Pictures That Changed The World [ Lesson ]

[leo fuchigami]

Click HERE for lesson description and download~

Note: I've decided to host all of my lessons on my own private server. They're free and all accessible in one neat place, no strings attached!

If you like this lesson, check out my other lessons:
Strange Food
Pictures That Changed The World
Dirty, Dangerous & Dream Jobs
PRANKS
ZOMBIES
Extreme Sports
What is Beauty?
Konglish
Big, Bigger & Biggest Animals
Education
Older Lessons

[nzer-in-gyeongnam]

WOW! This looks great! Can't wait to use it with my middle school girls.

One change though... Uh... the page that talks about the date that people were falling out of a building on fire after a plane hit it... it wasn't 2011... it was 2001. Just a heads up, you might wanna change that.

This presentation looks well put together though! AWESOME!

I'm planning to use a series of your ppts for my 'special' class each fortnight. They look well put together. Thanks!

[leo fuchigami]

WOW! This looks great! Can't wait to use it with my middle school girls.

One change though... Uh... the page that talks about the date that people were falling out of a building on fire after a plane hit it... it wasn't 2011... it was 2001. Just a heads up, you might wanna change that.

This presentation looks well put together though! AWESOME!

I'm planning to use a series of your ppts for my 'special' class each fortnight. They look well put together. Thanks!

Thanks NZE! I plan on uploading a slightly updated version tonight (when the servers aren't as busy). What is this special class? An advanced class? Let me know how it goes? I've had mixed reactions so far. Some classes were extremely engaged (even in the lower levels) and some classes were very disrespectful towards the material. You might be surprised about the reactions you'll get from the students. In many cases, they answered in ways I would not have expected.

[leo fuchigami]

I will upload a newer version later today with a page on the Gwangju Incident on May 18, 1980. I was just informed by my co-teacher that Korea had a similar liberalization movement started by students that ended in martial law and the death of several hundred to several thousand civilians at the hands of the military. So far as I know, the students are not taught about this at this grade (or perhaps not at all?). It may be an even bigger eye opener for them...however, it's sure to raise to make the lesson even more controversial...

[bigal]

Great lesson again Leo !

However, in the ppt the moving pictures of 'tank man' and the video of steve jobs speech will not play and i just have a black box/square. This has been happening all week with my ppt's with videos and links in. Any ideas? I only ask as you seem to be a bit of a wizz with ppt!

Thanks!

[kyndo]

 I teach at a boy's middle-school, and there's no way that my students are mature enough to handle this lesson - many of the pictures are disturbing, and I think that many NETS might be quite upset at the student's reaction to some of them.
This is geared more to upper high-school students, I would think?

That said, this is an awesome powerpoint that's really effective in presenting (western) culturally significant moments, and I'm definitely going to use this for one of my Teacher Training Lessons.

Some pictures that I feel could be added to the list:

- The 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster that basically set NASA back a few decades.
- The pictures of the burnt, running children that were collateral damage of napalm bombing during the Vietnam war that effectively turned American sentiment against the war.
- The photos of the British and German soldiers playing football (soccer) together during Christmas -- only days after and days before returning to year long trench warfare. (WWI)
- Ghandi leading one of the world's only peaceful revolutions.
- The pic of Alexander Flemming holding a vial of "mould juice" that would later be solely responsible for the exponential increase in world population and its accompanying horrors. 

cheers!

[nzer-in-gyeongnam]

Thanks NZE! I plan on uploading a slightly updated version tonight (when the servers aren't as busy). What is this special class? An advanced class? Let me know how it goes? I've had mixed reactions so far. Some classes were extremely engaged (even in the lower levels) and some classes were very disrespectful towards the material. You might be surprised about the reactions you'll get from the students. In many cases, they answered in ways I would not have expected.

I used one of your other powerpoints today - Konglish. The Students and co-teacher loved the content until we got to the jokes... they didn't get those at all... sadly. They were pretty good for the most part, the lowest of my students, as always slept through the class, but at least most of them participated and enjoyed it.

The special class is a class that they've put in my time-table once a fortnight for my 2nd grade middle-schoolers. It's their home room classes... and they're of mixed abilities. I'm thinking to use one of my own lessons in a fortnight, and then this lesson next month. It should be very interesting to use.

