How are you? Here are the topics, deadline, and guidelines for our fall
semesterfinal presentations (後期期末プレゼンテーション). Look at the picture above. It's of the Manasa myth, a famous Hindu legend from India. Manasa was a folk goddess of snakes who sought out human followers. Is there a Japanese legend that is similar that you know of?
Topic
For this final presentation, we will focus on myths and legends from another culture. Choose a country and culture and present about a famous myth or legend from that country. In it, show the following points:
The time around when the myth started
Any holidays or celebrations (if there are any) about the myth that may exist
Any similarities with any Japanese myths
Deadline (締め切り)
Our presentation day will be on
January 16th (1/16), so you have three (3) weeks to
prepare them.
Please be ready on the presentation day. If for any reason
you cannot be there to present on the day, you must talk to me and present on your topic one week early.
Guidelines
As always, you have a choice between doing a
poster presentation or Power Point show. But this time there will be some other differences:
You will have a short summary and an outline ready on the presentation day, with the summary and outline reviewed by me before the presentation day
Each one of you will present to a larger group than before
I will have some notes for you about summary writing in the next class.
Good luck! I look forward to our presentation day on January
16th!
See you next class!
Image: By London, Harrap (Publisher) - Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914) by Nivedita, Sister, 1867-1911; Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish, 1877-1947, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20164930
How are you? The picture above shows a statue of Tran Hung Dao, who was a powerful warrior in ancient Vietnamese history.
Vietnamese culture has many interesting stories and legends from its past. But like all countries, it has fond some more recent myths and stories. Today I have a video for you about a very different kind of story from Vietnam - one that is about love and relationships. This is more modern, but is also as interesting as their stories of history - and is a funny one!
Activity/homework
Watch the video below. Watch it as many times as you want or need, then answer the questions below the video.
(If you have trouble seeing the video, go to this link, or go to YouTube to find "Why you are single for so long" at https://youtu.be/jaPVq3J5IUI)
1.What does the
“relationship with the dead” mean in Vietnamese culture?
2. What is the back story behind this legend?
3. What are the “devil’s hours”?
4. What is the checklist about a person’s relationship
condition that makes ghosts come to you?
5. What are some things a person can do to make the ghosts
go away?
6. What is the joke solution (解決策) the speaker in the video says a person can do?
7. According to the video, do these things always work? I hope you found this funny and interesting. See you next time!
Image: By Xiaoao - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5238607
Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the content. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for classroom purposes only.
How are you? Today, here is a video about some interesting myths (神話) and stories from other cultures - in this case, Mexico.
Mexico has a rich history and tradition (伝統) of stories like these, and there are many of them. The picture above is an example of one that is probably the most famous of all - the Dias de los Muertes, or Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead is similar to obon in Japan. In Mexico on this day, people have picnics in cemeteries (墓地) and leave food, drinks, and things for their loved ones who have died - just like in Japan. They also make shrines in their homes and decorate them, with a picture in the center of their loved ones who have died - like the picture at the top of this post. But there are other interesting stories from Mexican culture as well - some of which are recent, and very scary! Activity/homework Watch the video below. Watch it as many times as you need, then answer the questions after the video in your notebooks. (If you have trouble seeing the video, go to this link, or look for "5 Scariest Mexican Urban Legends" on YouTube at https://youtu.be/mh9Z3Cd0Aq8)
1. What does the chupacabra do?
2. Where was it first reported?
3. What are two things that the chupacabra looks like?
4. Where does the legend of El Coco originally come from?
5. What does El Coco do with children?
6. What is La Ilorona?
7. What was the back story behind La Ilorona?
8. What did La Ilorona do?
9. What is La Mala Hora?
10. What is El Silbón?
11. What does “El Silbón” mean in English?
12. What was the back story behind El Silbón?
I hope you didn't get too scared, and that you found this interesting! See you next time!
Image: By Eneas de Troya -https://www.flickr.com/photos/eneas/4072192627/,
CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1195272
Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the content. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for classroom purposes only.
