This document provides a lesson plan for teaching students about the cultures of children around the world. Students will research the roles and lives of children in four different cultures. They will then participate in a panel discussion where each student represents a different culture. The lesson involves using reference materials to research cultures, participating in a moderated panel discussion, and providing peer evaluations of panel performances. The goal is for students to understand how the privileges and responsibilities of childhood vary across cultures.

1. Candice, Blanca, Maria, Shani
Grade 3rd
Cultures of children around the world
Objectives
Students will understand the following:
1. The privileges and responsibilities of childhood vary from culture to culture.
Materials
For this lesson, you will need:
• Trade books and reference materials (including online sources) about children in
at least four cultures outside the United States
• Computer with Internet access
Procedures
1. Once easier to define, the term family is now a challenging concept in the United
States, where families take many forms. Given globalization, the term family will
undoubtedly need further clarification as cultures around the world experience one
another up close. Tell students that you want them to research one aspect of family—
the role of children—in a variety of cultures outside the United States.
2. With a world map available as a resource, ask students, "If you could look at any
part of the world, where would you want to go to learn about the role of children?" The
four parts of the world covered in the documentary People around the World are
river towns on the Nile,
a rain forest in South America,
a Tibetan plateau, and
a Bangladesh rice farm.
However, you may feel free to have your students range further afield or stay closer to
home in studying children in other cultures.
3. Before setting students loose on reference materials, determine the things they
are particularly interested in learning about their peers in other parts of the world so that
they can focus their research. Here are some questions students may want to
concentrate on:
What kind of and how much education do children in the other culture get?
In what kind of home do the children live?
What, if any, high-tech tools do children have?
What kind of work are children expected to do to help the family?
4. Go over with students the trade books, reference books, and Web sites you have
identified for them to explore, depending on which culture they are investigating.
5. Teach students the rudiments of research:
Writing down the name of the source that provides information
Looking for facts and opinions that answer their research questions
Writing down in one's own words facts and opinions from the source
6. Let students who are investigating the same culture work together, learning, first,
to share reference materials and responsibilities and, then, to share findings.

2. 7. Ask each group to select one student to represent it in a panel discussion on
children around the world, for which you will be the moderator.
8. Go over the basics of panel discussions:
The panel is made up of experts on a preselected topic.
The discussion consists mostly of responses by the members of the panel to questions
and comments from a moderator and from other members of the panel.
The questions can ask for facts or opinions.
9. Ask students what they think the moderator's responsibilities are. Explain the
responsibilities as follows, if necessary, so that students will understand why you, as
moderator, do what you do:
Setting up the room or auditorium to make discussion easy and to help the audience
hear questions and responses
Explaining why the panel has been brought together
Introducing each member of the panel (There should be a name tent, or placard, for
each panelist to sit behind.)
Clearly stating each question, directing it to the panel at large or to one individual, then
giving other members of the panel a chance to respond
Calling on panelists who indicate they have questions for one another
Noting for the audience what points panelists seem to agree on and what points they
seem to disagree on
Watching the time and eliminating some planned questions if necessary
Opening the floor to questions from the audience
Summing up the discussion and thanking participants and audience members
10. Go on to elicit or state the responsibilities of each member on the panel of child
experts, as follows:
Becoming very familiar with the details of how children are raised and what their
responsibilities are in a specific culture by doing research in primary and secondary
sources
Preparing to respond to the overarching topic of the panel—the role of children in a
given culture
Contributing to the discussion by listening actively and indicating that he or she has
questions or comments about what another member has said
Giving copanelists time to respond; that is, not monopolizing the discussion
11. Proceed with the panel discussion. See "Evaluation," regarding a postmortem on
the strengths and weaknesses of the participants.
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Adaptations
You will need to identify pictorial sources to use when asking students to describe
childhood in other cultures.
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Discussion Questions
1. How do the geography and seasons of the regions studied affect children's lives
there?
2. In general, what do you think of the jobs the children in the regions studied have
to do? Debate whether or not the way the jobs are divided among the boys and girls in
the regions studied is fair.
3. Compare and contrast your pets to the kind of pets children elsewhere in the
world have.
4. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of living in a modern versus remote
culture. Can people really be happy in either culture?
5. How would you go about modernizing the culture of the regions studied if the
people were receptive to the idea?

