Mariposa Museum & World Culture Center, Peterborough NH



	Plan Your Visit Hours & Directions About Peterborough Teachers Lesson Plans Booking Tours Contact Things to See Explore the Museum Our Artists Our Performers Instrument Collection Gift Shop Library Please Touch Slide Show Things to Do Calendar Upcoming Events Workshops E-News Signup What's New? About the Museum Description Dreamer & Founder Mission Membership History Board & Staff Job Opportunities Home		Lesson Plans Japan, China, India This lesson has been done most often as a series of station activities for older students (grade 4 and up), though it is easily adapted for younger children with more "show and tell". It lasts two to three hours for an older group, an hour or more for younger students. Children can try on clothing from Japan, China, Thailand and Vietnam, including garments from ethnic minorities. Students can play musical instruments, including wonderful bamboo instruments and gongs from Asia. After an introduction to the museum and the theme, we split a group of older children into small groups (two to four) to explore the following stations: writing Japanese/Chinese character: practice in writing the word "I" in character, and then the sentence, "I am American" ("I am 'Beautiful Country' person" in Chinese!). reading character: a game which challenges students to see patterns and use both logic and intuition to match Chinese or Japanese words to their pronunciation and meaning. Yes, it can be done with no prior knowledge! Japanese festivals: students use simple research materials to match artifacts to the festival they belong to on a worksheet. Japanese "mingei" or traditional crafts: on this worksheet, students match 12 traditional craft items to their Japanese name and use, again using simple research materials. Hindu and Buddhist deities: students look closely at small statues of gods and goddesses from Asia and identify them, using a worksheet that describes each one. The differences are often subtle, so they need to notice small details. These are the most common stations. We have also done activities on the Hmong minority people of the Southeast Asian highlands; on the Chinese zodiac; on the two great monkeys of Asian epic, Hanuman from the Indian Ramayana and Monkey King from the Chinese Journey to the West. After an hour doing the five activities above, the group gathers to talk about what they learned. Our educator can expand on these themes. We compare festivals and religious beliefs of Asia to those we know from our cultures - there are obvious differences and deep similarities. Some artifacts, like the Japanese "daruma", tell wonderful stories of persistence and courage. We have a great activity drawn from fast food menus in Japan: practice in reading another Japanese writing system called "kana" - your students will decipher "chocolate banana" from a Baskin Robbins menu! We can tell the epic stories or give students time to draw one object they really like. Essential Questions What does "learning" mean in different cultures? How does environment influence how different peoples live, eat, clothe themselves? What stories do a culture's artifacts tell about the people who create that culture? What are the roots of significant holidays and celebrations around the world? How do people the world over worship and communicate their spiritual values? How is childhood in other cultures the same as, and different from, childhood in our culture? Skills Close observation of an object (including drawing it) Fine motor skills, use of sequence and direction to write a Chinese character Skills of logic, visual pattern recognition and intuition to read Chinese character Research (reading for key words) to answer worksheets on crafts and festivals Matching object to picture and written description Listening skills: matching spoken Japanese to its English equivalent on fast food menus! Drawing parallels between apparently dissimilar activities/objects (schooling, festivals, worship) to see similarities to our own culture Generalizing from the particular to universal human experience Content Students will learn about Japanese and Chinese writing / reading / spoken language Festivals & holidays in Asia: lunar holidays, children's role, parallels to American holidays Traditional crafts in Japan: use of natural and recycled materials, continuity of craft traditions over centuries Buddhism and Hinduism as expressed in folk artifacts from India and Japan Traditional epics of India and China: storytelling in traditional culture Lesson Plans Introduction Africa Childhood Across Cultures Flowers Japan, China, India Life Passages Music & World Instruments Patterns When children are raised with respect and curiosity towards other cultures, the world will know more peace and less war. 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