General Knowledge 5

Your Brain Is In Your Hands!

Learn Lots!

1
THIS IS A BOOK OF AWESOMELY IMPORTANT THINGS TO
KNOW AND LEARN ABOUT!

TO STUDENTS: Learning is fun! Learning about fun things is

even more fun! This book has a lot of exciting, different things to
learn about. Don’t be scared to ask your teacher questions if you
don’t understand or if you are curious! The teacher is here to help
you!

TO THE TEACHER: This book will give students a solid

introduction to ideas in science, culture, art and history. These
topics are mainly to be used as discussion topics, but students
should also use available space to write down new vocabulary and
to write reflections or answer questions from the teacher, in
addition to the general facts on each page. The pictures are also
there to help the discussion, especially the ones with quotes. This
is the middle school edition, which also has several different types
of questions on each topic.

2
Leonardo Da Vinci
How many subjects do
you study? How many
do you want to study?
Leonardo Da Vinci
studied almost every
subject! He was a
brilliant inventor,
artist, writer, scientist, engineer and thinker. He also very
innovative, which means he had a lot of new, creative ideas. His
designs influenced many other inventions. He had ideas for flying
machines, solar power, bicycles, calculators, a steam-powered
cannon and armored vehicles. (Cars with strong metal walls to
protect them from attacks) He could also paint with one hand and
write with the other at the same time. Da Vinci is most famous for
being an expert painter and a part of the Renaissance. (르네상스).
(What’s that?) Da Vinci also didn’t go to a regular school like you.
He taught himself most things and had a special math teacher.

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

3
1. What was the Renaissance?
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2. What do you think Da Vinci was best at?

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3. What does innovative mean?

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4. What can you do to be more innovative?

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4
Stonehenge
When people die it is very
sad. We have to care for
them and put their body in
a special place. Humans
have done this for
thousands of years. One of
the most famous places for honoring the dead is Stonehenge, in
Wilshire, England. First, they made a large hill of dirt, with
places to bury (put dead people in the ground) people inside.
Then on top, they brought large stones and stood them up in a
circle. Then, they put another large stone across the standing
stones! This is amazing because they didn’t have powerful
machines like we do. In June, the sun shines in the middle of two
the rocks. There is a special festival and celebration when this
happens.

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

5
1. How was Stonehenge built?
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2. Why was building Stonehenge a remarkable achievement?

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3. When is the special celebration at Stonehenge?

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4. What do they celebrate?

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6
 How we learn!
Do you learn by
doing, seeing or
hearing something
done? Do all people
learn the same way?
No! There are many
ways to learn. Visual
learners learn by seeing something happen! Other people can
learn by hearing some explained to them and others need to do
something to learn it. It is important to know how we learn, so we
can study the right way! If you are a visual learner, then maybe
listening to your teacher isn't the best for you. Ask for your
teacher to draw or write what they are saying. It is also important
to remember to have a good attitude when learning. (What’s an
attitude?) You want to have a 'growth' attitude. This means you
think that you can always learn something if you work hard
enough. Other people, who have a 'fixed' (not changing) attitude,
think they can't do it. They fail because they think they can't!
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

7
1. What are the different ways we learn?
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2. Why should you have a ‘growth mindset’?

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3. Explain the cartoon. What is the message?

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8
Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is probably the

most influential woman in the
world. How did she get so famous?
Oprah grew up incredibly poor. In
fact, when she was a girl she only
had potato bags to wear for dresses.
When she moved away from her
mother, she got a part-time job at a
radio station. Later, she moved to Chicago and got her own
morning TV Talk Show. (What’s a talk show?) Instead of having a
TV channel, like SBS, make her show, Oprah made her own show.
This helped her keep a lot of money and control. In 1986, her
show was shown all over the USA, and soon all over the world. She
had many celebrities on her show and also used her show to talk
about issues that hurt women, poor people, and to talk about self-
help ideas. (What’s self-help?) Now, she is in movies, written
books, has her own TV channel and builds schools in Africa.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

9
1. What did Oprah use her talk show to talk about?
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2. What does she do now? Is this important work?
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3. Summarize Oprah’s life and her rise from poverty to wealth.

