• April 28, 2012

HUF focuses on enhancing South Asia content in the K-12 classroom

The workshop featured experienced K-12 educators and administrators, such as Elva Gladney (above), discussing strategies for better incorporating South Asia in the social studies curriculum
The workshop featured experienced K-12 educators and administrators, such as Elva Gladney (above), discussing strategies for better incorporating South Asia in the social studies curriculum

 

Right on the heels of it’s national conference on improving undergraduate Hindi-Urdu language pedagogy, the Hindi Urdu Flagship convened a follow-up workshop on April 28th aimed at enhancing awareness of South Asia and Hindi-Urdu at the K-12 level. The workshop, entitled Presenting South Asia through the Traditions of Hindi and Urdu, brought together many K-12 social studies teachers and administrators to discuss the specific question, “How can Hindi and Urdu resources make a contribution to students’ understanding of world culture and literature?”

As a means of suggesting how specific Hindi or Urdu literary traditions might be projected as cultural case studies for the high school classroom, a number of HUF and HUF-affiliated faculty gave short presentations on specific Hindi-Urdu writers. HUF Director Rupert Snell spoke on the Kabir tradition of Hindi, a tradition which spans five-centuries, much of north India and is still a vibrant part of the culture today. HUF Associate Director Syed Akbar Hyder spoke on the ghazal, a tradition with an almost unparalleled geographic and temporal breadth. Finally, Amy Bard of Wellesley College led a fascinating group discussion of feminist Urdu writing and its possible use in the high-school classroom.

The workshop concluded with a lively and lengthy roundtable discussion led by K-12 curriculum designers on the development of possible lesson plans based on South Asia related material. As a follow-up to the workshop, HUF has established a working committee to develop a series of lesson plans which will be distributed both within Texas and nationally. You can download the workshop agenda here.