[leo fuchigami]

Great lesson again Leo !

However, in the ppt the moving pictures of 'tank man' and the video of steve jobs speech will not play and i just have a black box/square. This has been happening all week with my ppt's with videos and links in. Any ideas? I only ask as you seem to be a bit of a wizz with ppt!

Thanks!

Here's the link to the Steve Jobs video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nwzbl4p4AE

I've also attached the video files to the original post.

[leo fuchigami]

I teach at a boy's middle-school, and there's no way that my students are mature enough to handle this lesson - many of the pictures are disturbing, and I think that many NETS might be quite upset at the student's reaction to some of them.
This is geared more to upper high-school students, I would think?

That said, this is an awesome powerpoint that's really effective in presenting (western) culturally significant moments, and I'm definitely going to use this for one of my Teacher Training Lessons.

Some pictures that I feel could be added to the list:

- The 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster that basically set NASA back a few decades.
- The pictures of the burnt, running children that were collateral damage of napalm bombing during the Vietnam war that effectively turned American sentiment against the war.
- The photos of the British and German soldiers playing football (soccer) together during Christmas -- only days after and days before returning to year long trench warfare. (WWI)
- Ghandi leading one of the world's only peaceful revolutions.
- The pic of Alexander Flemming holding a vial of "mould juice" that would later be solely responsible for the exponential increase in world population and its accompanying horrors. 

cheers!

I think that roughly 2/3rds of my students are too immature for this lesson, but faced with the option of presenting this lesson to them prematurely vs. them not learning it at all, it seemed like an acceptable compromise (I'm leaving next month, so I couldn't really delay the creation of this lesson further). Also, you will indeed find deplorable reactions to many slides (in my case, their reaction towards the nuclear bomb on Japan, considering they all know I'm Japanese), but that's to be expected even if this lesson were taught back home (to a lesser degree).

I originally had 3 times as many photos, but reduced the count due to time constraints. With the exception of Alexander Flemming, I considered all of those as well. The reason why I cut those was either because it was too difficult to explain, the picture did not relay enough information or there was another, more significant photo in a similar category (i.e. ultra deep field vs. shuttle crash). This was, of course, a subjective decision. If you decide to modify the PP, you can always add or subtract photos.

I intend on uploading this lesson in the high school forums later. It'll be interesting to see how my lesson fairs over there. ㅋ

[leo fuchigami]

I used one of your other powerpoints today - Konglish. The Students and co-teacher loved the content until we got to the jokes... they didn't get those at all... sadly. They were pretty good for the most part, the lowest of my students, as always slept through the class, but at least most of them participated and enjoyed it.

The special class is a class that they've put in my time-table once a fortnight for my 2nd grade middle-schoolers. It's their home room classes... and they're of mixed abilities. I'm thinking to use one of my own lessons in a fortnight, and then this lesson next month. It should be very interesting to use.

Aww. My students got a kick out of it because it was my videos, but I thought other students could enjoy it as well. Perhaps try pausing after each joke and get them to try to figure out the answer? That worked really well for me.

Do you have a co-teacher for that class? This lesson if very difficult to teach without the assistance of a translator, unless you have a very advanced, active or small class.

Let me know how it goes~

[Jayne]

There is no way my students could handle this lesson. Not only the language needed to discuss topics as serious as these but also their level of maturity is simply not adequate. Don't get me wrong, I personally love deep, controversial, cultural/political topics. But I am shocked anyone would be able to present this to middle-school esl students. High school, even university level students surely would be much better suited. I can barely stand to look at some of these photos.

However, I do admire the amount of work that goes into all of your lesson plans, Leo. Many of them are simply fantastic!

[kyletr05]

There is no way my students could handle this lesson. Not only the language needed to discuss topics as serious as these but also their level of maturity is simply not adequate. Don't get me wrong, I personally love deep, controversial, cultural/political topics. But I am shocked anyone would be able to present this to middle-school esl students. High school, even university level students surely would be much better suited. I can barely stand to look at some of these photos.

However, I do admire the amount of work that goes into all of your lesson plans, Leo. Many of them are simply fantastic!