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10
Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt was

married to Franklin D.
Roosevelt, who was
President of the
United States from
1933 to 1945. Normally,
the wives of
Presidents were very
quiet and didn’t talk so much. Eleanor Roosevelt changed that.
She used her position to talk about how poorly people of different
races and women were treated in America during this time. She
also wrote articles in newspapers and spoke at a national
conference. In this time in the USA, women weren’t really allowed
to say what they thought. In the USA, women were only allowed to
vote in 1918. Eleanor worked a lot to help bring attention to people
who struggled but had no power to help themselves.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

11
1. How was Eleanor Roosevelt different from other President’s
wives?
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2. What did she like to talk about?

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3. What did she do that most women could not? How did this
help other women?
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12
The Silk Road
Europeans and
Asian peoples
have been in
contact for
thousands of
years. They had
a lot of things
the other liked. Europeans liked spices and silk, and Europe had
gold, clothes and jewels. It also allowed Persians (Iran), Indians,
Romans and Arabs to trade and interact with each other. The
main road between them went from China to Turkey and Africa.
It was not a road like today. It was called the Silk Road, because
silk was one of the most valuable products in the world. The Silk
Road was also important because it helped people share ideas and
culture as well as products. This helped the world grow and
develop.

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

13
1. What did Asians like to buy from Europeans?
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2. What did Europeans like to buy from Asians?
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3. What things, other than goods and products, were exchanged
on the Silk Road?
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4. How was the Silk Road helpful in making a global world?
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14
People who work for the good of all!
Alexander Fleming was a Scottish
scientist and botanist. He studied
plants and fungi. During World
War I, he saw lots of soldiers die
from medicines that were put on
their wounds. The medicine was
killing the soldiers faster than it
killed the bacteria. He became
interested in medicine. However,
he wasn't a clean scientist and left his lab a mess when he went on
holiday in August of 1928. When he came back, a mold had
formed, but some of his molds were infected and others were not.
He did another experiment to find out why this happened and
saw that a certain mold could kill bacteria. This was penicillin.
This was a great discovery because penicillin can be used to fight
many diseases. It was the world's first antibiotic. Mr. Fleming
saved many lives and changed medicine forever!
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

15
1. What did Alexander Felming study?
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2. How did Felming discover penicillin?
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3. How was penicillin a helpful discovery?
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16
Cities
Do you live in a city? Well,
yes, you live in a giant city!
Do you like it? Have you ever
wondered why people live in
cities? Thousands of years
ago, humans used to move
around from place to place
very often, following animals
for food. About 12,000 years ago, early humans learned how to
grow food from the Earth and invented simple tools to make this
easier. From then on, humans stopped moving around. People
also need to be with other people! It is something we naturally
want to do. Because people weren't moving around, and we still
needed each other, we began to gather near water to live, worship,
trade goods and communicate. Cities were places where people
could exchange things and live life as they needed. Cities were
very dirty! The first cities were in Iraq.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

17
1. Why is living in a city convenient?
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2. How did early cities form?
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3. Where were the first cities?
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18
The Beautiful Game
Football, or
soccer, is the
most popular
game in the
world. But,
where did it
begin? FIFA
says that the earliest known form of football is cuju which was
started in 300-200 BC in China. It was a military training game.
This game was also played in Korea and Japan and called chuk guk.