3. 6. How do children in other parts of the world show respect for their elders?
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Evaluation
With the students who will be in the audience for the panel discussion, consider
developing an evaluation chart that they can each use to rate each participant. Qualities
on which participants might be rated include the following:
Familiarity with details of the culture under investigation
Clear, easy-to-hear speaking skills
Level of participation
Quality of questions asked of other panelists
You may suggest that students use symbols to indicate how a participant performs on
each measure—perhaps "+" for "good," "?" for "poor," and "*" for "excellent."
Collect the evaluation sheets. Review them, keeping your own evaluations of each
student in mind. Meet with each participant individually to discuss the strengths and
weaknesses.
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Extensions
Playtime
Ask students to create original games they might play if they lived in an isolated part of
the world. Have students use materials on hand for props or equipment and teach the
game to their classmates or to students in another class.
Public Opinion
Lead students through the process of polling people of various ages to determine their
feelings and thoughts about children in their cultures.
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Suggested Readings
A is for Africa
Ifeoma Onyefula, Cobblehill Books, 1993
This Nigerian author's book of words and pictures shows us the many faces and worlds
of African people.
Africa (Eyewitness Books)
Yvonne Ayo, Dorling Kindersley Books, 1995
Beautiful illustrations and brief descriptions describe life in Africa. Read about the social
life and customs, history, clothes, myths, medicine, houses, musical instruments, and
food of Africa.
Welcome to the Green House: a Story of the Tropical Rainforest
Jane Yolen, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1993
Read a description of the tropical rainforest and the life found there: animals, birds, fish,
flora and fauna. Look at the beautiful pictures of this amazing world.
Buddhism (World Religions series)
Catherine Hewitt, Thomson Learning, 1995
This book describes the history and explains the beliefs and practices of Buddhism.
Buddha
Susan L. Roth, Doubleday Book for Young Readers, 1994

4. This folktale tells the story of how Siddhartha became the Buddha, the Enlightened One.
Everybody Cooks Rice
Norah Dooley, Carolrhoda Books, nc., 1991
This wonderful story tells how rice is cooked in many different ways by families from
different cultures. Try the many different recipes given at the end of the story!
Count Your Way Through Africa (through Korea, China, Germany, India, Israel, Italy,
Japan, Mexico, Russia and the Arab world)
Carolrhoda Books, 1987-90
This is a wonderful series of books. In each one, you learn to read and pronounce the
numbers from one through ten in these different languages as you learn about the land
and people of the country.
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Links
Exhibit Of Artifacts
Shows not-so-well-known examples of Egyptian artifacts. The pictures, along with
descriptions, show statues from the Old and New Kingdoms, a loaf of bread, a model
granary and a mummy.
Color Tour Of Egypt
Excellent graphics with descriptions of some of the better known historical sites
associated with ancient Egypt.
Rosetta Stone
This is a delightful quiz for students, studying ancient Egypt, to use as a very simple
self-assessment tool.
Basin Irrigation In Egypt
Provides info on artificial irrigation and has downloadable graphics of feeder canal and
river basins.
Rainforest Facts
A detailed explanation of what the rainforest is, how its products help humanity, and
how it is in danger of extinction.
Insects
Creepy, crawly, disgusting, yucky. Whether the rainforest or the Nile, you will find
insects. This author gives detailed lessons, across the curriculum, on how to teach
about insects.
Tibet Home Page
Gives the viewer a greater knowledge of the tenet of Buddhism, which is the core of
understanding "Mustang."
Shangri-La Home Page
Tibet and the Himalayas are inextricably linked. The images of these peaks, whether
aerial or land views, the bio-diversity of the flora and fauna of the area, show the variety
of life found here.
Mustang: An Exhibition Of Paintings And Photographs

