How My Parents Learned to Eat
by
Ina Friedman

Materials Needed

You will need the following materials to complete this lesson:

Before You Read
 

Before you begin reading How My Parents Learned to Eat, choose one of the following activities to complete:
 

1.    In this story, two people from different cultures learn about each others' eating habits.  Draw pictures of three meals you might have for dinner at your favorite restaurants.  Make a list describing what is in your drawings.  Next visit the Kids' Window web site to see a list of the kinds of foods people in Japan might eat. Make a new drawing of a typical meal that would be eaten in Japan.  Do Japanese people eat the same kinds of foods as Americans do?

2.    This story takes place in Japan.  Visit the Kid's Web Japan site to see where Yokohama, Japan is located.  Then visit another site to see what a kimono looks like.  Finally, visit the Talking Chopsticks site to learn about chopsticks and how Japanese people eat their food.  Print out the worksheet and draw what you find.
 

While You Read
 

While you read the story, make a list of any Japanese vocabulary words.  Beside each word on your list, write a definition of the word, and make up a sentence using your new word.  You may use the dictionary to check the meanings of your words.  Make your list like this:
 

Chopsticks - Chopsticks are pieces of wood that look like sticks. Japanese people use them to eat.

  • Her mother said, "Use your chopsticks to finish eating the rest of your rice."


After You Read
 

After you read the story, choose one of the following activities to complete:
 

1.    Do some research to find out how your parents, grandparents, or family friends met.  Where did they meet?  What was the first activity they shared together?  Were there any family customs that were different among the two families?  Interview your parents, grandparents or family friends and fill out the interview guide.  Compare the experiences of the people you interview to those of John and Aiko in the story.

2.    Think about how you eat a meal.  Where do you sit?  What do you eat with?  What foods do you usually eat?  What do you drink?  What do you talk about while you eat? Do you start your meal with a prayer?  What do you say when you are finished?  With whom do you eat?  Visit the Japanese Cookbook site to learn about Japanese meals and food.  Then fill out a Venn diagram by comparing and contrasting what is the same and different about Japanese meals and American meals.

3.    Think of a question about Japan that you have.  Visit the AskAsia site and ask your question.


Beyond What You Read
 

Choose one of the following activities to complete:
 

1.    Japanese writing is a type of calligraphy.  Visit the Shodo site and try writing some Japanese calligraphy.

2.    In Japan, one form of art is called origami.  Visit the Let's Try Origami site to learn how to make a few origami figures out of paper.


About What You Read and Did
 

After you have turned in all the activities for this book, you will be graded using the following rubric:
 

 

3 Points

2 Points

1 Point

Understanding

All activities show in-depth understanding of the story ideas, content, plot, and themes Activities show some understanding of the story ideas, content, plot, and themes Activities show little understanding of the story ideas, content, plot, and themes

Completeness

All activities show that directions were followed and are complete Some activities show that directions were followed and are complete Directions for activities were not followed and were incomplete

Format

Most spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct.  Complete sentences are used and work is neat. Some spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct.  Complete sentences are used and work is mostly neat. Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is not correct.  Complete sentences are not used and work is not neat.

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