GLOBAL ASIA: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
4
LESSON ONE
During and After Reading
1.
After students have completed the reading, ask them to form small groups of four to six students (with one person taking notes) and
discuss the following: What is the author’s main point or points? What are some of the facts that he discusses? What questions do they
have after reading the article? What do they want to learn more about?
2.
Next, explain to students that this article discusses some examples of early Asian empires. Ask students to reread the article and circle
the empires that the author discusses and underline key elements of empires and/or practices of imperial rulers. Ask one student to list
these empires or states on the board (Han, Mauryan, Funan, Khmer, Mongol).
3.
In preparation for their final assessment exercise, ask students to share their experience with timelines and/or infographics. What
type of information should you collect for making a timeline or infographic? Share with them that a timeline is a visual representation
of related events or items usually displayed along a horizontal or vertical line in a chronological or sequential order. An infographic
is also a quick way to learn about a topic with data or statistics visualizations but not necessarily in a linear manner. Next, ask them
to think of examples of key topics, events, information or statistics that they could include. Ask one student to collect these ideas
and list them on the board. While a timeline might cover a span of five-year segments chronicling someone’s life, timelines
(and infographics) can also highlight specific activities such as inventions, the growth of a religion, expanse of military
power or alliances, economic growth and trade routes, migrations, archeological discoveries and evolution of the arts
(paintings, poetry, dance, novels, etc.) over short or long periods of time. To inspire them, project the following Han Empire
website from the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History from the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
Explore this site by clicking on the “Key events, “Works of Art,” and view the slide show.
ASSESSMENT
Divide the class into five groups, assigning each group one of the empires discussed in the article (Han, Mauryan, Funan, Khmer, Mongol). If
the group is made up of five students, ask them to come up with five different timelines or infographic ideas. For example, if they are part
of the Mongol Empire group, they may consider the following five themes: Chinggis (or Genghis) Khan’s conquests; policies enacted during
the Mongol reign; opening of trade routes and types of trade crisscrossing the empire; growth and spread of religions; the development
and spread of art. Encourage them to brainstorm ideas for this project together, explaining to them that each of them will be responsible
for researching*, illustrating and presenting one timeline or infographic event or item. This is an opportunity for them to be creative
using photos of food, artwork, armaments, religious symbols, animals, technology and archeological artifacts, as well as poetry, song and
literature excerpts. They could use butcher paper, poster board or computers (and then print out or project on the wall). Depending on
time, groups can pair up with another group to present their timelines or infographics, or if time permits each group can present to the
entire class.
Below are some useful background resources:
Han Empire
AP World History:
/
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History from the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
Mauryan Empire
AP World History:
/
Time Maps:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art:
Funan
About.com:
The Lost City (five-minute film):
Khmer
(emerged after Funan)
Ancient History Encyclopedia:
/
National Geographic interactive:
About.com:
Mongol Empire
Columbia University/The Mongols in World History:
Asia Society/Kublai Khan:
Asia Society/Silk Road:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art:
