The Hamas Israeli War

For obvious reasons I'm absolutely not touching Taiwan with a ten-foot pole. That said, even here in China and with students still at lower English proficiency (and by extension, news literacy) I've made a point with my sophomores to connect a few threads between the recent events and our new unit (10th grade roughly aligns to the 1200 WHP course) where we are emphasizing China (Tang/Song), West Africa (Mali and Mansa Musa especially), and, crucially here, the Middle East (Abbasids in particular). That said, it won't be until Friday that the first class discusses the Islamic World, where I'm planning on using a version of the great SHEG Ibn Battuta lesson to lay the groundwork.

For obvious reasons I'm absolutely not touching Taiwan with a ten-foot pole. That said, even here in China and with students still at lower English proficiency (and by extension, news literacy) I've made a point with my sophomores to connect a few threads between the recent events and our new unit (10th grade roughly aligns to the 1200 WHP course) where we are emphasizing China (Tang/Song), West Africa (Mali and Mansa Musa especially), and, crucially here, the Middle East (Abbasids in particular). That said, it won't be until Friday that the first class discusses the Islamic World, where I'm planning on using a version of the great SHEG Ibn Battuta lesson to lay the groundwork.

Wow, nobody can really fathom how tough a topic can be unless they are there.  I can't imagine having taboo topics.  My state (Washington) and district in eastern Washington give me the freedom to tackle anything relevant.  

Hi Christopher Barber I heard this piece on NPR this week and thought it was a great way to introduce what is happening in Taiwan to students. Additionally, there was also a piece on how pop music straddles the tension. Not sure if these articles would be useful, but I liked how they presented the two sides without emotion, finger-pointing, etc.  And, I really appreciated learning how to appropriately pronounce ChiangKai-shek!!.

Since I'm teaching in China I can't discuss Taiwan at all unless I'm saying "Taiwan is and always has been part of China." It's actually illegal to present two sides. I've even had to rip out pages from books with maps that show Taiwan as separate.