• Lesson 1: Leonardo da Vinci
• Lesson 2: Albert Einstein

• Lesson 1: Who—and What—Has Rights?
• Lesson 2: Spirit of Brotherhood: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Lesson 1: A Romantic Life
• Lesson 2: Pride and Prejudice

• Lesson 1: Looking for Ghosts!
• Lesson 2: A Dead Secret

• Lesson 1: A Short History of Chocolate
• Lesson 2: How Much Do You Eat? How Much Do You Burn?

• Lesson 1: The Travels of Marco Polo
• Lesson 2: A Million Lies

• Lesson 1: Are You Lost?
• Lesson 2: Forgotten Promises

• Lesson 1: Chess
• Lesson 2: The Girl in Gray

• Lesson 1: Making Movies
• Lesson 2: Two Reviews: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

• Lesson 1: The Black Death
• Lesson 2: The Spanish Flu

• Lesson 1: The World’s First Novelist
• Lesson 2: The Many Lives of Genji

• Lesson 1: Killer Robots
• Lesson 2: The Last Letter

Lesson 1: Leonardo da Vinci

The reading in this lesson gives a short biography of Leonardo da Vinci. There are many modern geniuses, both local and international, in many fields. Ask students to each research one and report on what makes him or her a genius.

Lesson 2: Albert Einstein

The reading in this lesson gives a short biography of Albert Einstein. One concern about such geniuses is that their ideas or inventions often lead to great problems such as, in Einstein’s case, the atomic bomb. Ask students to make a list of the world’s greatest inventions and rate them in terms of benefits and harm.

Lesson 1: Who—and What—Has Rights?

The reading in this lesson introduces several issues to do with rights, including the rights of people, plants and animals. A major question is whether the rights of an individual are more important than the rights of a group. Ask students to find examples of both sides of this argument.

Lesson 2: Spirit of Brotherhood: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The reading in this lesson features a portion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ask students to find and share another document that talks about rights, such as a national constitution or a set of consumer rights.

Lesson 1: A Romantic Life

The reading in this lesson gives a short biography of Jane Austen, who wrote six of the most loved books in the English language. Although she wrote a lot about marriage, she never married herself. Ask students to find a short biography of another author and decide how similar his or her life was to the lives of his or her characters.

Lesson 2: Pride and Prejudice

The reading in this lesson features a short excerpt from a Jane Austen novel that introduces some of the characters and the main themes of the book. Ask students to find two or three opening paragraphs from another English novel and explain why it would or would not make them want to read the novel.

Lesson 1: Looking for Ghosts!

The reading in this lesson introduces the ways in which people try to contact ghosts. There are many other international and local beliefs about how people contact the spirit world. Ask students to each investigate and report on a different one.

Lesson 2: A Dead Secret

The reading in this lesson is an adaptation of a ghost story. Ghost stories are a popular entertainment all around the world. Ask students to research, read and report on another ghost story from an English-speaking culture.

Lesson 1: A Short History of Chocolate

The reading in this lesson details the history of the use of chocolate and its development into a popular treat. Ask students to look at the history of another popular food and explain how and why it became popular.

Lesson 2: How Much Do You Eat? How Much Do You Burn?

The reading in this lesson explores ideas around eating, exercise and dieting. Ask students to investigate several popular forms of exercise and decide which is best, based on how difficult each one is to do and how much fun each one is.

Lesson 1: The Travels of Marco Polo

The reading in this lesson gives the usual romantic story of Marco Polo, suggesting he was a great explorer. Ask students to investigate another famous explorer and talk about what he or she accomplished.

Lesson 2: A Million Lies

The reading in this lesson gives an alternative view of Marco Polo, saying that he borrowed, or made up, most of the stories he told. Ask students to investigate examples of people making up stories and decide why people might want to do so.

Lesson 1: Are You Lost?

The reading in this lesson introduces the ideas of mazes and labyrinths. Review the idea of superlatives with students and ask them to find examples of the biggest, oldest, newest, strangest (and so on) labyrinths and mazes, and share them with the class.

Lesson 2: Forgotten Promises

The reading in this lesson retells the story of Theseus and the Minotaur in a play format. Ask students to find summaries of other Greek myths and retell them in short plays, either in written format or performed.

Lesson 1: Chess

The reading in this lesson reviews the history of chess and talks about how the game has evolved over time. The recent history of chess includes computers that are able to beat chess grandmasters. Ask students to investigate and report on computer programs such as IBM’s Big Blue.

Lesson 2: The Girl in Gray

The reading in this lesson features a short story about game addiction. Many young people suffer from problems of not being able to turn off computer games and have even died from exhaustion as a result. Ask students to investigate and report on the problems and solutions.

Lesson 1: Making Movies

The reading in this lesson gives a biography of filmmaker Ang Lee and three of his early projects. Ask students to review one of Lee’s more recent films and compare its characters, theme and plot to these three.

Lesson 2: Two Reviews: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

The reading in this lesson offers two contradictory reviews of a popular Ang Lee movie. Ask students to write two parallel reviews about another movie, making one review positive and one negative. Share the reviews with the class.

Lesson 1: The Black Death

The reading in this lesson reviews the history of the Black Death, a bubonic plague that swept and decimated much of Europe and parts of Africa and the Middle East in the 1330s. Ask students to research and report on more recent global health problems such as Bird Flu and SARS.

Lesson 2: The Spanish Flu

The reading in this lesson explains the history of the Spanish Flu, which actually originated in the USA. Ask students to research and imagine what would happen if a similar flu hit the world today. How would business, travel and daily life be affected? Students can report to the class.

Lesson 1: The World’s First Novelist

The reading in this lesson introduces Murasaki Shikibu, the world’s earliest novelist. Many novelists have had interesting lives. Ask students to research and report on the life of another local or international novelist.

Lesson 2: The Many Lives of Genji

The reading in this lesson discusses the story of Prince Genji. Like many novels, this one tells the story of the ups and downs of a particular character. Ask students to find another novel they know and summarize the life events of one character on a timeline, showing the ups and downs of the person’s fate.

Lesson 1: Killer Robots

The reading in this lesson introduces the idea of killer robots and gives examples from industry and the military. Ask students to think about movies that have featured intelligent robots and discuss how likely we are to see such robots in the future.

Lesson 2: The Last Letter

The reading in this lesson is in the form of a letter, sent by the last human alive, after robots have taken over the world. Several separate developments have worked together to make robots independent. Ask students to research ways in which robots and other machines are, or could be, taking over jobs once only done by people, such as automated teller machines at banks.