I was thinking the same thing. I WISH my middle school, or even high school students were high enough level to handle topics like this, because it would be much more engaging for me. Even though they aren't, I'm going to save this lesson because it is very well put together, and just hope that perhaps in the future I'll be in a situation that allows me to use it. Once again, you've made a great lesson that can certainly be used in some situations to great effect, in my opinion. Thanks, and good luck on your next endeavour when you leave in a month.

[spoodle]

Any ideas for speech class for Middle and High schoolers?

[leo fuchigami]

There is no way my students could handle this lesson. Not only the language needed to discuss topics as serious as these but also their level of maturity is simply not adequate. Don't get me wrong, I personally love deep, controversial, cultural/political topics. But I am shocked anyone would be able to present this to middle-school esl students. High school, even university level students surely would be much better suited. I can barely stand to look at some of these photos.

However, I do admire the amount of work that goes into all of your lesson plans, Leo. Many of them are simply fantastic!

I taught this to all 600 students in my school, 1-3rd year. Though a handful of students looked away in disgust during the hanging by noose and Jewish bodies pictures, most of them became very curious about the background of the situation and were sometimes blown away by the surreal nature of the causes and reasons.

I do agree with you that this lesson is better suited for high school students, but I felt this lesson needed to be made. I felt it was better to expose them to this lesson prematurely then to have never created this lesson at all.

[blaze524]

Great lesson. I applaud the amount of work that was put into it as it appears to be significant. A quick comment on the "tank man" picture and video. Yes, it is widely known worldwide, and deservedly so. In western countries, the narrative given is that of a single man defying a column of tanks.  However, as I understand it, in China the government (when it does show this video) the narrative is completely different. You can see that the tanks do not want to crush the man; trying to change its direction several times. This is used to show the restraint on the part of the tank operators.   

[leo fuchigami]

Great lesson. I applaud the amount of work that was put into it as it appears to be significant. A quick comment on the "tank man" picture and video. Yes, it is widely known worldwide, and deservedly so. In western countries, the narrative given is that of a single man defying a column of tanks.  However, as I understand it, in China the government (when it does show this video) the narrative is completely different. You can see that the tanks do not want to crush the man; trying to change its direction several times. This is used to show the restraint on the part of the tank operators.

From what I'm told, the Chinese government basically doesn't acknowledge it even happened by simply ignoring it. It's not reported on unless absolutely necessary, and even then, to foreign ambassadors. That interpretation of the event is the explanation given to other countries. Within China, at least through official government channels, it has been erased. The Chinese government gave explicit instructions to the military to re-take Tianamen at all costs (implying violent aggression), which ultimately lead to a massacre. Actually, there were two very different divisions that were in Beijing at the time. One was composed of Beijing locals, but they were mostly inactive or sent away due to their close ties with the locals. The second group of soldiers were brought in from other provinces, because they were more likely to follow through aggressive actions against the Beijing people. The second group was the one that did most of the killing. I have no doubt that there were many sympathizers within the military ranks though.

Also, I'd like to clarify one point. The Chinese government censors a lot, but Chinese people are not totally ignorant of their history. Anyone born in the 80's is well aware of this incident. Those born after are ignorant up until university, at which point they are educated through unofficial channels such as word of mouth, internet forums and social websites like Xiaonei. I'd say most educated urban people in China see Chinese news and government communications as a joke. Clearly propaganda. Those who don't have access to modern communication channels are a different story.

[blaze524]

Yikes. Didn't really want to get into this as it is a heavy topic but here goes. The usual narrative espoused by the traditional media sources (NY Times, CNN, CBC, BBC etc) is a rather more simplistic "students vs. the communist government" in a fight over democracy. The reality is a whole lot more complex. 

First, the students themselves weren't seeking "democracy" in the strictest sense of the word i.e. voting for their leaders and such, but rather they wanted an end to corruption. At the time, these students weren't able to find employment even though they had graduated from or were still in university. The best jobs went to those with ties to the communist government. This corrupt system was what angered them. The government was aware of this and let them vent their frustration. This went on for SEVEN weeks. As a thought exercise, imagine what would happen if there was a march on the White House with daily protests for seven weeks. Additionally, there were protests in big cities, all over China.

Secondly, the protests themselves weren't always peaceful, especially towards the end.  The students threw molotov cocktails and many soldiers were attacked, killed, and burned as well.  The students were angry, and they have absolutely every right to be angry. But I think we can all agree that those innocent soldiers didn't deserve to be viciously murdered.

