THE MOUSE’S MARRIAGE

A unit of work created by Jane Liauw, Sue Payne, Andrea Truckenbrodt and Kelly Vimpani

Illustrated by Makoto Hirabayashi

Introduction

The Mouse’s Marriage is a well-known traditional Japanese folktale. It is the frame for a unit of work that will provide students with the opportunity to: increase their receptive and productive use of Japanese;

develop their understandings of literacy particularly the narrative form and the use of comprehension strategies to gain meaning from text;

explore the celebration of weddings from an intercultural perspective and historic perspective.

We use an inquiry-based approach to investigate and develop students’ understandings of Australian, Japanese and any other relevant cultural groups’ wedding ceremonies. We reinforce the use of comprehension strategies to gain meaning from text and build students’ capacity to read and write hiragana characters and two kanji characters.This unit of work is intended for students in Year 3 and 4 who have already learnt some Japanese. This unit of work potentially reinforces and builds on students’ knowledge of the domains of family, weather and animals. It links in with the Year 3 Australian Curriculum History Content descriptions which focus on celebrations and commemorations around the world and an example of daily life that has changed or remained continuous over time. There is also the potential to investigate the location of weddings from a geographical perspective. Finally, within in the Literature sub-strand of the Australian Curriculum English, there is an opportunity to compare the characters, themes and settings of The Mouse’s Marriage with Robert Munsch’s The Paperbag Princess. Alternatively you might like to compare the Aboriginal legend of The Three Sisters with the Japanese traditional tale. Given the generally small time-allocation of Languages and the richness of this unit of work, a good option would be to collaborate with the classroom teacher to share the teaching.  

Goals

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Unless otherwise stated, the objectives listed here refer to Japanese. Students will:

read some family words: おかあさん/お母さん (Mother), おとうさん/お父さん (Father), むすめ (daughter), かぞく(family), むすこ(son);

identify and name 10 hiragana characters (か、き、く、け、こ、 あ、も、い、つ、ね) and use the initial letter/sound strategy to predict the meaning of familiar words from the text;

write the characters in the ka line of the hiragana chart independently か、き、く、け、こ;

read and write the kanji for 父 (father) and 母 (mother)

recognise ‘little tsu’ つ and its impact on the pronunciation of words, e.g. もっと (motto);

use the following adjectives: strong つよい/weak よわい, pretty きれい/not pretty きれいじゃない, happy うれしい/sad かなしい to describe people and objects;

make comparisons between different objects and/or people using motto もっと + adjective and ichiban いちばん + adjective;

create their own little book describing and comparing objects of people of their choice;

understand some key vocabulary related to weddings including groom はなむこ, bride はなよめ, marry けっこんします, wedding けっこんしき;

participate in a role-play game requiring students to ask ‘Will you marry me?’ けっこんしてください and decline (Thank-you, but) ありがとう, でも。。。。or accept in a culturally-appropriate way; はい。

use their previous knowledge of Japanese and key new words (e.g. sun おひさま, cloud くも, wind かぜ, wall かべ etc.), as well as visual and contextual clues to understand the story The Mouse’s Marriage;

perform their own version of The Mouse’s Marriage using puppets;

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identify similarities and differences between Japanese and Australian traditional tales (in English);

pose questions to investigate about weddings in Japan and Australia (in English);

notice that some aspects of weddings in both Japan and Australia have changed over time and some have remained the same (in English

sing けっこんしてうださいのうた (Please Marry Me song).

Some students may be able to:

sing ねずみのよめいりのうた (The Mouse’s Marriage song by Sue Payne) independently

use additional vocabulary (e.g. son, bride)

read and write all of the focus hiragana (initial sounds) and some key vocabulary

complete an inferential reading activity about the characters from the story

read the text independently

use comparatives and superlatives with previously learned adjectives

write comparative and superlative sentences

How these materials are organised

The Introduction describes the unit of work in general terms and explores potential links with different areas of the Australian Curriculum (English, History and Geography) as well as many of the general capabilities and two of the cross curricular capabilities.