(축국) There were also games similar to football in South America,

which used rubber balls and sometimes the heads of defeated

enemies. Football as we know it today, was developed in England
in the 1500s. The Football Association, which today includes the
Premier League, started in 1863. There were many styles and rules
for football, and people wanted to make it simpler and have one
set of rules. FIFA was established in 1904!
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

19
1. What is earliest known form of football? Where and when was
it?
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2. When was modern football developed?
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3.Why did they establish a standard of rules?
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4. Why do you think football is the most popular sport in the
world?
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20
Pizza
You can fold it. You can chew
it. It is good for any meal. It is
pizza! Something we all know
and love. You know pizza is
Italian, but do you know how
it was invented? At first, many
people thought tomatoes were
poisonous. However, in the late 1700s, poor people in Naples,
Italy didn't have a lot of choices. They put tomatoes on flat bread
and cooked them in the oven. Pizza soon became very popular,
and tourists would go to poor neighborhoods in Naples looking
for hot slices. People who are very serious about something are
called purists. Pizza purists want to keep pizza simple.To them,
there are only two kinds of pizza: Marinara and the Margherita.
Marinara pizza the oldest and has tomatoes, olive oil, oregano and
garlic. The Margherita, is green, red and white like the Italian flag.
It has basil, tomatoes and cheese and is called the Margherita
because Queen Margherita chose it as her favorite in 1889.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

21
1. Describe how pizza was invented and became popular.
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2. What is a purist?
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3. Describe the two types of pizza mentioned in the reading.
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22
Marie Curie
Most of the famous scientists are
men. However, some of them
worked with women and maybe
took a lot of their ideas. There is
one woman who is one of the most
famous scientists. Her name is
Marie Curie. She was born in
Poland but later moved to France.
She discovered elements and
worked with radioactivity; which is
what helps us use X-rays and understand how weapons work. She
was the first woman to win a Noble prize and she is the only
woman to win two Noble prizes. She also had to work through a
lot of challenges because she was a woman doing what people
thought was a “man’s job.” Does this still happen today?

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

23
1. What were some challenges that Marie Curie faced?
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2. What is special about her Nobel Prizes?
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3. How did Marie Curie, working in a man’s job, make it easier for
women scientists in the future?
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24
The Age of Discovery
The Age of Discoverybegan in the 1400s. Explorers from Portugal
could islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a way to go from Europe
to Asia by sea. The Explorers were sailors who worked for powerful
Kings and Queens to find treasures, new lands and new ways to go
places. Spain, France, England and the Netherlands also sent
sailors around the world. They found new places like Australia,
the Americas, Hawaii and Indonesia. Some of these explorers
were not very nice guys, though. Some brought diseases, or sold
the people into slavery. The Age of Discovery ended in the 1700s.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

25
1. Why did people want to sail across the ocean to a strange land
they had never been before?
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2. What were some of the new places they discovered?

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3. Why were some of these explorers bad men? What did they do?
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26
Land Bridge
The New world is what
people called North and
South America during
the Age of Discovery.
They didn’t know it was
there! But, people had
been living in North
and South America for
thousands of years.
Where did they come
from? Today, scientists
think that human life
probably came from Africa and the Middle East. For humans to go
to South America is a very long journey! Some people think that
during the last Ice Age, between Russia and Alaska there wasn’t
any water—but a land bridge! This means people could walk over
very easily. It is also possible that sailors from China or Australia
reached the Americas a long time before the Europeans.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

27
1. How did the land bridge form?
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2. How did people use the land bridge?
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3. Would you walk from Russia to Chile? How long would that
take you?
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28
Funny Country Names
Have you been hungry
in Hungary? Would
you eat Turkey in
Turkey? What about
eating greasy food in
Greece? Sometimes,
countries, states or
towns have really
strange names. Also, in English, people sometimes change the
name of the country from what it is in its natural language. For
example, in English we call 독일 Germany, but the Germans
call it Deutschland! 일본 is Nippon in Japanese but its
Japan in English! Why is English so crazy with country
names? The Spanish explorers also gave places funny
names. Los Angeles means “the angels” and Buenos Aires
means “good air”.

