Introduction

“When I was a child, when I was an adolescent, books saved me from despair: that convinced me that culture was the highest of values [...].”

― Simone de Beauvoir, The Woman Destroyed

The Purpose of this Lesson

In this unit, students use short stories to learn about ancient and modern Chinese customs and beliefs. Instruction supports students’ mastery of reading and/or writing objectives aligned with ELA Common Core Standards. Inclusion of China’s rich history and traditions will promote meaningful learning that students will undoubtedly find engaging.

Learning activities include literature selections that are age appropriate to seventh grade students while encouraging inquiry-based learning where they discover, explore, understand, synthesize, and create new deep and thoughtful learning. This will be achieved with the book, A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts: A Collection of Deliciously Frightening Tales by Ying Chang Compestine. In this collection of ghost stories, the author takes readers through China's history, from the building of the Great Wall to the modern day. These stories introduce readers to ancient and modern Chinese customs and beliefs.

Goals

Content Goal:

• Students will understand how elements of a story interact to establish theme and how a story’s plot compares to nonfiction text on the same topic by conducting research.

Technology Goal:

• Students will become proficient with multimedia presentation software and will successfully present research to the class.

• Moreover, it is my goal that students develop a tolerance for people’s beliefs and values from around the world. This lesson challenges students to embed their new found knowledge of China’s culture to that of their own lives, giving their learning true meaning and purpose.