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The Resources section is a checklist of all of the materials identified in the Learning Activities section. We distinguish between two types of resources (T) and (S). Those resources that are predominately for teacher use such as flashcards are designated teacher resources (T). Student sheets (S) generally require no further modification and are completed by the students. The number of the resource corresponds with the learning activity where it is first described, e.g. T2.0.Objectives are the learning outcomes (skills and understandings) that students should achieve through participation in the described learning activities. We provide additional learning outcomes for students performing above the expected level. The Learning Activities section is the key part of this unit of work. It describes what and how the teachers could teach the unit. However, it is not intended to be prescriptive. Teachers are free to sequence the material as appropriate to their learners and to add or omit activities depending on the level of prior knowledge of their learners.We detail explicit teaching phases and provide different tools for reinforcing and consolidating students’ knowledge and skills. Formative and summative assessment tools are suggested at different points in the learning activities. Where possible alternative resources are included in order to provide differentiated learning opportunities to support or extend students’ learning. There are five sub-sections in the Learning Activities section. The sections are not presented in order; learning activities related to a pedagogic goal (e.g. tuning in phase, teaching the text) are grouped together. Teachers will organize and sequence activities from the different sub-sections to ensure maximum student engagement and learning. A Reference List is provided for paper-based and digital resources referred to in the teachers’ notes. The Appendix contains a list of all of the key vocabulary students will encounter in this unit of work.

Resources

The storybook and all resource files are provided on the WIKI; www.nezuminoyomeiri.wikispaces.com in both PDF form and Publisher files. The original Publisher files are for those who would like to modify the content to better meet the needs of their students.

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Student Resources

S2.0 Kagyou Handwriting Booklet S3.5 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives Worksheets S4.3 Story Structure Flowchart S4.8 Puppet Show Script S5.2 Please Marry Me Song Worksheet S5.3 Hello Kitty Bride and Groom S5.6 Family Tree Photo Frames S5.8 Kagyou Origami Mini Book S5.41 Mouse’s Marriage Family Puzzle S5.42 Mouse’s Marriage Character Puzzle

Teacher Resources

Character Picture Cards T1.2 Australia Japan Weddings Venn Diagram Template T1.3 Wedding Vocabulary Word Cards T2.0 Mouse’s Marriage Hiragana Assessment Record T2.01 Hiragana Writing Certificate K line T3.1 Adjectives Picture Flashcards T3.2 Adjectives Word Flashcards T3.4 Motto and Ichiban Teaching Cards T3.21 Adjectives Memory T4.1 Picture Cards for Predicting Text T4.5 The Mouse’s Marriage Modified Storybook T4.7 Speech Bubbles Matching Activity T 5.1 Please Marry Me Song T 5.6 Family Tree Photo Frames

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T 5.51 Character Word Bingo T5.52 Character Picture Bingo

Learning Activities

1.0 Tuning in phase

The first goal of this stage of the unit is to introduce the topic to the students and to elicit any prior knowledge or experience they have of weddings. From a language perspective, the teacher needs to introduce some of the main vocabulary related to weddings to facilitate greater use of Japanese to discuss the intercultural aspects of the topic and to pre-teach some of the key vocabulary necessary to understand the story of The Mouse’s Marriage.1.1 Using a combination of real props if available, photos and clips from YouTube, show students images of Australian weddings. By using a

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combination of traditional and modern wedding scenes, the students can identify elements that have changed over time or have stayed the same.Use one of the following thinking routines from the Artful Thinking Approach (http://www.pzartfulthinking.org/routines.php) to encourage students to closely observe and notice features of the materials:

The Elaboration Game; See – I Think – I Wonder;Beginning, Middle or End;Looking 10 x 2.

1.2 Repeat the process using Japanese wedding scenes. Use a Venn diagram (T1.2) to record aspects of a Japanese wedding and an Australian wedding to identify similarities and differences. 1.3 Use word cards of the key vocabulary (T1.3) to teach students words such as wedding, bride, groom. Ask simple questions in Japanese about a wedding scene such as:Who is the bride? (a student could come and point out the bride in the picture)はなよめはだれですか。

o Who is the mother?お母さんはだれですか。o What colour is the dress?ドレスは何いろですか。o Who is this? (the groom)はなむこはだれですか。o Is the wedding in Japan or in Australia?このけっこんしきは日本です

か。オーストラリアですか。

1.4 Use the 5Ws and How frame (Either google 5Ws and How or follow this link to an example of this graphic organizerhttp://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ce/66/ae/ce66ae6e54647c3b02553b30371521d4.jpg) to elicit inquiry questions about weddings in Australia and Japan using English. For example:

Who attends weddings? What are weddings? What do people wear? Why do people wear special clothes? When are weddings held? When do people get married? Where do weddings take place? Why do people have weddings?

