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CURRICULUM
GUIDE
Unit Title: Multicultural
Cinderella
Grade Levels: 1-3 ESL
Subject/Topic Areas: Fairy tale/Language Arts,
History and Social Sciences, Drama
Key Words: Fairy tale, dramatic elements (character,
setting, plot, conflict, resolution); scripting,
performance
Unit Designers: Karen Rudgis
School: Haggerty/Kennedy - ESL program
Time Frame: 12-20 lessons
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Click here for Teacher
Resources:
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Link to Massachusetts
Standards:
Arts: Theater #1 (acting), #2 (reading and writing scripts),
and #5 (critical response); Language Arts #1 (discussion),
#2 (questioning, listening, contributing), #3 (oral
presentation), #18 (dramatic reading and performance);
History and Social Sciences #4 (society, diversity,
commonality and the individual), #7 (physical spaces of
earth), #9 (geography)
Brief Summary of Unit
(including what students will understand as a result of this
unit)
After learning about how fairy tales teach morals and
values, students will be able to identify similar themes in
stories across cultures. They will learn how to understand a
culture through its fairy and folk tales. Students will be
able to identify the subgenre fairy tales and apply their
knowledge to the contemporary world and its literature. In
the final project, students will write and perform a
contemporary fairy tale.
Drama Strategies
Drama games for concentration and physicalization; drama
exercises for character transformation; letter
writing/monologue performance; script writing and
performance
Key Concepts (What statement(s)
clearly expresses what I want students to know and
understand?)
- Literature can cross cultural
boundaries to address themes that are important to people
no matter what country they live in.
- Good triumphs over evil with the
help of a little magic in all fairy tales.
- Many peoples use fairy tales to
convey values and morals that are important to them;
fairy tales are universal and cross cultures.
- There are several elements that
appear in all fairy tales such as character, plot,
setting, conflict, resolution, and magic; anyone can use
these elements to create their own tale.
Essential Questions (What
specific questions will guide this unit and focus teaching
and learning?)
- How do cultures use fairy tales to
convey their morals and values?
- How do authors motivate readers to
like some characters and dislike others?
- What makes a story a fairy
tale?
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Students will know
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Students will be able
to
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How to compare and contrast
stories
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Create and interpret a Venn
Diagram
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How to recognize and
understand character transformation
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Demonstrate the
transformation of a character to others without
speaking
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Basic dramatic structure:
beginning, middle, end
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Create a three-scene
tableau
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The characteristics of the
subgenre "fairy tale" of the folk tale
genre
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Read a fairy tale and
identify these characteristics
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The elements of a thank you
letter
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Write a letter and perform it
as a monologue
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Elements in a fairy tale:
characters, setting, plot, conflict and resolution,
and the magic that helps
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Brainstorm together to
imagine a contemporary fairy tale that includes
these elements
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Basic acting techniques such
as character development and transfomation, how to
articulate well and project the voice, how to
memorize lines and actions, how to work together in
a cast
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Perform their
script
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EVIDENCE OF STUDENT
UNDERSTANDING:
Summary of performance tasks and
projects
- Drama exercises such as "prop
transformation" "blue plate special" and
"tableaux"
- Monologue performance based on
thank you letter
- Performance of fairy tale
script
Summary of quizzes, tests and
prompts.
Other Evidence (e.g.
observations, work samples and dialogues)
- Written contemporary fairy tale
script
- Teacher observation of rehearsals
and final performance
SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES:
What sequence of teaching and learning experiences will
equip students to develop and demonstrate the desired
understandings?
Lesson One
Introduce Cinderella
(European version), read and discuss. Identify
characters, setting and plot. Drama games: pass a phrase
and statues (see resources).
Lesson Two
Revisit and identify conflict and
resolution. Drama games: counting game; curtains (see
resources).
Lesson Three
Introduce Yeh Shen (Chinese
version), read and discuss. Identify characters, etc.
Drama games: prop transformation (see
resources).
Lesson Four
Create Venn diagram comparing and
contrasting Cinderella and Yeh Shen. Drama
games: hotseat students portraying a Cinderella from each
version (see resources).
