Smithsonian's Celebrate! Where Asia Meets America

[Kim Leng]

The Smithsonian Institute has a featured website on Asia: https://www.si.edu/feature/celebrate-asia that includes Spotlight on Asia Across the Smithsonian, Smithsonian Folkways Playlists, Spotlight on Asian American History and Culture Exhibitions Around the Smithsonian. There are so many beautiful art in every section.  I especially love the Smithsonian Folkways Playlists.  Check out The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan.  This 2 CD album contains music from Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, and Japan.  And check out the more info feature for the songs to get track information on the country, language, and performer credits. Also check out the Japanese Buddhist Ritual album.

 

The artwork featured on this page includes many aspects of Asia from Buddhism in Asian Art to Asian American Artists. With so many items to explore, this site provides a variety of resources related to Asian art and history.

[Dan Thalkar]

Thanks for sharing this resource, Kim. I am particularly excited by the inclusion of music. Students often love hearing the sounds of other cultures, and it can help add complexity and nuance to otherwise static images or text. It could be cool to use the Smithsonian website as a model and have students create their own 'Spotlight' profiles, where they identify key events, art, and music for different groups that they research. 

[Marcos Rico]

Dear Kim,  Thank you for sharing this link. I loved listening to music from East Asia. Besides a handful of my students who have Asian ancestry, I am sure that most of my students have never experience this style of folk music. I followed your recomendation and listened to The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan. Thanks for the tip about opening the info feature to find out more details about each song.

[Heidi Kwalk]

What a great website and full of resources to teach about Asia! The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan will be on my lessons plan for next year. Silk Road is a  topic  that does relate directly to 4th and 5th grade. It is hardly mentioned in the program we use and this resource can be a valuable resource to go with that lesson. Additionally, resources on China can also be used during the Age of Exploration and discussions about how Marco Polo impacted the Age of Exploration; resources about India on the website also can be used as the European explorers were seeking a route to India as well. 

[Author]

Posts