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How do people choose a partner?1.5 Discuss the questions with the class and what sources of information they can use to investigate these questions. This topic lends itself to having guest speakers, viewing wedding DVDs and photos as well as students interviewing their parents or grandparents.Students may also be familiar with the practices related to weddings of other cultural groups and they should be encouraged to share this knowledge with the class.

2.0 Hiragana focus

This unit of work is intended to be a term’s work. Each week students focus on one new hiragana as well as revising previously learnt hiragana. The correct stroke order is taught and students practise reading and writing each character. We have selected the first character of each of the key words from the text and use these words as a context for learning the character, e.g. お for おかあさん (mother). (T2.0) is a teacher reference sheet to record students’ acquisition of the target characters.Having Fun with Hiragana by Lisa Baker contains many different non-paper based activities teachers can use to teach, reinforce and revise students’ hiragana knowledge. We recommend that a variety of hands-on learning activities are used to practise the hiragana and vocabulary of this unit of work.We have created a writing practice booklet (S2.0). It includes individual practice sheets for each of the ka line characters and for the two focus kanji: 父 and 母 as well as summary practice sheets. Obviously materials can be omitted or added to as appropriate.It is envisaged that students will do some reading and writing practice each lesson. If possible, practising the focus character should be part of the students’ weekly spelling words for English and/or Japanese homework.We have also included a certificate master (T2.01) for students who can independently and correctly read and write the ka か line of the hiragana chart. This is a piece of summative assessment.3.0 Preparatory phase

The purpose of the learning activities described in this section is to provide students with knowledge of the key grammatical structures and vocabulary necessary to understand the Mouse’s Marriage text.

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Students need to know the main characters (nouns), their qualities (adjectives), comparatives and superlatives and the question: ‘Will you marry my daughter?’. In this preparatory phase we focus on the adjectives in the story, and explore making comparisons in Japanese using both this new vocabulary and any previously learnt adjectives.

3.1 Introduce and reinforce the six focus adjectives: つよい、よわい、きれい、きれいじゃない、うれしい、かなしい (T3.1) orally using pictures and/or gestures. Games like ‘Simon says’ and ‘Charades’ work well.3.2 Introduce the written form of the words (T3.2), focusing on the initial character and its sound. Play games like ‘Memory’ (T3.21) and the はえたたき game to reinforce students’ recognition of the words.

3.3 Introduce the term ‘adjective’ けいようし and discuss its function. The picture story book Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What is an adjective is a short and effective way of exploring adjectives. Brainstorm with the class and collect all of the adjectives students have learnt in the past in Japanese (e.g. colours, big/small, delicious, hungry etc.).3.4 Bring in objects or pictures to illustrate the comparative.

For example:

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Read two sentence cards with the students (T3.4): happy うれしいです and happier もっとうれしいです. Discuss the meaning of ‘motto’もっと. Match the word cards to the images or objects.Repeat the process using the other focus adjectives until students can predict the correct comparative form themselves. You will need to make your own cards based on (T3.4) or use realia.Draw students attention to the ‘little tsu’ and explain its function. Practise saying motto もっと.3.5 Repeat the activities described in 3.4 using the superlative form. This activity could be done as a class or in small groups with sets of work cards.

Students complete Worksheet S3.5 to practise both the comparative and superlative form.

Create your own worksheet using a combination of focus adjectives from this unit in various forms (particularly strong) and other adjectives previously encountered by your class. 3.6 Model the making of a comparisons booklet. Fold a landscape sheet of A4 paper into thirds. Draw a picture of something ‘strong’ on the front, first page. Write ‘つよい’ underneath. Open the flap and draw an image for ‘stronger’ and write the words もっとつよい. Open this flap to reveal the full A4 page. Draw an image of ‘strongest’ and write ‘いちばんつよい’ underneath. The text size could increase each time to illustrate the principle.Students then make their own booklets using any adjective they know.

