In one of our seminar discussion we talked about how important it is for our students to experience or be exposed to the variety that exists in our world.
I like to use interesting tidbits either in the form of interesting people that don’t usually come into the main narrative or activities. I don’t like to call it a hook but that is kind of what it is…something to get the kids interested in the subject.
When we talk about Japan I like to start off with a quick origami activity, usually the international peace crane. You can get origami specific paper on Amazon for pretty cheap. I like to open lessons with these interesting tidbits. Heads up origami is hard…even for high school students. There are tons of youtube videos for different origami lessons.
For China, I like to use interesting people like Bruce Lee and his impact on the film industry. Or
Lin Siniang who was just a badass lady of China.
Then for Korea the band, Jambinai, who combines modern instruments with traditional instruments. It is really cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEk0YlYEJAE