Grade 12: Understanding Culture and Society

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

• examine characteristics relating to Chinese customs and traditions
• demonstrate cultural sensitivity in everyday situations through appropriate behaviour and language
• examine cultural content in Chinese-language resources

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Understanding Culture and Society in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Have students participate in a guided tour of a local Chinese community, then compile and present reports of its history.
• Suggest that students work in pairs to research the spread of Buddhism in China and Southeast Asia and identify some of its influences on Chinese and other cultures.
• Have students in groups design orientation programs to welcome and mentor new students arriving at the school from other countries. Work with students to define task requirements (e.g., length, format, required content).
• Ask students to use a variety of resources to investigate and identify examples of cultural bias, then discuss findings as a class.
• Encourage cultural sensitivity by introducing a cultural simulation game and then initiating a class discussion. As an extension, students could interview new immigrant families about their experiences in a new culture and how individuals and the community could make these families feel welcome.
• Introduce and read to the class excerpts from works by famous Chinese writers and poets. Students identify which selections they prefer and give reasons for their choices.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• Ask students to create webs, charts, maps, or home pages to show some of the key Chinese customs, people, and events that have influenced them personally. Have them meet with partners or in small groups to share their work and talk about how these influences may have affected them. As a follow-up, suggest that students each write a short paragraph about key cultural influences in their own lives and how these have affected them. Look for evidence that their paragraphs demonstrate:
  • insight into who and what has influenced them
  • awareness of the role cultural influences have played in shaping their experiences, values, and beliefs
• Ask students to set aside sections of their notebooks to record, in English, opportunities for demonstrating cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity. Provide a few minutes each week for students to write about such experiences, events, or interactions. They should include in their records:
  • the cultures, activities, or issues involved
  • short summaries of the interactions or events
  • analyses of their own behaviour that includes what they did and said that demonstrated cultural sensitivity, how they felt, and other appropriate actions or words they could have used, if any
  • conclusions about the level of sensitivity they showed
  From time to time, have students review, share, and summarize their records in Chinese or English.

• Coming to Gum San
• Favourite Folktales of China
• A Little Tiger in the Chinese Night
• Mooncakes and Hungry Ghosts
• Notes on Things Chinese
• Old Tales of China
• Taiwan Today

• Beyond Golden Mountain
• Childhood of Wang Mian
• China's Cosmopolitan Age
• The Dragon's Tongue Series
• Introduction to Traditional Chinese Beliefs
• Moving the Mountain
• Pandas in the Wild
• Peter Ustinov in China: Part One - Beijing To Tibet
• Peter Ustinov in China: Part Two - Tibet To Hong Kong

• Chinese Folk Songs
• Chinese Mandarin Resource Book - Volumes 1, 2, and 3
• The Chinese People
• Hanyu (Revised Edition)
• Out of the East Horizon
• Zhongguotong

• BaFa' BaFa' - A Cross Cultural Simulation

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