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Depending on students’ language level, it may be appropriate for students to write a descriptive sentence under each image. For example: I am strong. My brother is stronger. My Dad is the strongest.

Each student shares their booklet with the class. This could be an oral and/or written assessment task.

4.0 Teaching the text The Mouse’s Marriage

Revisit the inquiry question of how people choose a husband or a wife. Explain that there are traditional tales that explore this question and ask students if they know any relevant tales (e.g. Cinderella - the prince chooses his bride based on her foot size). 4.1 Show the class pictures from (T4.1). Revise the vocabulary ‘bride’, ‘groom’, ‘wedding’, ‘mother’ and ‘father’. If necessary, introduce and reinforce any unfamiliar nouns from the story The Mouse’s Marriage: ‘cloud’ くも, ‘sun’ おひさま ‘mouse’ ねずみ, ‘wind’ かぜ and ‘wall’ かべ. Explain to the students that the pictures and words all come from a story they are going to read. Ask the students to predict the storyline based on the pictures. The teacher uses the students’ ideas to retell their story using a combination of English and Japanese as appropriate. Tell the class they are going to find out how accurate their prediction was. 4.2 Use props (e.g. laminated cut-outs, apron story available from Sankyo Global; email Keiko-san at info@sankyoglobal.com.au) to tell the story of The Mouse’s Marriage in simple Japanese based on the text. The goal here is for students to get the basic gist of the story. Discuss the inquiry question about choosing a partner in light of this story.4.3 In the next steps, students refine their understanding of the plot of the text. Using the illustrations from The Mouse’s Marriage story book (T4.5) discuss each picture with the class, asking students to name people and objects, describe them etc. As a class, guess the order of the pictures. You then read the actual text to the class and determine if their predictions were correct.4.4 Distribute Worksheet S4.3. Students draw scenes from the beginning, middle and end of the story. Students share one of their pictures with the class. You scaffold the language so that they can describe the scene in Japanese. Some students may be able to label their pictures or write a simple sentence under each picture.

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4.5 Read the story together with the students using the PowerPoint (T4.5) or Flipsnack, version of the text, so that students can follow the text with you. You could also use the PDF version of T4.5 to make a big book.4.6 Build students confidence in reading the Japanese text using techniques such as: choral reading (the whole class or parts of the class read together);

shared reading (you read some of the text and nominate other students to continue or help you out with a ‘tricky’ word;

cloze activity: leave out strategic words for students to guess;

ask students to come to the front and find key words and explain their strategy for identifying the word;

reproduce the text on sentence strips and have students order them according to the plot of the story. Re-read the story to check the accuracy of the ordering;

distribute cards made from each page of the story. Distribute one card to each pair of students. The students read the text on their card and then put themselves in order according to their recollection of the text. Each pair reads their page’s text aloud and the class determines if the order is correct;

write a key sentence from the text onto card and then cut up the words and punctuation. Re-order the sentence with the students. You may want to re-do this activity in which groups or pairs of students have different sentences to unjumble.

4.7 Students then complete Activity T4.7 in which they match the speech bubbles with the correct character. This could be done at two levels. One version could mirror the actual text and a second version could involve students inferring what the characters might have said.4.8 Students act out a simplified version of the play (S4.8) in groups either in person or using icy pole stick or origami puppets. Some students may wish to make their own version of the story. This task could be an oral assessment task.

5.0 Enrichment phase

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During this phase the teacher provides additional activities to consolidate knowledge of the focus vocabulary and structures from the story and to practise students’ Japanese and general literacy skills.5.1 Teach the Mouse’s Marriage (T5.1) song with gestures for each line. Find a context for students to perform the song such as assembly or for a younger class.5.2 Students complete Worksheet S5.2. They sing and read the song text and highlight all the か、き、く、け、こ and illustrate each verse in the boxes provided.

