Japanese Poetry: Tanka? You're Welcome!

Free verse poetry is often regarded as poetry without structure, but in reality, it is a poetic form that adheres to its own poet's thought and breath patterns. Delve into the rules and famous examples of free-verse poetry with a short...

Do your language arts students love to draw? Use this lesson to reinforce poetic techniques with illustration. After drawing what they think poem would look like with no words, middle and high schoolers work on several different...

Learners explore the structure and content of the Tanka form and to arrive at a definition of the structure in English. They analyze a tanka to determine its structure and intent and compose two Tanka; one in traditional form and one...

Students create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition lesson, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In addition, students...

An introduction to bunraku--the traditional puppet theater of Japan. Find clear explanations of the history of the art form and details of the music, props, and puppets used. Illustrated with beautiful pictures. Includes several video...

This lesson allows students read various sonnets and chart the basic characteristics of the poem, using their observations about traditional sonnet forms. After, students write original sonnets, using one of the poems they have analyzed...

This large, wonderful site includes so much information on Asia that it is hard to showcase each element. It is easiest to enter Waka into the keyword box in order to access all the provided information. You will find an essay that...

Students analyze Japanese tanka poetry. For this Japanese poetry lesson, students identify analyze the structure of tanka poetry. Students complete the activities at the given links for the lesson and compose two tanka poems.

Young scholars analyze American essayists Mark Twain and Frederick Douglass in an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing. In this essay history lesson, students identify methods for writing essays. Young scholars read and...

Students explore the history of their local community. In this local history lesson, students analyze primary documents to develop an understanding of the local culture and traditions of their local community.