Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Chinese Lesson Plan NCTA ...

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Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Chinese Lesson Plan

NCTA East Asian Seminar

Winter Quarter, 2006

Deborah W. Robinson

Purpose:

The reeducation campaign during the Cultural Revolution in China used many strategies

(e.g., removing educated youth to the countryside for hard labor, banning books) to

maintain government control over the people.

Essential Questions

:

1. How would you feel if you were sent away from home by your government?

2. How do humans try to make the best of a bad situation?

3. How do governments try to control morality through laws?

4. Is it ever okay to break the law?

5. When are books seen as good things and when are they perceived as troublesome?

Rationale

:

Adults often discuss universal themes such as coming of age, love, and overcoming

hardships in book clubs. Using literature in the classroom allows students to enjoy

reading in the same manner and to expand their preconceived, facts-only view of other

peoples and cultures.

Materials

:

1.

Copies of the book,

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

, by Dai Sijie.

2.

Graphic organizer to jot down notes while reading.

3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Use the following key words in the search

engine: Cultural Revolution, reeducation in China, and Dai Sijie.

4

The chapter entitled “China Since 1945,” in

East Asia: A New Histor

y, by Rhoads

Murphey (2004). Pearson Education.

5. Discussion questions prepared by Anchor Books.

6. The movie “The Little Chinese Seamstress” (2003). Available through Media Asia.

Activities

:

Have students read Part I of

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

and fill out the

graphic organizer as they read. (For slower readers, you may wish to assign roles for the

assessment ahead of time so that students may focus on details related to just their own

character.)

After completing Part I, have students access Wikipedia online and use the key words

above to research the reeducation campaign during the Cultural Revolution. Assign

subtopics, such as Four Olds or Four Old Things, Mao Zedong, Red Guards, and Dai

Sijie to groups of three or four students. Also assign the reading, “China Since 1945.” (If

you do not have the book, any history book or general Web search will yield other

materials.) Allow one or two class periods to complete the research or a combination of

class time and homework.