Finally, the massacre itself.  There was indeed a massacre that night, but it wasn't the students that were gunned down and it didn't happen in Tiananmen Square itself. On the Avenue of Eternal Peace nearby, hundreds of workers and innocent passerbys were indeed massacred. These faceless, nameless people are conveniently ignored by the majority of the Western press to this day because the narrative is just not as exciting. The CCP were willing to tolerate the students protests to an extent because these students were the future. As they got older, these students will join the communist party and become leaders, helping to craft policy. The uprisings by the workers on the other hand, were not tolerated.

Sources:
http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/the_myth_of_tiananmen.php?page=1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/08/china.olympics2008
http://gregoryclark.net/page15/page15.html     

EDIT: Aaaand one more for good measure. This one courtesy of Wikileaks:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8555142/Wikileaks-no-bloodshed-inside-Tiananmen-Square-cables-claim.html

[leo fuchigami]

Yikes. Didn't really want to get into this as it is a heavy topic but here goes. The usual narrative espoused by the traditional media sources (NY Times, CNN, CBC, BBC etc) is a rather more simplistic "students vs. the communist government" in a fight over democracy. The reality is a whole lot more complex. 

First, the students themselves weren't seeking "democracy" in the strictest sense of the word i.e. voting for their leaders and such, but rather they wanted an end to corruption. At the time, these students weren't able to find employment even though they had graduated from or were still in university. The best jobs went to those with ties to the communist government. This corrupt system was what angered them. The government was aware of this and let them vent their frustration. This went on for SEVEN weeks. As a thought exercise, imagine what would happen if there was a march on the White House with daily protests for seven weeks. Additionally, there were protests in big cities, all over China.

Secondly, the protests themselves weren't always peaceful, especially towards the end.  The students threw molotov cocktails and many soldiers were attacked, killed, and burned as well.  The students were angry, and they have absolutely every right to be angry. But I think we can all agree that those innocent soldiers didn't deserve to be viciously murdered.

Finally, the massacre itself.  There was indeed a massacre that night, but it wasn't the students that were gunned down and it didn't happen in Tiananmen Square itself. On the Avenue of Eternal Peace nearby, hundreds of workers and innocent passerbys were indeed massacred. These faceless, nameless people are conveniently ignored by the majority of the Western press to this day because the narrative is just not as exciting. The CCP were willing to tolerate the students protests to an extent because these students were the future. As they got older, these students will join the communist party and become leaders, helping to craft policy. The uprisings by the workers on the other hand, were not tolerated.

Sources:
http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/the_myth_of_tiananmen.php?page=1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/08/china.olympics2008
http://gregoryclark.net/page15/page15.html     

EDIT: Aaaand one more for good measure. This one courtesy of Wikileaks:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8555142/Wikileaks-no-bloodshed-inside-Tiananmen-Square-cables-claim.html

Wow. Thanks youme! Actually, I was aware of the massacre taking place outside of Tiananmen (as opposed to inside), but I didn't know the "why". I just assumed that the ones in the plaza were more organized, thus, more peaceful, while the hooligans were on the fringes (outside of Tiananmen) or that there was less oversight outside of the plaza which lead to violent autonomous action within divisions of the Chinese army. Thanks for clearing up that it was in fact the workers rebellion that was violently suppressed.

With regard to the Tiananmen protestors' demands, I hadn't thought of it that way. I just assumed that the demand for less corruption went hand in hand with more democracy (typically how it's portrayed). I guess that the Western media naturally emphasized the latter aspect without giving enough credit to the primary cause of that eventual demand.

I will modify the section on Tiananmen to more accurately reflect history. I don't think it's a light matter to simply leave the "mainstream" view of the event if it's incorrect. I can understand simplifying the event, given the time contraints of the class and the context, but I don't want to contribute to spreading mis-information.

Thanks for taking the time to correct me youme!

[lstephenson556]

This is far too intense for my high school class...but it is a fantastic lesson! I will substitute some of the pictures for others.

[wtoddm]

This is a wonderful PPT and I'll do my best to alter it to be able to use it in my classrooms' outdated computers.
Still, I look forward to challenging myself to address the language needs as well as tackle such a pertinent issue! (I teach at a girls' middle school)
Thanks again!