Marco Polo Lesson Plan

Marco Polo is the 13th century Venetian explorer credited with discovering and exploring the land of the Kublai Khan, grandson of the marauding Genghis, and his Mongols, which is modern day Mongolia. Marco Polo’s life, travels and writings are shrouded in a cloak of some confusion as to exact details. But we do know that a journey was made by Marco’s father and uncle Niccolo and Maffeo Polo to the the mountainous and mysterious kingdom of the Khan. We know too that Marco returned with them as a teenager and chronicled the adventure in Il Milione or Travels of theWorld. We know to that on this journey, the explorers were welcomed, treated hospitably, shown the wonders of the oriental kingdom and eventually asked to remain as ambassadors and to provide information about the world outside the Khan’s territory.

The Polo expedition brought back tales that amazed and intrigued medieval Europe. For the first time, westerners beheld silk the gossamer fabric woven by worms. Jade, the glowing green gemstone of the east was soon in great demand in the west. Polo returned with exotic spices like ginger root, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, peppercorns, mint and vanilla bean. They sampled spicy enchanting teas for the first time. Translucent delicate porcelain or ‘bone china’ replaced the clumsier eating utensils currently in use.

The Polo’s described immense gray beasts of burden with tusks made from a luminous creamy white bone called ivory that could be carved into treasures that suddenly every westerner craved. All Europe was ablaze with passion for the treasures of the east. The Polo expedition became known as the ‘Silk Road’ and later included the ‘spice road’ as well. Countless Europeans coveting the wealth and splendour of the Khan’s civilization followed the Polo’s footsteps.

Sadly, as so happens in when greed rules, the east was exploited for its wealth. Elephants were slaughtered for the tiny amount of ivory in their tusks. Impoverished Indians were enslaved and treated cruelly. We really don’t know if the Polos desired to befriend the Khan for his wealth alone or if they simply sought to explore and expand knowledge. I doubt that they envisioned the destruction of the empire. At any rate, we can celebrate the contributions from the east as well as the journey of the Polos, while we learn some valuable lessons about diplomacy and living in harmony. Below, I’ve described a unit for exploring these.

Engage interest: Pass around items from oriental culture. If you can find a piece of jade, ivory, porcelain or silk. Smell, touch and taste some of the spices listed above.

Assess prior knowledge: List as many items as possible that we’ve gotten from the east. Ask what students know about Marco Polo, Kublai Khan, and the Mongols.

Instruct: (history, science, culture, geography, economics, and sociology)

Prepare ahead- make horizontal, stacked flip books in which each page is slightly longer than the next. Fold 6 pieces of paper at different points along the middle to form a layered book. Students should write these titles along the exposed edges in order. As you discuss they will write a short sentence or word and illustrate with their image of each.

Title Page
Marco Polo (use image and write simple biographical details)
His Journey (draw a map)
Kublai Khan (use image and write brief biographical details)
Mongol Empire ( draw what you imagine it looked like using poem below)
Silk (draw worms and tree or silk piece)
Spices (draw plants or uses)
Elephants
Ivory (draw uses: piano keys, ornaments)
Jade (draw raw mineral or ornaments)
Porcelain ( draw tea set)
Tea (draw plant)

Read: (literature, art)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Ballad of Kublai Khan
Define: caverns, fertile, girdled, sinuous, rills, incense, chasm, cedarn, athwart, waning, half-intermitted, meandering, dulcimer, Abyssinian, ‘twould, dale, tumult
Explore the wonderful imagery of the poem.
Examine the use of alliteration, metaphor, personification, mood and tone.
Create a picture based upon Coleridge’s description.

Discuss: (debate, ethics, logic)

Compare the Khan’s use of elephants with the slaughter for ivory alone.
Differentiate between ‘exploration’ and ‘exploitation’.
Evaluate the Khan as a person.
Define and give examples of ‘ambassadors’ ‘conquistadors’ (conquerors), ‘diplomats’ and ‘expansionists’.

Activity: Celebrate Orient Day

Eat spice cookies or cake.
Taste a varier of teas: Oolong, Darjeeling, Pekoe
Practice with chopsticks on bits of fruit, sushi, rice, fish .ramen noodles
Make spice cookies or cake with vanilla frosting. Use ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and vanilla.
Dress in satin or silk, or in a simple bathrobe (Chinese nobility wore robes)
Try some of the calligraphy or Chinese symbols.
Use a paintbrush and black paint (India ink is expensive and messy!)
Paint on a piece of satin or tissue paper (closer to Chinese rice paper)
Roll vertically into a scroll. Tie with ribbon.
Make your own paper.
Decorate with Chinese lanterns in different colored construction paper. Fold a piece of construction paper in half. Make cuts down the middle about halfway to edge of paper. Open backwards to separate cuts and staple at the top and bottom.

Let’ celebrate our wonderful world and its peoples and cultures.

Reference:

• www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/mpolo44-46.html