Middle East: Arab Culture in Proverbs, Poetry, and Folklore

This lesson, created by Shawneen Morrison, illustrates Arab cultural values with a focus on the Arab view of wisdom, honor, and what it means to be a good person. First, students are challenged to identify American (or other cultures’) equivalents of 20 Arab proverbs. This demonstrates areas of shared cultural values and breaks down ethnocentric barriers to facilitate a higher level of analysis for later parts of the lesson where aspects of Arab culture stand in stronger contrast to common Western values systems. Then, students paraphrase and discuss two Arab poems concerning what makes a person worthy of respect. Finally, students read a classic Arab folktale and hypothesize the morals it is intended to teach. This lesson is a fun, student friendly, non-contentious way to contrast Arab and Western cultures.

INCLUDED IN THIS LESSON: • 4 Student Handouts • Additional Teacher Notes and Implementation Suggestions • Answer Keys with Discussion Suggestions • Common Core Alignment

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