Japan


Displays: Many pictures of Japan and Japanese people
Introduction:Send home in the parent letter the week before this unit asking parents to send �house shoes� or bedroom slippers to school on Friday before this unit.On Monday the students will enter a transformed classroom. There will be many items from Japanese homes and many pictures displayed around the room. The tables/desks will all be lowered and there will be cushions where the chairs had been.

Monday Topic of lesson: Homes
Objective: The student will be able to name at least two things unique to Japanese homes.
Materials: futon, tatami, pictures of Japanese gardens, cushions so that the students can sit on the floor.
Procedures:
1. When the children come in the door on Monday ask them to take off their shoes and put on their bedroom slippers. (Make sure that the teacher has done this herself.)
2. Begin the day with an explanation that the class will be studying Japan. Explain the Japanese custom of taking off schools before entering a house or a school.
3. Have the children sit at the lowered tables/desks explaining that this is done in Japan. (The teacher should also sit at a lowered table.)
4. Go about the normal morning routine: doing the calendar, teaching math, and teaching reading.
5. After reading the book A Family in Japan to the class, talk about the differences from American culture to Japanese culture from the book.
6. Have books about Japan available for the children to read during Self-Selected/Independent Reading. 7. Let the children share what they read about Japan with the rest of the class.
8. In the afternoon, show the students the futon, tatami, and the picture of the Japanese gardens. Discuss these items and their place in Japanese homes. Remind the students that taking off their shoes and sitting at lowered tables is part of the Japanese culture.
9. Have the students draw a picture of the things that are different about a Japanese home versus an American home.

Tuesday Topic of lesson: Transportation
Objective: The students will be able to draw and write about two ways that people travel in Japan.
Materials: pictures people traveling in Japan (bicycles, taxis, trains)
Procedures:
1. Have the students share the most popular methods of transportation in the United States.
2. After explaining that Japan is made up of many mountainous islands and there are many people in a very small amount of land, have the students guess what types of transportation they use in Japan.
3. Explain the methods of transportation most widely used in Japan. (trains--and pusher-ins, underground parking for cars, taxis, and bicycles.)
4. Show pictures of crowded Japanese cities and people using these methods of transportation.

Wednesday Topic of lesson: Language
Objective: The student will be able to verbally recite the Japanese numbers 1-10.
Materials: Chocho is for Butterfly: A Japanese-English Primer. By Jeannie Sasaki and Frances Uyeda
Procedures:
1. Have the Japanese characters for the number 1-10 on the board when the students come into the room. Ask them to think about what the symbols might be or might mean.
2. Read the book Chocho is for Butterfly: A Japanese-English Primer to the class.
3. Explain that the Japanese read going down the page instead of across like we do.
4. Have the students try to guess what the symbols on the board are. Point to each symbol in turn and say its Japanese name. Do this two or three times, then move around the classroom counting things in Japanese without telling the students what you are doing. Hopefully they will guess the symbols are numbers and that you are counting in Japanese.
5. Now that the students have heard the numbers pronounced several times, ask them to say them with you as you as you point to the symbols. Have the students count things in Japanese around the room. Continue counting in Japanese throughout the day.
6. If possible a special guest (hopefully a native Japanese speaker) would be an asset to this lesson on language. Perhaps a foreign exchange student from Japan could come. Have the special guest read a story or tell a Japanese folk story. Also, the guest could teach a few more Japanese words.


Thursday Topic of lesson: Plants and Animals
Objective: The student will be able to list or draw three forms of life that Japan is known for.
Materials: piece of bamboo, bonsai, pictures of fish, whales, birds in Japanese cages, cranes, and crickets.
Procedures:
1. Have the students start the day counting in Japanese from 1 to 10 as a review.
2. Show the objects and pictures that are forms of life that Japan is known for.
3. Explain what a bonsai tree is and how they are cared for.
4. Talk about all the uses for bamboo. Show pictures. Let the children tell if they have seen things made from bamboo.
5. Ask the students to tell about their pets. Explain that Japanese children have cats, dogs, crickets, parakeets, rabbits, and chickens.

Friday Topic of lesson: Food
Objective: The students will be able to write about at least three differences in the way that Japanese people eat from the way that they eat.
Materials: chopsticks, rice, fish (sushi), tofu, soup, vegetables, and tea, the book, How My Parents Learned to Eat.
Procedures:
1. Read the book How My Parents Learned to Eat.
2. Discuss with the class what most Americans eat. Ask the students how much rice they eat per week. Explain that Japanese people eat a great deal of rice. Talk about the other things that are typical in a Japanese meal: tofu, soup, vegetables, fish, and hot tea.
3. At lunchtime, have the students eat at the lowered tables in the classroom. Have prepared a typical Japanese meal. (This is described in more detail under the culminating activity.)
4. Throughout the day remember to have the students use the Japanese words that they had learned.
5. Select a book from the list under materials that have been in the reading center all week to read to the class.
6. Discuss with the class all the things about Japan they have learned. List them on the board as the students name them.


Culminating Activity:
Have the students sit at the lowered tables with their shoes off (like they have been doing all week). Have them eat lunch in the classroom instead of the cafeteria. Chopsticks should be available for the students to try to use.

*Watch the video Unlearning Asian-American Stereotypes.
*Have the students list and discuss as a class all the new things that they have learned about Japan.