Michelle

Svenson Kids around the World: Japan Social Studies, Grade 6, 45-60 minutes

Background
Wholeness Life in Japan is buzzing. There are millions of people in the most densely packed place on earth. Yet, the Japanese values and customs promote a sense of order within the city. People mostly keep to themselves, clean up after themselves, and make an effort to promote harmony through respect. In this lesson, we will examine facts about living in Tokyo, see a video about Japanese middle school, and compare and contrast their way of life with ours, here in Fairfield. Science of Creative Intelligence: Japan is twice as densely populated as New York City; it should be chaotic, but it is part of the Japanese culture for every individual to accept their role in society and perform it as best as they can. Even in the classroom, different students are assigned different roles to perform. It is only because of this diversity that the city flows harmoniously. Main Points Japanese Routines: The average Japanese student chooses one (or more) thing to pursue in addition to regular schooling. Older students join, and stay with, one club, like a sports club or an arts club. Many students also attend cram schooladditional schooling after regular school or on the weekends. The Japanese routine is very busy, and very rigorous. Japanese Values: In Japan, there is a great emphasis on order and harmony. Everyone has a role, respects the roles of others, and is expected to do the best they possibly canthey have an incredible work ethic. If you are born into a family of sushi chefs, you are expected to grow up to be a wonderful sushi chef. This is perhaps the biggest difference from America: There is much more focus on the family and the community than the individual, and there is minimal self expression. Children learn early to recognize that they are part of an interdependent society, beginning in the family and later extending to larger groups such as neighborhood, school, playground, community, and company. Japanese Leisure: The Japanese do have things they enjoy, when theyre not working. Just like in the US, television is popular. Many people read manga or play handheld games, especially while commuting. Some more social forms of leisure activity include sports or karaoke. There is apparently a very entertaining drama scene, as wellthough this seems to be less popular than in America. But because Japan is so densely populated, it is equip for a variety of lifestyles.

 Objectives By the end of the lesson, the student should be able to Be familiar with the average Japanese students routine, including what they do for fun Know a few basic values and customs associated with the Japanese culture and how they present themselves in the routine List several ways in which the Japanese are similar and different to us Standards By recognizing various cultural perspectives, learners become capable of understanding diverse perspectives, thereby acquiring the potential to foster positive relations and interactions with diverse people within our own nation and other nations. Learning Expectations Middle Grades (p. 94) NCSS
Understand that each culture has distinctive patterns of behavior that are usually practiced by most of the people who grow up in it. Understand how people from different cultures develop different values and ways of interpreting experience. Iowa Core: Social Studies 6-8, Behavioral Standards

Approach To teach this lesson, I plan on primarily using activity based discussion. The activities will include learning how our names would be pronounced in Japan, watching a video, and trying our hand at calligraphy (with our names). If there is enough time, I plan to split them into groups and examine different books about Japan. I feel that visual activities like these are necessary to immerse the students in the culture. Discussion will follow each of the activities to deepen understanding from them. Materials Computer, to show video Different books from/about Japan; one for every student Paintbrushes Paints Printed characters of their names in Japanese for them to copy

 Differentiation The main differentiation will be the different selection of books. I will have books for all types of people. Ill have some shojo manga (girly, romantic stories with pictures), shonen manga (fighting stories with pictures), instructional books, story books, all sorts! I even have a book called Japan: Land of Samurai and Robots. I think the boys will love it! There is some differentiation in the rest of the lesson, though not much. I plan to involve every student as equally as I can. I will give them a choice if theyd like to try calligraphy (with their names) or if theyd like to read more about the Japanese culture.

Lesson Introduction
Review First we will have an open discussion about Japanese culture, to determine if the students already know anything. This will include whether they know about their routines, leisure, or values. I will also briefly cover what values are and how they relate to culture. This should last about 5-10 minutes, depending on how much they know. Introductory focus or hook To start the lesson, I will say, Hello! I am called Michelle, but you can call me Sensei in Japanese. I think this will capture their attention, theyre probably not use to hearing different languages in the middle of class! I want to also write Michelle- Sensei on the board in Japanese script but I am not sure if I can memorize it on time

Lesson Development
Procedures After the hook, I will ask the students what language they think I am speaking. When they learn that it was Japanese, I will pull down the map and ask if anyone knows where it is and can come point to it. This will also include a brief review of the locations of the cultures studied in the previous week. Then I will give a break down of what I said in Japanese. I will start with Konnichiwa (hello), then Watashi no namae wa Misheru (I am called Michelle).

Ill explain that my name would be pronounced like Misheru because in Japanese, they dont have any L sounds. I will pass out the sheets I have prepared with their name in Japanese at the top and the pronunciation. We can go around the room and everyone can see what their name would sound like. After this, I will introduce the topic of honorifics, from chan to sama. From this, they will come to understand one of the key values in Japanese culture: respect. This will begin the chart for the day. As a class, we will complete a chart which covers Japanese routines, values, and what they do for fun. In order to complete this chart, we will watch a video about a Japanese middle school. Because of the nature of this video, it will allow the students to see the Japanese people as people rather than just a culture. It will also show them what the days of Japanese children are like. As a class, we will talk about elements from the video: different aspects of routine and different values that were prominent. I would also like to take this time to compare and contrast the Japanese culture with American culture. After this, Id like to have the kids Paint their names in Japanese. Ill provide the materials and the information (including how their names would be pronounced). I think this will be the most fun for the kids, and it would also provide another dimension to the cultural experience. In the video, we watched kids in Japan practicing calligraphy. By bringing calligraphy into this lesson the kids will be able to put themselves in the shoes of a Japanese kid. If we have time left, I will split the kids into groups of three to examine books about/from japan that Ive brought. After about ten minutes, Ill bring everyone back together and well share with the group the sorts of things we were looking at. The reason that I chose this activity is to give the kids a wide scope of knowledge/experience in a short amount of time. Some of the kids will familiarize themselves with manga, which is very popular in Japan, and some of the kids will learn more about Japanese food, clothes, or ways of life. When we share our experiences at the end of this, it should provide a nice, well rounded cultural experience for each student!

Lesson Ending
Closure Completing the chart should provide closure. With the feedback from the groups, we should have a well rounded three categories. Then I will ask the students what they thought of Japan: would they ever want to go there?

 Assessment There will be a venn diagram worksheet: Students will compare their own culture
with the Japanese culture. It will be like the chart we did in class, but a different format. It will provide for a more clear comparison of their culture to the Japanese. They will have three categories to compare: values, routines, and fun. This activity will hopefully provide more depth, because students will be able to think about their own culture and their own lives and spend time comparing and contrasting it with the culture of the day. Students will be graded on whether or not they wrote about those three aspects of the culture and the amount of detail they provide. There will also be an affective assessment at the end of the unit to test if/how their feelings towards foreign cultures have changed.