin American locales (e.g., Brazil), Japan and Australia, as well as West, South, and East Africa (Côte d'Ivoire, Tanzania, Uganda).