Lesson 1 (40 minutes): This is How We Do It Read Aloud
Introduction (10 minutes)
1.Begin by asking students if they know what the word “culture” means.
Write their responses on the board. A working definition of culture for
fourth graders: The beliefs, behaviors, activities, and language shared by a group of people.
2. Show a world map or globe and explain that there are many different cultures
around the world. Each culture has its own unique traditions, food, clothing,
and ways of doing things.
3. Introduce the book This Is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe. Explain that
this book shows how children from different countries live their daily lives.
Some of their habits are similar to ours, and some are different.
Read the book This Is How We Do It aloud or watch the YouTube video (30 minutes)
1.This is a long book, so it may work better to break the read-aloud into two parts.
2.If reading aloud, it is very helpful to memorize the children’s names.
3. As you read, encourage students to pay attention to details about the children’s
lives in different countries. Have them compare the students’ lives in the book
with their own.
4. After reading, have a class discussion about what they learned from the book.
Ask questions such as:
a.What did you find interesting about the children’s lives in different countries?
b.How were their daily routines similar to or different from yours?
c. What traditions or customs did you learn about?
Lesson 2 (30 minutes): Generating ideas about what to ask and what to say :
Generating questions for Taiwan students ( 15 minutes)
1. Explain to students that they will be working in pairs to come up with questions to ask children from another country.
2. Distribute index cards or large sticky notes and ask each pair to write down five questions they would like to ask their friend from Taiwan. Encourage them to think about aspects like food, school, family, and daily activities.
3. Walk around the classroom to assist and guide students in formulating their questions.
4. Collect sticky notes with questions on them.
Generating ideas about what to say about themselves. (15 minutes)
1. Explain to students that they will now be working in pairs to come up with details about their own lives that they think are important to share
2. Distribute index cards or large sticky notes and ask each pair to write down five important details about themselves that they want to share with their buddy. Some of the details should reflect the information that was shared in the book.
3. Walk around the classroom to assist and guide students in picking important details
4. Collect sticky notes with details on them
Lesson 3 (30 minutes): Writing two paragraphs
First Paragraph:questions (15 min.)
1. Have students use the brainstormed questions from the last lesson to write a paragraph on google docs that helps your students find out more about their Taiwanese buddy.
2. Remind students to use correct grammar and punctuation (Capitals and periods!)
Second Paragraph: Details about themselves (15 Minutes)
1. Have students use the brainstormed details about themselves from the last lesson to write a brief description of what’s important about them.
2. Have them pick one particular aspect of their description that is REALLY important to them and “dive deeper” into it. As an example, if they REALLY like soccer, have them give three specific details about what they like about it so much.
Lesson 4 (10 minutes): Translate Paragraphs into Mandarin
1. Watch How to use Google Translate
2. Have students copy their questions and statements into google translate
Lesson 5 (15 min) Importing paragraphs into Padlet.
1. Make sure that you have made separate columns for each student pair.
2, Have each student copy and paste their paragraphs into the correct column.
3) After students have all uploaded their paragraphs, invite your partner teacher to the Padlet by including their email in the Padlet
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