Starting a unit or lesson with the key vocabulary that students will see in their readings or presentations aids in overall comprehension and retention. In this activity, students will create a storyboard that defines and illustrates key vocabulary related to Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr.
Students will preview the terms and definitions and use whole class or small group discussion to demonstrate their understanding of each meaning. This can be done at the beginning of each chapter so that students can preview what they will read or teachers could decide to do at the end of a chapter as an assessment. When students define and illustrate each term, they master the application of it and retain it as part of their lexicon.
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Due Date:
Objective: Create a spider map that defines and illustrates new vocabulary from Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.
Student Instructions:
Requirements: Must have 3 terms, correct definitions, and appropriate illustrations for each that demonstrate your understanding of the words.
Provide students with simple definitions and explanations of the foreign vocabulary present in the story. For pronunciation practice, encourage the students to repeat after you. Teachers can also play videos and interactive games in class for students to understand and retain the word and its pronunciation.
Describe the language that the words were originally written in. What does it mean? Where does it come from? In addition, you can discuss any parallels or contrasts between that language and English. Ask the students to analyze the significance of the word in the culture and in the story.
Reasons for the author's use of vocabulary from other languages should be discussed in order to understand the significance of the vocabulary in the story. Teachers can ask questions such as What do these words accomplish for the narrative? In what ways do they add to the story's cultural tapestry? Or if the story would have been the same had the author used any other vocabulary.
Students can play multiple vocabulary-related games and conduct interactive activities such as making vocabulary flashcards, doing vocabulary comparisons, acting out words, or playing word charades. These exercises will make the lectures more interesting and give the students flexibility to learn on their own terms.
Encourage the students to reflect on all the knowledge they have gained so far and summarize it into a few points. This will help reinforce the concept and retain important information. Students can also clear up any confusion or provide input regarding any activities they would like to perform to improve their learning pace.
Students can learn much better and retain a lot more if any form of visuals is added to their lesson plans. Seeing the things themselves helps the information to be there for a longer time than usual. Students can also understand many complex ideas and concepts with the help of visual vocabulary which results in a better understanding of the overall narrative.
Origami cranes, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, traditional Japanese garb including kimonos, hospital settings, and pictures of Sadako's voyage are just a few of the story's important visual components. Students feel more familiar with Japanese culture after imagining these visuals while reading the story.