K-5 Unit Plan
McDonald’s in China
Targeted
Students
3rd-graders, NM speaking proficiency
No previous exposure to Chinese characters
Time
Suggested
400 minutes, 8 classes, each class 50 minutes
(one extra class on Day9 for immersion students)
Main
Objectives
Can-Do
Statements
based on
National
Standards





Order fast food in China
Create and sing a short song about fast food items
Read and write 8 characters
Identify the some internal structures of characters
Apply grade level math skills to calculate cost
Communication:
 Order food and drink in a fast food restaurant
 Ask and respond to questions about one’s preference of food and drink
 Comprehend simple sentences with visual and pinyin cues
Cultures:
 Identify some patterns of the internal structure of Chinese characters
 Use 正 to tally counts.
Comparisons:
 Compare food items in McDonald’s in USA and in China
 Identify the changes that adopt the local dietary custom
Connection:
 Apply grade-level math skill
 Use survey to identify the food/drink preferences
Community:
 Identify the global presence of McDonald’s in TV commercials ads in
China
 Identify the differences from McDonald’s TV commercials in the USA.
Character
Skills
Students can...
 Point out the patterns in Chinese characters, such left-right, top-bottom
structures.
 Identify components in Chinese characters, such as meaning and sound
components
 Read and write the 8 characters
Summative
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Buy fast food with a small budget.
Assessment task 2: View and compare fast food commercials in Chinese with
those in USA.
Assessment task 3: Plan a party, design a survey and buy food for the party
with a given budget.
Grammatical
Features
Use the verb 想 to ask people’s food/drink preference: 你想吃什么？喝什么？
Use the verb 要 to ask people’s food/drink preference: 你要吃什么？要什么？
Use the measure word 杯
Vocabulary
Set
New speaking words (using pinyin)
薯条，汉堡包，可乐，果汁，苹果派，芋头派
Characters for recognition and writing
吃，喝，大，中，小，有，要，美
Day 1
Objectives
 Say the new words and sentence patterns in this unit
 Compare the similarities and differences between MacDonald’s in USA
and in China.
 Sing a song using some of the new words
Opening
 Teacher shows a big M with the theme tune of McDonald’s and asks
students what this reminds them.
 Teacher asks individual students whether they like McDonald’s or not
and extend the question to family members.
Activity 1
Present a short conversation in an animation format depicting an American kid
going to a McDonald’s in China. Teachers assess how much students
comprehend after viewing the animation.
 Show the animation (if you have trouble viewing the animation, copy and
paste the link to your web browser)
http://goanimate.com/videos/0k4hBiQWREB0?utm_source=emailshare&refuser=0G3S4VQ
R9mOQ




Animation dialogue in text: (day1 act1 Animation dialogue)
The animation dialogue is designed for 3rd graders at novice-mid level.
For immersion students, teachers can create a higher-level dialogue. As
for the “content” in the bubbles, it can be presented in pinyin, with
visuals, or pinyin with target characters, depending on the level of the
students.
After viewing the animation, ask oral questions related to the dialogue to
assess how much students understand. For example,
有几个人？
那个男孩子叫什么名字？
谁是叔叔？
他们想吃什么？
那个女孩子要喝什么？
谁去买这些东西？
Snapshot pages of the animation
These snapshots can be used for various speaking activities. Some of
them will be used in later lessons.
1. Snapshots of animation in characters, pptx
(day1 act1 Snapshots in characters)
2. Snapshots of animations in characters, pdf
(day1 act1 Snapshots in characters)
3. Snapshots of animations in pinyin, pptx
(day1 act1 Snapshots in pinyin)
4. Snapshots of animations in target characters
(day1 act1 Snapshots in target characters)
Activity 2
 Use the PowerPoint slides (day1 act2 reading text PPT) to introduce the
new words in this unit.
 Teacher leads the class to read each phrase. Also, use the slides to ask
simple questions, such as (這是不是中国？这是什么？你喜欢吃汉堡包


