UCLA Center for East Asian Studies Educational Resources

Japanese and Chinese Culture
Objectives

Overall rationale:  In seventh grade world history, we cover the following regions:  Rome, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.  The five days of lesson plans I have prepared will fit into the curriculum in the Asia unit.  Two of the lessons (Bound Feet and Philosophy) will be in the sub-unit on China and the other three (Tea Ceremony, Haiku, and Language will fit into the sub-unit on Japan.

Overall Content Objectives:  Student will be able to appreciate the unique cultures of China and Japan noting their similarities and their differences.  Students will be able to understand the cultural underpinnings of certain rituals, ceremonies, and art forms indigenous to china and Japan.

Overall Skill Objective:  Students will be able to interpret and apply written directions by acting them out; read in order to comprehend and analyze; apply the "rules" of haiku to compose original poetry; speak and understand a few basic words in Japanese.

Comment on resources:  As any good teacher knows, the best way to get materials and ideas is to beg, borrow, and steal them from other teachers.  I am a firm believer in not reinventing the wheel, so much of my curriculum project was inspired by, or even taken directly from, sources on the Internet.  One thing I don't believe in however, is taking credit for others' work, so I've meticulously noted the web addresses from which I've borrowed material.

Japanese and Chinese Culture Index