GLOBAL ASIA: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
11
LESSON FIVE
EXPLORING ASIA: ASIAN CITIES — GROWTH AND CHANGE CONCLUDING ACTIVITY
This is a post-series activity.
INTRODUCTION
In this final lesson, students will choose from different activities to expand their knowledge of Asia’s rise and fall and rise as an economic and
cultural giant on the world stage. They will explore new books, documentaries and online resources. They will be encouraged to share their
activities and knowledge throughout their school and community.
OBJECTIVES
• Students will create a thematic map based on their personal interests.
• Students will invite an emperor or contemporary president to dinner — and prepare dinner and table talk!
• Students will expand their own knowledge and help build class and/or community awareness regarding Asia’s reemergence as a vibrant
economic region.
FOCUS QUESTIONS
1.
How can we better understand Asia’s present by studying its past?
2.
How can we explore Asia’s past and present by focusing on one theme or historical thread?
3.
What can we learn from Asia’s leaders of the past? Who are some of Asia’s current movers and shakers?
4.
What are some current and accessible documentaries and/or books describing the opportunities and challenges of urban migrants today?
MATERIALS
• Computer/Internet access
• Books/documentaries for a book club
ACTIVITIES
Choose from a variety of activities listed below to help extend students’ study of Asia’s role in the world throughout history:
1.
In a few weeks, this series has attempted to cover a huge region over a long span of time — 2,000 years. In order to explore this region
a little bit deeper, ask students to make a thematic map. They can work together in pairs; they will need to choose a time period, region
and topic. Thematic map choices are numerous. Students can chart glaciers, rural-urban migration, growth and flow of religions,
population density, energy consumption, air pollution, ancient or new trade routes, ethnolinguistic groups, archeological sites, health
issues, earthquake faults, great rivers, staple food crops, colonialism or imperialism, Silk Road trade, or nuclear, hydropower or wind
power plants, etc. Encourage them to be creative using photos, graphs, colored markers, etc. They can design the map on poster board
or on a computer. You may want to project a few creative ideas up on the screen:
(click on map)
2.
Challenge your students to “invite an emperor or empress to dinner” — or any historical or contemporary leader from Asia. This could
be King Jayavarman II (d. 834), Chinggis (or Genghis) Khan (d. 1227), Tamerlane (d. 1405), Emperor Akbar (d. 1605), Tokugawa Ieyasu
(d. 1616), Raden Adjeng Kartini (d.1904), Empress Dowager Cixi (d. 1908), Mao Zedong (d.1976), Indira Gandhi (d. 1984), Corazon Aquino
(d. 2009) or any other historical leader. They could also choose someone still alive, such as President Xi Jinping (China), King Bhumibol
Adulyadej (Thailand), Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar), President Nursultan Nazarbayev (Kazakhstan), or President Tony Tan Keng Yam
(Singapore). Ask each student to write a 700-word “Invite an Emperor to Dinner” blog that includes the following four parts: (1) short
background on their guest; (2) three of the top Q-and-As that were discussed at dinner; (3) short description of what the guest was
wearing; (4) the dinner courses that were prepared; (5) the month and year that the dinner took place, such as September 1226. In order
to do this activity, students will need to research the ruler’s life and his or her era-appropriate clothing and food. After the students have
finished their blogs, ask them to post these on the walls around the room in chronological order or on a map of their guest’s homeland.
