Comparing Cultures
An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan
Submitted by: Mychael Willon
School or Affiliation: Unified School District #259 217 North Water Street, Wichita, Kansas
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended
the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14
western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United
States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph
as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in
contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops.
Date: May 1994
Grade Level(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Subject(s):

Social Studies/Multicultural Education
Description: Most elementary students have heard the traditional story of Cinderella. Review
this story with them, asking them to elaborate on the parts they remember, such as the main
characters and the setting.
Goal: This lesson will encourage students to use the higher level thinking skills and will help
them learn to better cooperate with their peers. It will also help students develop a respect for
cultures different from their own.
Objectives: As a result of this activity, the children will be able to :
1. Work with a partner to answer questions in a cooperative manner.
2. Compare two stories/cultures and point out how they are alike and how they are different.
3. Share their own version of a well-known story and adapt it to another culture, elaborating
on why they made certain adaptations.
Materials: For this particular lesson, the teacher would need Shirley Climo's The Egyptian
Cinderella. Actually, the teacher could select any book with a well-known title, such as this one,
and read it, adapting the lesson by comparing it to the story that the students are familiar with.
Procedure:
After reviewing the story of Cinderella with the students, the teacher will then explain the
cooperative learning strategy of think-pair-share (TPS). The teacher will ask the students to find
a partner and hold up her/his hand, so that each student has only one partner. If there is an off
number of students, the teacher may want to assign one group of three, or be a partner to the
extra student. (If the teacher feels more comfortable assigning pairs, that strategy would also be
appropriate.)
The teacher would then explain that the students are to watch her/him for visual cues for
questioning during the remainder of the lesson. The teacher may use any hand signals for cueing,
such as putting her/his finger to her/his head indicating "think time", when everyone should be
silently thinking about the best answer to the question that the teacher has asked. The students
will be told that for the next cue - two fingers being held up they will, in whisper voices, share
their answers with their partners. Finally, when the teacher raises her/his hand, the students will
again be silent, while the teacher calls on one students at a time to share some answers.
Once the teacher has explained the strategy for TPS, s/he will read the story, The Egyptian
Cinderella, to the class. As the teacher reads the story, s/he will pause to ask questions
throughout, that compare and contrast this story to the version of the story that the students have
read or seen as a movie.
Some examples of questions that the teacher could ask would be:
1. How is the dress of Rhodopis (The Egyptian Cinderella) different from the Cinderella
you have previously read about? Why do you think they dress differently? Can anyone
tell us how the climate of Egypt compares with the climate of the United States? (The
teacher may want to show the student Egypt and the United States on the globe and on a
map, to integrate geography into the lesson.)
2. How are Kipa and the other two servant girls like Cinderella's step- sisters? Do they treat
Rhodopis fair? Tell why you think they do or don't.
3. Does this story have a happy ending? Compare the way this story ends with the ending of
Cinderella .
The questions that the teacher asks would be varied and geared toward the age level of the
audience s/he is teaching.
Tying it All Together:
Have the students either orally, or on paper, write their own version of a well-known story,
adapting it to another culture.