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

29
1. What do you think is the funniest country name?
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2. If you could rename Seoul, what would you rename it? Why?
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3. Why do you think English drastically changes some country
names?
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30
Neutrinos
Could imagine
something
faster than
light?
Something
that goes through planets, stars, and comets as it races through
the galaxy? Several have probably gone through you in your life
and you didn’t even know it! These things are called neutrinos.
What is a neutrino? Well, when a star dies, it usually dies in a very
powerful explosion. The explosion starts at the center of the star.
Because the star is so big, it can take some time for the explosion
to come out and to be seen. The neutrinos are at the center of the
star. When the star gets too unstable and explodes, the neutrinos
are the first things to race out at light-speed. They race out
through the galaxy forever. After that the explosion continues and
takes up the whole star. Scientists think that if they are able to
study neutrinos then they may be able to learn about where the
universe came from and how it formed.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

31
1. Describe how neutrinos are released from stars.
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2. Why do scientists want to study neutrinos?
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3. Are neutrinos interesting to you? Why or why not?
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32
Planet Identification

When scientists find

new planets, they
write down several
things about it. They
write down its
distance from Earth,
what it’s made of,
how large it is, and
its color. How can
scientists know what a planet is made of if they can’t go there?
Well, scientists know that the color of a planet can tell us what it’s
made of. Certain elements in the universe show certain colors.
For example, we know Neptune is mostly Nitrogen (N) because it
is blue and Mars is red because of the rusted Iron (Fe) on its
surface. Earth is blue because of the Nitrogen and Oxygen we
have!

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

33
1. What kind of things do scientists record about new planets?
Why are these things helpful to know?
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2. What does the color of the planet tell us?
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3. Why is the Earth blue?
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34
South America Warriors
When Europeans arrived in the
New World, they found people
with a much different culture.
In South and Central America,
there were very powerful
warriors named Aztecs and
Incans. These cultures had
their own calendars and had
their own Gods as well. The Spanish thought they were demons,
and they wanted their gold, so the Spanish fought them. Some of
them worked with the Spanish and became slaves. Most of them
died from diseases that the Europeans brought to the New World.
It was a very sad time, and the Spanish were very brutal. The
Spanish did bring many good things to Europe like tomatoes,
potatoes and things to the New World, like horses and chocolate.

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

35
1. What were the names of the warrior tribes in South and Central
America?
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2. Why did the Spanish explorers fight them?
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3. Why is the Earth blue?
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4. How did most of these warriors die?
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36
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was
a famous pilot.
First, she was a
nurse, then, when
she saw an air show,
she fell in love with
planes. In 1932, she
became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean by herself.
She later became the first person to fly from Hawaii to California.
Then, she tried to do something even more amazing. She wanted
to fly around the world! 47,000 km! She left from California and
went southeast to South America, then over to Africa and the
Middle East. She then flew over India and the Himalayas and
headed home over the Pacific. However, when she was flying over
the Pacific, her plan disappeared. No one knows what happened
to her. Some people think she crashed and sank, others think she
landed on an island and was captured by the Japanese. The world
will never know.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

37
1. Why did Amelia Earhart start flying?
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2. What was she the first woman to do?
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3. What was she the first person to do?
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4. What could have happened when she disappeared?
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38
Why do we have banks?
People have been using
money for thousands of
years. It has always been very
dangerous to travel with lots
of money. If you were selling
goods on the Silk Road
(what's that?) you could
easily be robbed, hurt or killed if you had a lot of gold. People
needed a way to keep themselves and their money safe. People
could go to temples and keep their money there, borrow money,
or change their money into other currencies. These were the first
banks. Banks as we know them today started in Italy in the 1300s.
The Dutch and English empires made important changes to the
banking system and printed the first checks. They also created
insurance systems for merchants and traders who wanted to buy
things on and sell them on the other side of the world.

