Geography: Celebrating the Change Roles of Women In Asia (Suffrage)

LESSON: CELEBRATING THE CHANGING ROLE OF ASIAN WOMEN

GRADE LEVEL: Mature 7-9th

TIME FRAME: THREE 60-MINUTE CLASS PERIODS

TYPE OF ACTIVITY: GROUP COOPERATION

NOTE: ADJUST MARGINS UNDER PAGE SETUP BEFORE PRINTING OR SCALE TO FIT TO AVOID GRAPHICS

FROM BEING CUT OFF.

OBJECTIVE:

o The learner will study and examine the ancient roles of women in Asia.

o The learner will study and examine modern day roles of women in Asia.

o The learner will translate the poem Fu Xuan Women.

o The learner will write a letter to a woman in Asia exploring and expressing his/her feelings regarding the roles and status of women within the country.

o The learner will predict the future roles of women in Asia.

MATERIALS:

o Fu Xuan Woman Poem by Arthur Waley.

o Notecards for two-minute assignment

o Questions for thought on Fu Xuan Women

o Copies of the poem Fu Suan Women

o Articles:

o Role of Women in China

o Role of Women in India

o Role of Women in Vietnam

o Role of Women in North & South Korea

o Role of Women in Japan

o Wrap-up reproducible

o Bell

o Sticky Notes

o Instructions to the Matchmaker game

o Wrap-up Activity reproducible

o China, India, Vietnam, North & South Korea, and Japan

PREPARATION:

o Laminate four copies each of the reading materials on China, India, North/South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. This may seem like a great deal of work, but it will save you preparation time in the coming years. The room will have been set up in ten centers, placing an article for each center. Since there are only five countries, you will have two centers per country.

o Place a stack of note cards at each table.

o One lunch bag per table.

o Bell to ring to signal to move to the next center

o Place sticky notes at each table.

o Make copies of the Wrap-Up Activity sheets for each country

INTRODUCTION:

Find out what each group knows about women in Asia before you begin this lesson. Divide them into teams of four and present the topic. Give each team a stack of sticky notes. Ask them to brainstorm and list as many ideas or questions as they can come up within five minutes. 

Here’s the kicker—(More with purchase) 

WARM-UP (GROUP READING ACTIVITY)

The room has been set up into 10 centers: 2 centers for each country being studied. The goal is for each student to visit all five countries, but not to visit all ten centers since some are duplicates. The centers will be timed giving students 10 minutes to complete the reading and

2-minute assignment.

Explain to students that they will be visiting six different countries: Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China, Vietnam and India to learn the roles of women (and men) in each country and how they have improved. (Note: North and South Korea have been combined into one learning center.)

They will be given 8 minutes to read their activity and 2 minutes to complete the center activity. Once eight minutes have passed, the instructor will notify the class by ringing a bell or using another sound. The remaining two minutes will be used to complete the 2-minute activity (see below).

THE 2-MINUTE ASSIGNMENTS:

(Included with purchase)

Once the warm-up reading center’s activity is complete, the instructor will pick up the bags and will dump them all into one bag and shake them up.

MATCHMAKER GAME:

Explain to students, matchmaking is a process of making a match of an unmarried man and woman by a matchmaker, which is a common way of choosing a spouse in ancient China and other Asian cultures. The traditional Chinese wedding is much involved with "matchmaker", or in other words, marriage introducer. In Zhou Dynasty several thousand years ago, the post of "official matchmaker" was set up for management of marriage, supervising and urging young people old enough to marry or widows and widowers to marry. Later, the meaning of "matchmaker" extended to all persons or events that act as a go-between of marriage between two families.

Today matchmaking is still seen as the proper way to marry by the older generation. You will find that parents will trade a person’s resume and will compare it to their child’s to determine if it is a good match. However, there has been given more freedom, from one generation to another, of individual choice to choose a partner.

Tell students they are going to play a game called “Matchmaker”.

(Game included with purchase)

ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY

Examine the Fu Xuan Woman Poem by Arthur Waley in how it relates to the role of women in Asia.

Have students work in groups of two to read and examine the poem Fu Xuan Woman. Provide each student with a Question for Thought Activity Sheet (Included). Give students 15 minutes to read and examine the poem, also attempting to answer the Questions for Thought.

Review the answers with the students:

1. What are some key words used to describe women of ancient China?

2. In lines 3-4, to what are boys compared?

3. What do lines 7 & 8 express about how girls are looked upon by families?

4. What does the Fu Xuan’s poem depict about the life and status of women in ancient China?

5. In what ways do the roles of women today differ from the images expressed in this poem?

CLOSURE / EVALUATION: (30 Minutes)

Provide each student with wrap-up activity sheet of a female from one of the countries studied. They are to write a letter to the female expressing his/her feelings and thoughts regarding the roles and status of women in that country, as well as celebrating how the roles and status of women within the country has improved. In addition, have each student express how he/she feels women’s roles will change in the future. Allow for follow-up discussion.

Teacher’s Guiding Questions:

1. What was life like for Asian women in the past?

2. What is life like for them today?

3. Do you think much has changed in the roles and statuses of women in Asia?

4. Based on what you know about women in Asia, what do you predict will be the future of these women?

5. What do you think needs to be done to improve the situations of women in Asia?

6. Many of these beliefs we discussed have been passed on from generation to generation as it has been a cultural issue. Do you think those in the culture are willing to change and allow more rights for women?

7. Who would like to read their letter to the class? (Instructor: you may offer extra points for presentation)

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Permissions are given to the purchaser to made modifications to the game board using the Word document provided in the zip fie. No other modifications may be made to this document

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