Language & Cultural Identity | The Armenian Alphabet & Cultural Endurance

In this story about the Armenian alphabet, it shares the historical story of the Armenian language and how it persevered through the years, including:

• An overview of Armenian history from the founding of Erebuni fortress in 782 BC to the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” that peacefully overthrew a corrupt government
• A description of how Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet in 405 AD and how it became so crucial to their identity that French scholar Antoine Meillet wrote, “but for his work, the people would have been absorbed…and would have disappeared like so many nations of the East.”
• Examples of Armenians’ personal connection to their alphabet and manuscripts, including the tradition of placing the Book of Narek under newborns’ pillows for protection and the story of two women who split a 60-pound gospel in half and smuggled it under their skirts duringthe  genocide
• Accounts of how the alphabet continues to shape modern Armenian culture through educational programs teaching children to draw “bird letters” and through monuments like the Ayp ou Pen Park, featuring 39 giant stone letters scattered across a mountainside

Expected Learning Outcome:

This lesson includes clear expected learning outcomes that support students in understanding cultural identity through first-person perspectives, while building intercultural awareness and connections between individual experience and global traditions.

• Students will identify and describe key cultural practices and beliefs from the lesson’s focus community (i.e., Armenian culture). 
• Students will articulate insights into their own cultural identities and how those identities relate to what they learned. 
• Students will analyze how cultural expressions (like language) reflect values, history, and social traditions.
• Students will compare perspectives across cultures while finding similarities and differences through human themes. 
• Students will make connections between cultural traditions and broader global contexts (genocide, cultural preservation), showing critical thinking about identity and intercultural understanding.