吗？你喜欢吃什么？你喜欢喝什么？)
Lead students to see the different food items offered in McDonald’s in
China.
Provide students the menu handout to practice the names of food/drink
items (day1 act2 food and drink items)
Activity 3
 Sing a song (use the tune from 两只老虎) to ractice the new words and

the meaning of 两
Use gestures and movement when singing this song.
两个汉堡包，两个汉堡包， 和薯条， 和薯条， 还要一杯可樂， 还要一杯
可樂， 谢谢啦， 谢谢啦！
Liǎng ge hànbǎobāo，liǎng ge hànbǎobāo， hé shǔtiáo， hé shǔtiáo，
háiyào yī bēi kělè， háiyào yī bēi kělè， xièxie la， xièxie la！
Learning checks
 Ask students to list or draw a couple of differences and similarities
between McDonald’s in the US and China that they have noticed in this
class.
 Exit ticket: Point at a couple of items on menu (day1 act2 food and drink
items) check if students can say them correctly.
Homework
Post the PPT online and print out the Word file of the reading text in pinyin and
characters (day1 act2 reading text in pinyin and characters). Ask students to
review it at home. Students are required to name at least 2 items on the menu in
the next class.
Day 2
Objective:
 Students can name the new words introduced in Day 1



Students can identify the similarities and differences between
MacDonald’s in USA and in China.
Students can recognize and know the meaning of the 8 target
characters.
Students can ask and respond to questions: 你要吃什么？你要喝什么？
Activity 1
 Sing the song with TPR taught in Day 1: (use the tune from 两只老虎)
 Teacher divides students in groups of 4-5 and asks each group to create
their body movement with the song. Then show and teach the class their
movement with the song.
 两个汉堡包，两个汉堡包， 和薯条， 和薯条， 还要一杯可樂， 还要一
杯可樂， 谢谢啦， 谢谢啦！
Activity 2
 Review the PPT shown in Day 1, focus on food items (day1 act2 reading
text PPT)
 Reading Text: Lead students to read the text. Pair up students and fill in
the Venn diagram worksheet (day2 act 2 Venn diagram).
 Have students work in pairs and search different menu items of
McDonald’s in China and U.S on internet with teacher’s guidance. Print
out the menu they find and then draw pictures or write characters/pinyin
on the Venn diagram. Then present the diagram to the whole. (Here are
some menus from internet.
 Talk about why the menus are different in two different countries or
communities?
Activity 3:
 Introduce 8 target characters by PPT (day2 act3 characters)
 Use the slides in part I to introduce the characters. Teacher sounds
aloud first and student repeats.
 Use the slides in part II to help student review the 8 characters. The
arranged order of the pinyin/English/picture in each slide encourages
student to recall the sound and connect sounds with meaning and
characters.
 Use the slides in part III to reinforce students’ memory of the characters.
 Use the last slide ‘Character Wheel Game’ and practice the 8 characters.
Activity 4
 Introduce the question: 你要吃什么？你要喝什么？
 Review the verbs: 吃喝 and introduce the new verb, 要
 Use the food/drink items in the PPT (day1 act2 reading text PPT)
to practice the questions and answers.
 Divide students in pairs. Provide each pair a set of food/drink items.
Student A holds the items and asks ‘你要吃什么？你要喝什么？ Student
B answers, such as 我要吃薯条。我要喝可乐. Student A then provides
the items that B students want. After that, two students exchange the
roles.
Learning check
 Distribute all of the food/drink item cards to students. Teacher asks one

