Bangladesh--International corporations

This link goes to a graphic and article that compares how much it costs to make a shirt in the U.S. vs. the a country in Asia.   Would be good for Asia unit.  This comes after a major garment factory collapsed and killed 400 people in Bangladesh.

North Korea Propaganda

North Korea Lesson, Pope Lesson

Ny Times has come up with some possibly good lessons that relate to World Civ/Geography.  I haven't gotten to look at these in depth but here are the links:

Decision Point: Understanding the U.S.’s Dilemma Over North Korea

Change Agent: Examining How and Why the Pope Can Make a Global Difference

North Korea ends 1953 armistice

Click here for the current event. 

China's Lost Girls--Documentaries

Netflix has this great documentary called "China's Lost Girls" by National Geographic that discusses the one child policy of China and the number of girls who are lost.  The movie follows American families who want to adopt China's girls.

In the first 7 minutes and 20 seconds, it discusses the one child policy, Mao Zedong and the preference for boys.

By around 11 minutes and 30 seconds they discuss how the boy preference is much more severe in the countryside.  They interview village men and ask "Why so many boys?"

Around 13 minutes, they interview a woman who had two kids and willingly paid the thousands of dollar fine for her second girl (she had a boy first).

At about 16 minutes, they talk about the problems of the boy and girl imbalance.

The following are links to DBQ's for the AP World History Test.  Can be used for Geography or World Civ. Good for primary sources!

Christianity and Islam attitudes towards Trade

Spread of Buddhism in China

Han and Roman Attitudes towards Technology

Modern Olympic Changes from 1890's to today

Scramble for Africa/Berlin Conference

Industrial Revolution in India and Japan

Olympic Clips

Toying with the idea of using clips from the Olympics to show countries around the world.  I could show the clips in class, post them on the blog, etc.

South Africa wins first rowing gold medal. (Questions to go with this: Of the four "rowers" on the South African teams, what are the races of each?  How does this rowing team itself show an end to aparthied?  How could it possibly also show remaining white dominance in Africa?)

Italy vs. Russia in a foil match, Italy wins and considered best team ever.

North Korean soccer players protest when South Korean flag is shown for their team.

Why is this flag mistake especially embarrassing?  Why would confusing the South Korean flag for the North Korean flag more shocking than confusing other countries' flags? (Think of the history of North and South Korea.)  Do you think that the North Korean soccer players were right to protest and delay the game for an hour?  Why or why not?  What do flags symbolize and why are they important to Olympic athletes?

I wish I could find a way for my students to watch the Parade of Nations in the Opening Ceremony.  The commentators gave a little tidbit of information about all the participating countries.  The information revealed a lot about the political status in certain countries, the relationships between countries, the different religions represented, the way women are treated in different countries.  Tidbits I do remember:
-Greece always appears first in the parade of nations to honor the original Olympics held in Greece.  The nation where the Olympics are being held that year (in this case Great Britain) appears at the end of the parade.  The rest of the nations walk in alphabetical order following Greece.
-This is the first year that all of the 204 competing countries have men and women on their Olympic teams.
-They pointed out nations that have been British colonies in the past and even discussed a current debate over who owns an island in South America (I think the South American country that is in the land struggle with Britain is Argentina or Chile or...I can't remember).
-Greece has a smaller number of athletes participating in the London Olympics than usual, which reflects the economic crisis going in Greece now.  They could not afford to send more athletes. This following video shows how a Greek marathon runner made it to the Olympics despite Greece's financial problems:

Apple, Foxconn and Workers in Southeast Asia

This article from CNN highlights the bad of multinational corporations that take advantage of Asians.

Here is a link to the article.

Teaching North Korea and Kim Jong Il

Here is a link from the New York Times Lesson Plans