U.S. Students Will Learn about the History of Silla Dynasty

The history of Korean ancient kingdom of Silla has been published in a world history textbook for high school students in the United States.

According to the Korea Society, on May 1, the world history magazine “Calliope,” which has been used as additional world history reading material for U.S. high school students, covered the history of the Silla Dynasty in the entire 50 pages of its March issue.

Calliope, whose subscribers are mostly high school history teachers, is issued five times a year and utilized as additional reading material for intensive history classes.

This special edition covered aspects of the Silla Dynasty from Queen Sundeok to bone rankings, Buddhism, clothing, and legacy, and stimulated curiosity by including quizzes and puzzles.

Besides the history of the Silla Dynasty, the edition teaches students how to write their own names in Korean and introduces Korean consonants, vowels and pronunciation in order to raise understanding of Korea.

Choi Young-jin, who runs a Korean language program for U.S. teachers at the Korea Society, said, “Calliope’s publisher contacted me and told me that they wanted to cover a special story about Silla, so I introduced related writers to Calliope. I thought it would be a good chance to acknowledge Korea and Silla properly through this special edition since Korean ancient history has been inappropriately appraised between Japan and China in the U.S.