Lesson Five
Introduce The Rough Face
Girl, read and compare with previous Cinderella tales
to identify the qualities that make this a fairy tale.
Drama games: blue plate special (see resources).
Lesson Six
Three-scene tableaux: students work
in cooperative groups. Choose one of the fairy tales and
create three scenes in tableaux form representing the
beginning, middle and end of the chosen fairy tale.
Perform tableaux for each other.
Lesson Seven
Teacher reads a short fairy tale
chosen form The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series:
Cinderella. Students identify characters, setting,
plot, conflict and resolution.
Lesson Eight
Students break into small groups.
Each group chooses a story from the Oryx Series to
read. Each group identifies the key elements in their
fairy tale and shares their findings with the
class.
Lesson Nine
Teacher models how to write thank
you letter. Teacher and students together brainstorm key
elements of a good thank you letter and create a rubric
for grading. Students each choose a Cinderella character
from one of the tales they've read and write a thank you
letter to Cinderella's benefactor.
Lesson 10-12
Teacher leads vocal warm-up (see
resources). Students finish thank you letter. In small
groups, each student practices reading their letter out
loud, with expression, as a monologue.
Lesson 13
Teacher leads vocal warm-up.
Performance of monologues.
Lesson 14
Review characteristics of a fairy
tale. Teacher leads class in brainstorming ideas for a
script.
Lesson 15-17
Teacher and students sequence plot
actions to form a short story. Check to make sure
setting, characters, conflict, resolution and magic are
present in the story. Brainstorm costume ideas.
Brainstorm the setting -- what elements would create the
right mood for this story? Where does the tale take place
and how can we create that place in our classroom? What
sounds can we make to set the mood? If an art teacher is
available, teacher can coordinate set building or
prop-making with him or her.
Homework: Collect and bring in
pieces of clothing for each character.
Lesson 18
Cast players. Practice performance
of script (depending on student's writing and speaking
ability, the teacher can "direct" the action of the story
by being the narrator and having students play characters
and actions as the teacher narrates the story).
Homework: memorize
lines.
Lesson 19
Practice performance. Accumulate
set pieces such as potted plants for forest, etc.*
Students help create any necessary hand props: crowns,
wands, etc.
Gather all remaining materials necessary for
performance.
*note: it's often helpful to have
students play trees, wind, and other elements that often
appear ina fairy tale but are hard to come by as set
pieces.
Lesson 20
PERFORMANCE of fairy tale. Invite
another class and/or parents as an audience.
What resources are helpful and/or
necessary to accomplish this curriculum?
Books
Cinderella: The Oryx Multicultural
Folktale Series, J. Sierra. The Oryx Press,
1992.
Cinderalla, translated and
illustrated by M. Brown, Charles Scribner's Sons,
1954.
The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles
Perrault, illustrated by S. Holmes, Clarion Books,
1993.
The Rough-Face Girl, R. Martin
& D. Shannon, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1992.
Yeh-Shen, A Cinderella Story from
China, retold Ai-Ling Louis, Philomel Books,
1974.
Websites
How to write a Fairy Tale and Make a
Multimedia Presentation:
http://www.assd.winnipeg.mb.ca/schools/pj/ftsteps.htm#step1
Fairy Tale Comparison:
http://homeown.aol.com/mellettk/Webpage/An-Apple-For-The-Teacher.html
(includes listing of more than 20
Cinderella stories from around the world)
Fairy Tales: Middle School
Communication Arts Task, D. Humphrey, June 20,
2002:
http://www.dese.state.mo.us/divimprove/assess/mappractice/2edition/middle/fairy/pdf
What is a Folk or Fairy
Tale?
http://WebInstituteForTeachers.ORG/2000/teams/onceupon/whatisit.html
Materials
Props, costumes and set pieces for
original fairytale created by the class.
Curriculum developed by the Department
of Drama and Dance, Cambridge public school teachers and
Studebaker Theater artists involved with the Cambridge
Public School Drama Collaborative, a project funded in part
by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. CPSDC
is a multi-year teacher training program that helps teachers
integrate drama into the curriculum.
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