5. Shows the students vivid images of a world that is far removed from theirs. The text of
the article is informative and the graphics, from an exhibit in a museum in Nepal,
enhance the information.
The Children's Literature Web Guide
This Guide can be used across the curriculum by both parents and educators. By
studying fairy tales, as well as traditonal and modern stories, students can compare
their native literature.
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Vocabulary
Click on any of the vocabulary words below to hear them pronounced and used in a
sentence.
ancient
Definition: Of or relating to times long past, especially those before the fall of the
Western Roman Empire (A.D. 476).
Context: That is why Contru Rampache, the old lama, has come here to the ancient
village of Mustang.
biodiversity (audio not available)
Definition: The condition of nature in which a wide variety of species live in a single
area.
Context: For the benefit of generations after us, we should work to maintain biodiversity.
culture (audio not available)
Definition: A group of people who share a way of life, ideas, customs, and traditions.
Context: A group of people who share a way of life, ideas, customs, and traditions.
globalization (audio not available)
Definition: The process by which people all over the world share things and the world
seems smallerica.
Context: By making it easier to communicate, the Internet is leading to globalization.
moderator (audio not available)
Definition: The person who directs the activity of a group of people called together for a
discussion
Context: The success of presidential debates depends on the intelligence and discipline
of the moderator, who asks questions and keeps track of time.
panel (audio not available)
Definition: A group of people chosen to do something such as discuss a topic or judge a
competition.
Context: Everyone on the panel had the same opinions, so the discussion wasn't too
interesting.
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Standards
This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed below. These
standards are drawn from Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and
Benchmarks for K-12 Education: 2nd Edition and have been provided courtesy of
theMid-continent Research for Education and Learningin Aurora, Colorado.

6. Grade level: K-2
Subject area: history
Standard:
Understands selected attributes and historical developments of societies in Africa, the
Americas, Asia, and Europe.
Benchmarks:
Knows the holidays and ceremonies of different societies (e.g., Christmas celebrations
in Scandinavia, Germany, or England; Cinco de Mayo; the Chinese New Year; the
Japanese tea ceremony; harvest and spring festivals).
Grade level: 3-5
Subject area: history
Standard:
Understands family life now and in the past, and family life in various places long ago.
Benchmarks:
Knows the ways that families long ago expressed and transmitted their beliefs and
values through oral tradition, literature, songs, art, religion, community celebrations,
mementos, food, and language (e.g., celebration of national holidays, religious
observances, and ethnic and national traditions; visual arts and crafts; hymns, proverbs,
and songs).
Grade level: 3-5
Subject area: history
Standard:
Understands selected attributes and historical developments of societies.
Benchmarks:
Knows the effects geography has had on the different aspects of societies (e.g., the
development of urban centers, food, clothing, industry, agriculture, shelter, trade).
Grade level: 3-5
Subject area: geography
Standard:
Understands the characteristics and uses of maps, globes and other geographic tools
and technologies.
Benchmarks:
Uses map grids (e.g., latitude and longitude or alphanumeric system) to plot absolute
location.
Grade level: 3-5
Subject area: geography
Standard:
Understands the physical and human characteristics of place.
Benchmarks:
Knows how the characteristics of places are shaped by physical and human processes
(e.g., effects of agriculture in changing land use and vegetation; effects of settlement on
the building of roads; relationship of population distribution to landforms, climate,
vegetation or resources).
Grade level: 3-5
Subject area: geography
Standard:
Understands global development and environmental issues.
Benchmarks:

7. Knows human-induced changes that are taking place in different regions and the
possible future impacts of these changes (e.g., development and conservation issues in
terms of the wetland of coastal New Jersey).
This lesson plan allows for students to discover what other children different cultures are
like. Students will use reference books and web sites to obtain their information. Great
ideas can come from this lesson plan like having students have pen pals from the
countries they are researching. Also, you can have students create a world cultures far
to display to administration and other classmates the cultures they are studying. This
lesson also comes with vocabulary that can be used for the language arts lesson.
This lesson relates to geography because not only are the students studying the varies
locations around the world, they are diving into what the cultures are all about.
Geography deals with the study of people and locations and this is what this lesson
allows students to do.