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

39
1. Why do people need banks? Give at least two reasons.
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2. Where did the first modern banks start?
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3. Why did traders need insurance systems?
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40
DNA

What is DNA? A really cool rock

band? Nope! In fact, DNA is
much cooler than that. DNA is
like our fingerprints. They are
different combinations of the 4
proteins you see in the picture.
There is no one on Earth with
the same fingerprint or DNA as
us. It is what makes us, and
every other living thing, different from each other. However,
scientists discovered that most living things share a lot of the
same DNA. Imagine two people, one Korean man and one
Brazilian woman. Even if one is tall and one is short, and one fat
and one skinny and one is pretty and one is ugly, their DNA is still
99.9% the same. They really aren't that different. This shows use
that we are all basically the same. Our differences make us
interesting, but we aren’t better or worse than anyone else.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________.

41
1. What does DNA do? What do fingerprints and DNA have in
common?
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2. What does DNA tell us about the differences between people?
What does that mean for ideas like racism ?
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42
James Brown
He was the hardest
working man in
show business. He
was the Godfather
of Soul. His name
was James Brown.
He was a singer,
activist, and community leader. James Brown was a soul and
rhythm & blues singer who became world famous. He grew up
with no shoes in Augusta, Georgia and learned to sing at church
with his aunt. Later in his life, he would be one of the first
American musicians to control his music and make his own
schedule. Usually, singers can't do what they want because they
work for a company. James Brown also invented his own musical
genre, called ‘Funk’. It became very popular, and influenced hip
hop. James Brown was extremely popular because he was always
playing concerts around the world.

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

43
1. How did James Brown grow up?
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________________________________________________________
2. What kinds of new music did James Brown create?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. Why was James Brown’s music popular?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
4. Why did people call him “the Hardest Working Man in Show
Business”? What is “Show Business”?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

44
The Missing Beatle
We all know the
Beatles. They
were a English
rock band with
four members:
John, Paul,
Ringo and
George. They
have made music that many people around the world love. Did
you know there was a fifth Beatle? His name was Stuart Sutcliffe.
He was their first bass player and was very good friends with John
Lennon and Paul McCartney. He was an art student with John and
taught John a lot about art. However, he quit the band to study art
then died shortly before the band became famous. What do you
think the Beatles would be like with five people? Would they be
better or worse? Talk about it with your teacher.

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

45
1. If there had been five Beatles instead of four, how do you think
their music would be different?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. Why did Stuart Sutcliffe leave the band?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. Who do you think is the best Beatle? Why?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

46
Tipping

When you go to a
restaurant, do you have
to pay the waiter to
bring you food? Should
you have to? After all,
aren't they working very
hard to help you enjoy
your food? Well, in the
United States and a few
other places, you should pay your waiter extra. This is called
giving a “tip”. Tipping is very important because it helps the waiter
make money. Because of tipping, restaurants don't have to pay its
waiters very much, so the tip is really important to them. They are
also working very hard to make sure you are happy, so why not
help them out?

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

47
1. Why is tipping important?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. Is it fair that customers have to pay more for better service?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. Why do you think people don’t tip in Korea? Should people in
Korea start tipping?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

48
Religious Food Rules
Many religions have
different food rules.
For example, people
who are Jewish, should
eat food that is pure
and has been blessed
by a Rabbi. This is
food is called ‘Kosher’. Blessed means that the Rabbi (라비) has
prayed and said that God says the food is clean and good. Also,
many Muslims aren't allowed to eat pork, and many Buddhists are
vegetarian. Sometimes, a religion doesn't allow a certain food
because it is dirty or not good for humans. Sometimes a food is
really special so they don't eat it. Many Hindus do not eat beef
because the cow is important to them. What does McDonald’s
serve in India?