5.3 Teach the students the question: ‘Will you marry me?’けっこんしてください and the answers ‘Thank you but …’ ありがとう、でも。。。and ‘Yes’ はい. Discuss the preference of most Japanese people to avoid saying no. Ask for volunteer students to role-play a marriage proposal scenario. Play the ‘Proposal Game’ which is a variation of ‘Doggy, doggy, who’s got the bone?’. The children sit in a circle. One child leaves the room for a short time. One of the remaining children is selected to be the bride or groom. The child outside is called into the room and stands in the centre of the circle. This child chooses someone, greets them and then asks ‘Will you marry me?’けっこんしてください. The nominated child answers ‘Thank-you, but..’ありがとう、でも。。。 unless they are the chosen bride or groom. The child in the middle has three chances to guess their prospective bride or groom. If he or she is unable to find their future partner, they kneel on the floor with their eyes closed and the bride or groom stands up and says ‘I am the bride/groom’ わたしははなむこ or はなよめです and the child has one last chance to guess the identity of their future spouse. If a correct guess is made, the rest of the class says ‘Congratulations’ おめでとう!It is helpful to keep a record of which students have had an opportunity to be a bride or groom. The Hello Kitty bride and groom pictures (T5.3) can be made into cards for the turn-takers to hold as appropriate. That is, the child playing the bride could hold the bride card and the one who is the groom could hold the groom card.5.4 Students complete puzzles S5.41, S5.42 and S5.43 in which they match pictures of the key vocabulary items with the words (sun, wall, cloud, wind, bride, groom, wedding, father, mother, son, daughter, mouse).5.5 Play bingo for reinforcement of key vocabulary from the story. T5.51 has 30 bingo boards containing the character names written in Hiragana while T5.52 uses pictures of the characters.

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5.6 Students complete a mini (parents and student) family tree worksheet (S5.6) by drawing and labeling the relevant family members. T5.6 is a completed example for the teacher to use to demonstrate the activity.5.7 Using English word cards of the key features of a narrative (orientation, initiating event, complications, resolution) ask students to order the cards correctly. Ask the students whether they think the Japanese traditional tale of The Mouse’s Marriage ‘fits’ this pattern. Analyse the story and record the students’ answers on the board.5.8 Students use the Kagyou Origami Mini Book (S5.8) to practise writing some focus vocabulary. They may also add other words to each page beginning with the same sound.

5.9 Read The Paperbag Princess to the class and ask them to identify the similarities and differences with The Mouse’s Marriage. 5.10 Alternatively, show the students a photo of the Three Sisters mountains in New South Wales (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Blue_mountains_-_three_sisters.jpg) and retell one Aboriginal legend about their origin (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Australia)Compare the two traditional tales, identifying similarities and differences, noting any unique cultural features.

6.0 Concluding phase

Before concluding this unit of work, it is important to revisit the inquiry questions and identify any new insights gained. Students might be asked to list at least five things they have learnt about Australian and Japanese weddings. It is also important for students to reflect on what new language they have learnt.

References:

Barker, L. 2004.    Having Fun with Hiragana. South Yarra: AISV.     PDF files of this book can be downloaded from http://www.is.vic.edu.au/teachers/learning/lote-resources.htm#japaneseCleary, B. P. Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What is an adjective? 2001. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press.

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http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/teaching-adjectives.htmlLists picture story books that are good to teach adjectivesMunsch, R. 1980.    The Paperbag Princess. Buffalo, NY: Annick Press.The picture on the front cover of this unit is from  http://kimono-life.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/book-scan-nezumi-no-yomeiri.html

Taguchi, M. 2003. Ohisama Connect. Mingei Australia

Appendix: List of Key Vocabulary

Nouns

ねずみ mouse

お母さん mother

お父さん father

かべ wall

かぜ wind

おひさま sun

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むすめ daughter

むすこ son

はなよめ bride

はなむこ groom

けっこんしき wedding

かぞく familyGrammar

もっと more/comparative

いちばん number one/superlative

ください verb-て+ください

Adjectives

つよい strong

よわい weak

きれい beautiful

きれいじゃない not beautiful

うれしい happy

かなしい sadVerbs

けっこんします to marry

けっこんしました got married

たべました ateMiscellaneous

ありがとう thank you

でも but

はい yes

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