Curated OER
Chinese Landscape Painting
Third graders learn about Chinese poetry and landscape paintings, then create their own. They view several examples and discuss the elements of each, then paint their own landscape inspired by what they saw. They then listen to, read,...
Curated OER
The Poetry of Chinese Immigration
Numerous people from China immigrated to the US during the era of industrialization and expansion. Provide your class with a glimpse into the life of a Chinese immigrant through the poetry they left behind. They then compose a poem of...
Curated OER
Writing a Historical Poem
Students work together to research a historical event. They create their own poems based on their research. They share their poems with the class and discuss the historical event further.
Curated OER
Lions, Dragons, and Nian: Animals of the Chinese New Year
Students examine the major differences between earstern and western dragons and their association with the Chinese New Year. They view and discuss a video, read New Year poems, explore various websites, and create a lion mask.
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Making Your Mark: Free Verse Poetry
Using the insight they have gained into the experiences of detainees at the Angel Island Immigration Station, young poets create their own free verse poems that they feel captures what it may have felt like to be an immigrant interned on...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Moving to the Poems of Angel Island
A poem carved on Angel Island's walls is the guiding text of a lesson that challenges scholars to put movement into a written piece of art. After warm up-activities, learners play a game of "Pass the Clap" and "Pass the Line," in which...
Indiana University
Asian Literature: “The View in Spring” by Du Fu
Over the course of the lesson plan, your pupils read and analyze a translated eight-line poem from the Tang Dynasty written by Du Fu, a poet caught behind enemy lines during the An Lu-Shan rebellion (755-763). Literary/historical context...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lu Shih — The Couplets of T’ang
Writing poetry in ancient China was the modern equivalent of sending a greeting card. Scholars learn about the ancient Chinese poetic form called the lu shih. They read about the context of poetry during the T'ang Dynasty and complete a...
Curated OER
Discovering Angel Island: The Story Behind the Poems
Poems carved into the wooden walls of the Asian immigrant prisons on Angel Island provide upper elementary graders an opportunity to study not only the story behind the poems but to also focus on the figurative language employed by the...
Curated OER
Geography and Culture of China
Take out a map, a paper, a ruler, and those coveted colored pencils for a lesson plan on Chinese culture and geography. This is a multifaceted approach to basic geography skills that incorporate story telling, class discussion, primary...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Conditions in China: Why Might One Leave Home Forever?
Primary source texts provide scholars with the background information they need to understand why Chinese peasant farmers were driven to emigrate. After underlining keywords, phrases, and/or lines in the texts, individuals craft a...
K20 LEARN
Whose Manifest Destiny? Westward Expansion
Your land is my land! Young historians investigate the concept of Manifest Destiny used by the United States government to justify western expansion. Jigsaw groups read primary source documents to gain an understanding of the movement...
Curated OER
Chinese Landscapes
Students explain some of the topographical features of China's landscape. They view a Chinese landscape and discuss their view of the harmony between man and nature, then create their own karst mountain scene.
Curated OER
The Art and History of Japanese Calligraphy
Chinese and Japanese calligraphy is beautiful and significant in both culture and tradition. Engage your class in this expressive fine art form through a lesson plan on using, holding, and creating brush strokes common to Japanese...
Curated OER
Chinese New Year Lesson Plans
Celebrate with food, activities, and learn the traditions of the Chinese culture while enjoying the Chinese New Year.
Indiana University
World Literature: "One Evening in the Rainy Season" Shi Zhecun
Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...
Curated OER
China: Land Beyond the Wall
An excellent series of five lessons on China awaits you and your young geographers. In these lessons, learners engage in hands-on activities, watch streamed video, access websites, and complete activities in cooperative groups in order...
Curated OER
Discovering Angel Island: The Story Behind the Poems
Young scholars watch a video, view websites, and discuss the Chinese Exclusion Act that took place on Angel Island. For this Chinese exclusion act lesson plan, students discuss the interrogations that went on and fill out worksheets bout...
Curated OER
World Literature: “The Wounded” By Lu Xinhua
“The Wounded,” the title story from a collection of stories about the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1977-78), is the central text in a World Literature unit examining choices. An anticipation guide, discussion topics, vocabulary list,...
Curated OER
Chinese Calendar
Third graders listen to a Mak Kam's, "My Chinatown: One Year in Poems," before locating China on a map. They discuss the Chinese language and culture, comparing it to the American culture. They determine which animal sign they were born...
Curated OER
Asian Rhythms
Students experience another culture through a unit that explores instruments, spoken language, and calligraphy. Students experience the Asian culture first hand through a Taiko Drum Concert, as well as lunch at an Asian Buffet &...
Curated OER
Unrolling the Landscape
Students create a landscape painting using traditional Chinese techniques. They review Chinese landscape paintings, paint an original landscape and write a poem to go with their picture.
Curated OER
Dynastic Explorations
Students complete a unit of lessons on medieval Chinese dynasties. They examine the impact the Chinese culture has had on their own lives, label maps, conduct research, read stories, create bamboo stick sentences, write poems, and make...
Curated OER
Appreciating Our American Heritage
Eleventh graders learn about the Chinese culture and how important they feel their heritage and culture are, and to help the American students develop a pride in their own culture as well.