Writing an “All About” book for Chinese Ethnic Minorities

By Joan Burress

PROCEDURE

(Each student has previously written an "All About" book about any topic of her/his choice.)

Day 1

1. Teacher will call class to the class' meeting area on the carpet. They will be told to bring their notebooks and pencils. 

2. Teacher will introduce our lesson:

- In China, there are many different ethnic

minorities.

- Each group has its own culture.

- We will form small groups of three or four.

- We will have a lottery to see which Chinese ethnic minority each group will study.

- Each group will look at the culture of two different Chinese ethnic minorities, and compare and contrast them to each other.

We will see what things were the same, and what things were different.

- (At this point, the teacher will model a comparison between, e.g., the food eaten by two different Chinese minorities.)

- Teacher will remind the students of the good job they did previously when they wrote their first "All About" books.

- Each student will write an eight-page book comparing and contrasting his or her two Chinese ethnic minorities' cultures.

- We will have a closing celebration in which parents, our principal, assisstant principal and other classes will be invited to read our books, and have Chinese snacks.

3. Students will look at a world map placed in the front of the room. (We have previously viewed and discussed this map many times when learning about the continents, and hearing read-alouds of various fables and stories from around the world.)

4. We will note the proximity between the provinces in which our target minority groups live.

5. We will have our lottery to draw two different Chinese ethnic minorities for each student group. 

6. Students will return to their seats to sketch and label their own maps to be included later in their self-made books.

7. Each student will set up her/his first draft of our format for our Table of Contents: Table of Contents

1. Introduction - Page 1

2. (The title of the first cultural component, e.g., religion, government, etc., that each student group will choose to write about will be written here after they have chosen this as a group.) - Page 2

3. (The title of the second component will be written here.) - Page 3

4. (The title of the third component will be written here.) - Page 4

5. Conclusion - Page 5

6. Glossary - Page 6

7. Index - Page 7-8.

Homework due in seven days - Each student will research the culture of her/his Chinese minorities on the Internet or/and in the library.

List three possible cultural components to teach his or her reader about in his or her book. (Student groups will be given meeting time from 2:00 to 2:20 on two days or more before the homework is due to discuss their findings, and to choose their three cultural components that they will write about in their books.) - (Teacher will circulate and monitor each group, assessing their success, and assisting whenever necessary.) 

Day 2

1. Teacher will call students to carpet with their notebooks and pencils.

2. Each group will have a spokesperson share the three cultural components their group has chosen.

3. Teacher will model an Introduction: E.g., If you want to learn about the culture of the Yi and the Dai Chinese Ethnic Minorities, and their similarities and differences, you have come to the right place. In this book you will learn about the religion, marriage ceremonies and government of these cultures.

4. Teacher sends each group to their meeting spots to write the first draft of their individual introductions. They will discuss the task together, then each student will write her/his own version during a silent block of writing time.

5. Teacher circulates, assesses, and guides where needed.

6. After introductions are written, teacher announces Materials:

Teacher:

http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/

http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/pages/culture/ethnic/salar.html(go to homepage for all ethnic groups)

Students:

http://www.chineseculture.about.com/library/china/ethnic/blsethnic.html

(Students will be instructed to Google Chinese ethnic minorities to do research for additional information if they find it necessary.)

 Students can research any of the following additional cultural components of the same two Chinese Ethnic Minorities, or different ones, and compare or contrast them to each other:

1. Music

- The erhu (Chinese violin/fiddle) is very important in rites of passage in China. How was it used in each target minority?

2. Proximity to water

   - What bodies of water were near each target culture? How Near?

   - How did the proximity effect trade with other minorities?

   - How did the proximity to water effect farming techniques?

   3. Construction

   - What kinds of buildings were built?

   - What tools were used?

   4. Art

   - Consider sculptures of the target cultures

   - Consider paintings of the target cultures