New ReviewA man's journey of twists and turns comes to life in Homer's Odyssey. Ten years have come and gone, and Odysseus's wife and son still wait for his return after the fall of Troy. Scholars read of Odysseus's eventful return to his palace...

New ReviewThe Dubliners contains 15 short stories all bound in one book. The stories begin with narration by young children, and as they progress, so do the ages of the narrators. The author, James Joyce, focuses most stories on characters that...

Just how do you pronounce Ye? Scholars view a short video clip on Old English to better understand how languages evolved over time. They analyze the word Ye and translate it into today's American English. 

No matter how your day is going, it probably hasn't started out as badly as Gregor Samsa's day. Explore the essentially—and definitively—Kafkaesque story of a man-turned-vermin with a short and straightforward crossword puzzle on The...

Review main characters, story events, and important quotes from Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief. A crossword puzzle with 29 clues gives high schoolers the opportunity to check their understanding and revist Zusak's haunting work.

Feeling powerless in front of authority, feeling out of control, feeling bullied? Feeling Kafkaesque? A short video about Franz Kafka gives viewers insight into the family forces that shaped the life of this famous author.

Hosseini Khaled's The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are the anchor texts in a semester-long course that explores Afghani culture and traditions.

Dazai Osamu’s short story, “A Sound of Hammering” is the focus of a three-day investigation of modern Japanese literature and life in post-World War II Japan. The events in Osamu’s story mirror those in his own life, and give a...

Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...

Dive into classical Chinese literature with this packet. Provided first is a comprehensive summary and a half-page long historical context of Water Margin. As your class reads the section entitled "Wu Sung Fights the Tiger," pose the...

Students read a text about women in Korean and their role in Korean literature. In this Korean literature lesson, students read a text by Helen Koh to learn about women writers in Korea.

Ninth graders explore contemporary Korea, as well as pre-war Korea. They do this by reading One Thousand Chestnut Trees. After reading, they participate in classroom discussions about excerpts from the novel. They also research...

Explore the implications of the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II. Learners read Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood, participate in classroom discussions about the novel and keep journals in which they respond to...

Did you know that the world's first novel was written by a woman? Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji, was published in 1021. Class members research Eastern and Western cultures in the 10th and 11th centuries, view modern adaptations of...

La Belle et la Bête! Read the original fairy tale with your Francophones and watch a brief clip from the 1940s film version. As an extension, have learners work in small groups or individually to create a comic book representation of the...

Examine the contributions of African-Americans in the worlds of art and literature. Over the course of a few days, young scholars will read and analyze a poem, a short story, and a piece of art. They complete a range of...

Groups of high school learners conduct research on a particular era of African-American history, focusing on events, people, and places important to that era. Next, they review children's literature in four different genres. As a...

How does the story of Cinderella differ from country to country? Tenth graders explore the elements of fiction through the Cinderella story. They read different versions of the Cinderella story and identify the literary elements. They...

Introduce the concept of myths to your class. Using the link to "Myths Around the World," read a story aloud and have learners list characteristics of a myth. Readers then choose their own myths from the site and work in groups to answer...

After reading creation myths from around the world, use this quiz to test your learners. Five different myths are covered in a multiple-choice format. Increase your scholars' global awareness by studying world literature and cultural myths.

Confirm readers' knowledge of Robert Burns and his poetry with this online quiz. Though all questions are multiple-choice, they are a little more in-depth. Receive answers automatically with a click of the mouse!

Tenth graders examine the role that aesthetics play in the publication of books. In groups, they apply the concept of physical affectation on each reader's experience to literature. They also compare and contrast the varied types of...

Explore the world through literature! With push pins to mark where each story came from, learners examine cultural differences, geographical location, and how those elements affect story content. This lesson could use deeper development,...

Tenth graders gain a deeper understanding of stereotypes by reading Gene Yang's, American Born Chinese. Pupils will hone their ability to analyze, synthesize and evaluate text as they discuss this work in the format of a Socratic seminar.