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Why Celebrate?
TEACHER Elise Gordon
Adapted from Social Studies Unit Why Celebrate?
Adaptions (in green text) for ESOL students by Libby Hallam
| YEAR
| LEVEL
| DURATION |
| 5-6 |
3 |
1-2 weeks |
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Achievement Objectives Being Assessed
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Learning Outcomes
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Culture and Heritage
- How practices of different cultural groups vary but reflect similar purposes.
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Students will be able to:
- identify celebrations that vary across cultural groups;
- identify the purposes of these celebrations;
- discuss how these celebrations have similar purposes.
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Processes
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Inquiry
- Collect, process and communicate information about human society.
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Students will be able to:
- Process information using appropriate conventions.
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Requirements
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| Settings: | New Zealand |
| Perspectives: | Multicultural |
| Essential Learning About New Zealand Society (ELANZS): |
Characteristics, roles and cultural expressions of the various groups living in New Zealand.
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Supporting Achievement Objectives
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Learning Outcomes
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English
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Students will be able to use language about the topic to:
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- speak clearly about their own and others' different cultural celebrations;
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- discuss the purposes of celebrations in the various cultures being studied.
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Language Learning Focus
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Focus on building vocabulary and speaking skills.
Students will:
- talk about how different cultures celebrate;
- identify similarities and differences among the celebrations of different cultures.
How teachers can help pupils to achieve the vocabulary and oracy language outcomes
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Assessment
Assessment Activity
Assessment Schedule
TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Select and adapt these learning activities to best meet the needs of your
students, and to fit the time available:
- Introducing Celebrations
Read a story about celebrations, a suitable story would be
Let the Celebrations Begin By Margaret Wild.
- Why did the people in the story celebrate?
- How did they celebrate?
- What do you celebrate at home?
- What do we celebrate at school?
- What does the whole of New Zealand celebrate?
- Can you think of anything which other countries might also celebrate as
well as New Zealand?
Record these answers either in groups or as a class on the introducing
celebrations chart.
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Adapted chart for ESOL students. It is useful for ESOL students to write as well as talk about celebrations.
Some New Zealand concepts about celebrations may be unfamiliar to ESOL students - for example, many school and family celebrations in New Zealand are about not only winning, but taking part, helping, trying, and doing better.
Some common celebratory expressions are Congratulations! Well done! Good on you!
This unit is a good place to introduce ESOL students to some of NZ's sporting heroes, for example, the Silver Ferns, the Tall Blacks, the All Blacks - and events such as the Special Olympics.
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- Celebration Time Line
Think about all of the celebrations you have participated in this year.
What sorts of things have you celebrated?
Make celebration time lines which list all the things we either have
celebrated this year or are going to celebrate in the months to come.
It may be useful to model this first using the teacher's own experiences
or the example given.
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The teacher of ESOL students will need to model and discuss his/her own time line before asking the students to do theirs. Concrete examples (or visual representations) are very important in clarifying for the students exactly what the teacher is talking about.
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Give students an opportunity to take the time lines home and share
with their parents and add anything else they or their parents can think of.
In buzz groups share the different experiences we have had.
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Buzz groups should be comprised of a mix of native speakers and ESOL students. The focus should be on each child communicating - we want students to speak freely and enthusiastically about their cultural experiences. The emphasis should be on communicating meaning, not on grammatical accuracy.
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Are there any more celebrations we can add to our celebration charts made
in the previous lesson?
- Why celebrate?
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This unit gives ESOL pupils the opportunity to 'shine', to share their unique experiences and to have their cultures valued and respected. In terms of their own lives and cultures, they are 'the experts'.
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Why do you think people celebrate different occasions?
Discuss ideas as a class.
Take one of the celebrations listed in your celebration time line and give
an explanation of the celebration, the ways you celebrated this
occasion and the reasons why you think it may have been celebrated.
Present your ideas on the all about chart.
Using resources inquire into your chosen celebration and
find out alternative purposes for this celebration. Add these findings to
your explanation.
Present the results of the mini inquiry to peers either as a class or in
groups.
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Students may bring along realia from home to show - photographs, special clothing, cultural items.
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- Comparing Reasons
Buddy up with a class member who chose a different celebration to you.
Complete the venn diagram to show purposes for the celebration that
were different and the same on different occasions. After
10 minutes have each pair share with another pair. Follow
with a class discussion on similar and different purposes of celebrations
in our own experience.