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

49
1. What does “Kosher” mean? Which religion requires their food
to be kosher?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

2. In Hinduism, what animal is sacred?

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. In Islam, what foods are forbidden?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
4. Why do you think religions have certain food rules? Is there any
religion you would not join because of food rules?
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

50
Who invented Math?
Mathematics is the
collection of human
discovery and knowledge
about numbers and patterns.
Wow, sounds fun right? Math is like the language of nature. We
understand how and why planets move, seasons change and
airplanes fly because of math. The Ancient Greeks, especially
Euclid, made important discoveries about math and shapes.
Egyptians also developed triangle math and Arabs invented
algebra, which is really just finding the unknown. Math has a
language too! Math uses symbols and numbers to find an exact
answer. Many times, people discovered math ideas when they
wanted to know how to do something or were curious about
something. That's how Isaac Newton created the math of motion
and how Muslims developed math of directions and lines!
Newton wanted to know what causes the planets to move around
the sun. The Muslims needed to know how to face Mecca 5 times
every day so they could pray.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

51
1. According to the reading, what is math?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. What does math help us understand better?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. What is the language of math?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
4. What are some famous things people used math to invent?
Name at least 3 and tell their purpose.
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

52
Gilgamesh!
The oldest known story is the Epic
of Gilgamesh. It is 4100 years old!
An epic is a story where a hero has
a problem and they go on a
journey to find a solution to their
problem. In the story, Gilgamesh
and his friend, Udunktu, go
around doing whatever they want,
fighting people and living like
fools. Then, after Udunktu dies,
Gilgamesh goes on a journey to
find the meaning of eternal life. (What does that mean?)
Gilgamesh learns that because humans die, their life is their own
to make. That means life is what we make it, good or bad!
Gilgamesh then learns that because he was a good and wise king,
and built many great things, his fame will live on after he dies.
This means that people if do something special and important,
they can live forever through in other's memory.
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

53
1. What is the oldest known story in the world? How old is it?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. Summarize the Epic of Gilgamesh.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. What lesson does Gilgamesh learn in the story? Is this a useful
lesson? Why or why not?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

54
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo means the 5th of May in Spanish. In Mexico, and
the United States, Cinco de Mayo is a special holiday. Cinco de
Mayo celebrates the victory of 4,000 Mexican solders over the
more powerful French army at the Battle of Puebla on May 5th,
1862. The French had not lost a battle in 50 years. Today, Cinco de
Mayo celebrations include parties, parades, concerts and delicious
Mexican food. It is a very proud day for Mexico. Why don't you
celebrate this year in Korea? You can go to Julio's, Taco Bet or
Gusto Taco in Seoul and taste some delicious Mexican food!

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

55
1. Why do people celebrate Cinco de Mayo?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. Cinco de Mayo is also what holiday in Korea?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. How do people celebrate Cinco de Mayo? What can you do in
Seoul to celebrate?
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

56
Why are there signs around the football pitch?

Who likes adverts? Did

you know that when you
watch a football match,
you are also seeing
adverts? Sneaky isn't it?
The signs you see around
the edge of the pitch with
names like Samsung, and Coca Cola are like commercials. They
are advertising the brand name while you watch the game. It
wasn't always like this. Adverts around the side of the pitch
weren't started until the 1994 World Cup. That World Cup was in
the United States and the companies wanted to advertise during
the games. It was difficult because football doesn't have many
commercials. So to solve their problem they put up signs around
the pitch. This turned out to be worth a lot of money to the clubs
because they could sell that space to companies. Why can't we
escape advertising? Those sneaky devils!
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

57
1. How are you seeing sneaky adverts during a football match?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. When and why did these sneaky adverts start?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. Is there too much advertising in today’s world? Is it healthy for
us to constantly see adverts? Why or Why not?
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

58
Where did soap come from?
Soap is a thing that
is very helpful. It
makes us clean, it
kills germs, and
makes us smell nice.
Well, we can thank
the Arabic kings for
soap. They invented
it around 2800 BC.
They later traded soap with Asian and Roman merchants. The
Arabic Kings even gave soap to the European armies they were
fighting during the Crusades in the 1200s. They said they gave
their enemies soap because the Europeans smelled horrible.
Could you imagine? People who smell so bad you want them to be
clean while you are fighting them in a war? Good thing we all have
soap today. The smell of soaps can be from different perfumes
that are made from flowers.

