A UNIT ON CHINA. Children eleven and twelve year level.


* A group of children were improvising on the playground interpre-
tations from the comic strip character, Terry and the Pirates. They
were using as props some Chinese money which a relative had given
one of the children and Spanish moss for moustaches. A difference of
opinion over Chinese costume arose and the teacher was consulted.
This provided an opportunity for classroom discussion, where it was
found that two of the children's parents had been in China, one as
a soldier and one as a missionary, and that one child had lived in
California and had seen many Chinese. The interest in the topic was
so great that it was decided to invite these parents to talk to the
class. At this point the teacher decided the situation presented itself
as an ideal opportunity for a unit on China.


* After listening to the parents, and looking at the objects that
they brought with them, the children raised the following ques-
tions for further investigation:

 What do we have and use that came from China?
 What do they eat?
 How many miles of railroad do they have?
 What are other means of travel?
 What kind of religion do they have?
 Do all Chinese use dope?
 What do people do for a living in China? etc.

 These questions were written on the blackboard and the teacher
and children discussed means of finding answers to them. It was de-
cided to group the questions under major topics such as food and
clothing, religion and customs, transportation, and occupations.
Available material and information on these subjects were brought in
by the children and the teacher, such as movies, snapshots, prints,
pictures, objects made in China, books, magazines and victrola
records.


* A committee of children worked on each of these topics. While
the information was being gathered, the question arose of how best
to present the findings to the remainder of the class and other inter-
ested people. They discussed the possibilities of written reports, oral
reports, dramatization, musical expression and various art expres-
sions such as murals, friezes, moving pictures, book illustrations,
building miniatures from scrap materials, paper mache and clay
puppets.

* The children decided they would like to write and produce a
puppet show since it would give them a chance to tell their findings
about China and use practically all the forms of expression.