Oral Traditions and Chapter 1, Section 1

Today we began by discussing the importance of oral traditions to various different cultures. I wanted the students to see that we (residents of the United States) typically view oral traditions differently than residents of other countries around the world. For instance, countries with low literacy rates, or longer histories than the United States, may place a greater value on oral traditions simply because that is all that they have. We don't often think of ourselves as being a 'young' country, but in the grand scheme of things we are very young. This influences our viewpoints on a lot of things.

We also spent some time reading chapter one, section one, of the text. Students were to preview pages 6 to 9, write three questions in anticipation of the reading, and begin a group discussion about the material. We will pick up there tomorrow!