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

59
1. Who invented soap? When did they invent it?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. Who did these Kings trade soap with?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. Why did the Arab Kings give soap to the people they were
fighting?
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

60
Voyager I &II
What is a probe? It
is a thing that flies
through space, and
takes pictures,
measurements and
sends information
to Earth. In 1977,
NASA sent two probes into space, called Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.
These probes have traveled throughout the solar system,
photographing plants, stars and galaxies. In 2013, we learned that
Voyager 1 had left our solar system and gone into interstellar
space! This is the first human made thing to leave the solar system.
It travelled over 12 billion miles. If any alien finds Voyager 1, they
will also find a large gold disc inside it. On the disc are maps of
Earth's location, drawings of human bodies, our cells, and
recordings of famous music and many different Earth languages
from Earth on a disc called “Sounds of Earth”. If Aliens did find
Voyager 1, what would like about Earth? Would they like EXO?
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

61
1. What is the purpose of the gold discs that Voyager I & II carry?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. What did Voyager I do that was so special?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. What is a probe?
________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
4. What would you put on those discs to tell aliens about Earth?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

62
Tall Tales

A tale is a story. So is a
tall tale a really long
story? No! A tall tale is a
story about a person or
thing with exceptional
power or strength. They
probably started as
legends or myths, and over time developed into a story. One
famous Tall Tale is the story of Paul Bunyan. Paul Bunyan was
born in the USA in 1650. It wasn't the USA then, it was just
wilderness. Paul grew to be a giant and did many things to help
the USA grow and shape the country. He had a pet ox named Babe.
Babe was a big, blue ox! The stories say that Paul dug the Grand
Canyon, and made the Rocky Mountains. Do you have any tall
tales about Korea? Maybe you can make a tall tale for WILS with
your teacher!

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

63
1. What is a tall tale?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. Who was Paul Bunyan? What made him special?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. Are there any tall tales from Korea? If so, write about it. If not,
make your own!
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

64
How do countries grow or shrink?
In the past, countries
have grown and shrank
fairly often! How did
they do this? Well,
unfortunately, a lot of
countries grow, shrink,
begin and end through
war. It is a sad and
violent fact. (why?) Sometimes countries want to keep their power
and break away from other countries. Sometimes, a country will
buy land from other countries! That's what the USA did when it
get Alaska and the middle section of the country. The USA bought
Alaska from Russia for a very cheap price. The Russians thought it
was worthless! The USA also bought the middle section of
America from France in the Louisiana Purchase. Then too, the
USA bought it from France for a very cheap price. How were the
Americans so good at buying things cheaply?

Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.

1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

65
1. Why is war a sad and violent fact?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. Which parts of the United States did the Americans buy?
Which did they take through war?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. Why do you think the Americans were very good at buying land
so cheaply?
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

66
Selfie Art
Today, make people
take selfies. (셀카)
Some people even have
a stick for taking good
selfie pictures. What do
you think about these
sticks? Some people
post their pictures on SNS services like Facebook or Instagram. Do
you think these pictures are art? Well, it can be hard to decide
what is art. Discuss that with your teacher. The oldest selfies are
actually self-portrait paintings and are very well done and
challenging! Even Rembrandt, who was a famous Dutch painter,
did self-portraits. Today, many people take photographs as art.
They take pictures of all kinds of things. What makes these
photos art? How are self-photos and self-portraits different? In
Japan, some people are offering classes on how to take selfie
photos! Whatever it is, it seems people won't stop taking selfies
any time soon. Yay! (Or Nay!)
Write three (3) facts from the paragraph. Write sentences.
1) ______________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________

67
1. What is a selfie? Do you like to take them?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. What is art?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. Are selfies art?
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
4. Would you take a class on “how to take a selfie”?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

68