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Venn diagrams are good material to use to practise comparing and contrasting: Teach / reinforce ways of expressing similarity and contrast - and, so, but, however, for example, Christmas is celebrated in winter in England but in New Zealand Christmas is celebrated in summer. At Christmas time the weather is warm so we wear summer clothes.
Teacher could write these sentences using these connectives / conjunctions on to cards and cut each sentence into three sections - the sentence beginning, the conjunction, and the sentence ending. Students match and join the cut up segments to make logical sentences. Allow for plenty of revision, over several days, adding new sentences, one at a time, as students become proficient. Students should practise repeating the sentences aloud to reinforce the learning of the sentence structures.
Some suggestions for consolidating the language and concepts of this unit:
- use pictures;
- encourage students to draw and label pictures of their cultural celebrations.
Students make lists of special celebration foods in two columns - writing the names of their culture's foods in their first language in one column and the English names (if possible, with help) in the second column. Using and accepting the students' first languages and displaying them alongside English in the classroom helps ESOL learners to maintain confidence and self-esteem.
Students blu-tack word cards on to wall-charts. Which words go with weddings? (bride, groom, rings, cake, church, presents, speeches) Which go with birthdays? Make other categories according to the students's own experiences. Practise over several days. Add new word cards as the unit progresses.
Students write about, and illustrate their special celebrations. Assemble their stories into a class book.
Create opportunities for students to share their experiences and their pictures and written stories (in pairs, small groups, with students from other classrooms). Communicating is the goal here; the emphasis is on the message, not on language accuracy.
At the end of the unit, ask parents / grandparents to come along, meet one another and the students and share what has been done. They might like to bring some food that is representative of their cultural celebrations.
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- Finding out about celebrations in other places
Have students in small groups work in pairs to look at the
same celebration or event in different settings or cultures.
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ESOL students could work in mixed groups as the experts explaining their chosen celebration while the native speakers take more responsibility for finding the information about the celebration of a similar event in another culture.
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You could use the celebrations with resources listed below or have the
students come up with their own idea of a celebration to investigate.
Group 1: Weddings
Please Note: Some of the following sites are more suitable for teacher
reference as they give detailed explanations. We suggest you read
them thoroughly and be selective of what information you use from the sites.
Journal Stories
- "My Uncle Leo's Getting Married" By M. Scott. Pt 3 No 3 1991
- "Pirihira, Kaiawhina" By T Pehimana. SL 1989.
- "A Very Special Day" By A. Ruhe_Hodge Pt 3 No 2 1993
Group 2: New Year Celebrations
Journal Stories
- "The Chinese New Year" By J Lau and L Kaun, YPW, 1997.
- "Festival of Farmers" By E Bryant, Pt 1 No 4 1987
- "Happy New Year" By R Lim, Pt 1 No 4 1986
- "Teasing the Lion" By J Thomson, Pt 2 No 3 1991
Group 3: Christmas
Journal Stories
- "Christmas Eve" By R Fyleman Pt 1 No 3 1982
- "Fairy Dust" By M. Gould Pt 1 No 5 1998
- "Mary Christmas" By J. Rohloff Pt 1 No 1 1986
- "White Christmas" By E. K. Va'ai Pt 4 No 3 1997
Group 4: Harvest Festivals
- Celebration Presentation
Assessment Activity
Assessment Schedule
The groups then make a presentation (such
as a poster, handbook, hyperstudio presentation, role play, power-point,
or oral presentation) to the class with what they have found out about
similarities and differences within their celebration across different
cultures. It may be useful to develop criteria with the students
before setting them off on the task and have
students self-evaluate themselves against this list.
RESOURCES
Electronic
Print
- Kindersley, A. (1997). Students Just Like Me: Celebrations! DK Publishing: New York.
- Journal Stories:
- "Hari Raya Eidil Fitri" By A Mohamed Pt 4 No 2 1996
A muslim celebration in Malaysia to mark the end of Ramadan
- "What a Feast" By J MacGregor Pt 1 No 2 1997
Preparations for the celebrations around nina harvesting in Tonga.
- "First Haircut" By L Fuemana-Foa'I Pt 4 No 3 1998
A Niuean haircutting ceremony held in Auckland
- "White Sunday in Samoa" By A. Kuresa Pt 4 No 2 1996
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