student to the front. All of the students say together, 你要吃什么？你要
喝什么？. Suppose the student in front replies, 我要吃汉堡包，我要喝橙
汁. Whoever has the food/drink items should standup and give the items
to the student in front. Teacher, then, asks another student to the front
and repeat the activity.
Each group demonstrates their movement of the McDonald’s song for
exit.
Homework
 Provide students the cards of 8 target characters to practice recognition
at home.
 Demonstrate the McDonald’s song with movement to your parents.
Day 3
Objectives
 Students can identify some pictographic characters.
 Students can identify some basic structures of characters.
 Students can identify the radical 口 and it’s meaning.
Activity 1
 Review the song - <<两个汉堡包>> (use the tune from 两只老虎).
 Change the key words when students are very familiar with the tune and
original words. For example, change 汉堡包 to 麦乐鸡; 可乐 to 橙汁. It
will help student memory all new vocabulary.
 Here are the words for the song: 两个 (块) 汉堡包 (麦乐鸡) ，两个 (块) 汉
堡包 (麦乐鸡) ， 和薯条， 和薯条， 还要一杯可乐（橙汁）， 还要一杯可
乐（橙汁）， 谢谢啦， 谢谢啦！
Activity 2
 Show and explain that pictographic characters were creating by drawing
the objects.
 Use the three target characters in this unit as example: 大，中，小.
Show the links below. 大 was created by drawing a person stretching out
one’s arms and legs, indicating ‘big.’ 中 was created by drawing a flag
inserted in the center of a circle.
大 http://www.dragonwise.hku.hk/dragon2/schools/archives/morph/A46A.html
中 http://www.dragonwise.hku.hk/dragon2/schools/archives/morph/A4A4.html
小 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Chrx2BDOHs&feature=fvsr
Activity 3
 Use this matching activity (day 3 act3 pictographic characters) to help
students gain deeper understanding of what pictographic characters are.
 Students in pairs do the matching activity of connecting the drawings to
the characters.
 Teacher selects a couple of pairs to demonstrate their findings.
Activity 4
 The goal of this activity is to lead students to see the three basic
structures of characters: 1) single-component structure: characters
formed with one component. 2) top/bottom structure: characters formed


by top and bottom components; 3) left/right structure: characters formed
by left and right components. Use the color blocks demonstrated below
to show the three basic structures.
Divide student in groups of 3. Each group gets 8 flash cards (day3 act4
flash cards). Let them sort the cards/characters in the three different
structures. Discuss the result with students.
Use the handout (day3 act4 character structure) reinforce their
understanding of these three basic structures
Activity 5
 Introduce the concept of radical ‘meaning part of a character.’
 Show the clip of the pictograph of “口”. Ask students: which of the target
characters have this meaning part? Why do these two characters have a
‘mouth’ meaning part?
口: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVvIA5aahN8&feature=relmfu

Introduce two more radicals by showing the clips: 日 and 木
日：http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS0ncST2FnM&feature=relmfu
木： http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmiEz_3kG7c&feature=relmfu


Give the handout (day3 act5 radicals). Students can work in pairs to to
circle the meaning part.
Teacher selects several pairs to show their work and ask them to explain
why the characters have those radicals.
Homework: Give students the homework sheet (day3 homework sheet).
Students are asked to review the 8 target characters, circle the radical, and
identify the structures.
Day 4
Objectives

Students can write basic strokes: 横，竖，点，捺，撇

Students can write 6 Chinese characters in correct stroke order: 大，

小，中，有，美
Use 大，小，中，有，美 in context.
Activity 1
 Use the flash cards used in the previous class (day3 act4 flash cards) to
review the eight characters. Teacher picks one card then students read
it.
 Students in pairs and quiz each other using the flash cards.
Activity 2
 What is the difference between Chinese words with English words? Let
students to state their observation.
 Use the ppt (day4 act2 basic stroke) to show the basic strokes of


Chinese characters: 横，竖，点，捺，撇
Using body movement: students follow the lead of teacher and say the
stroke names while using their fingers to write them in correct order in
the air.
Students practice the basic strokes in the right order, using the
worksheet (day4 act2 basic stroke worksheet)
Activity 3
 Demonstrate the stroke order of 大，小，中，有，美.




Use http://cn.yes-chinese.com/ （click 教学工具, click -识字与打印, click
卡卡通）. Type the character that you want to show in the input box on
the top: (请输入一个字) then click (确定) . After the character appears,
click the button to show the stroke order.
Ask students to count the stroke number for each character.
Give students the character worksheet for 大，小，中，有，美. (day4
act3 character worksheet 大小中有美)
Teachers can make you own practice worksheets using
http://cn.yes-chinese.com/ : click 教学工具, click ，识字与打印- click 笔
笔顺）.
Activity 4
 In this activity, students are asked to make sentences using the new
words they have learned.
 Review the Venn diagram (day2 act2 Venn diagram). Find out which
food/drink items offered by McDonald’s in China and USA.
 Teacher models several sentences on the board.




o
中 Guó Màidāngláo 有
o
美 Guó Màidāngláo 有
o
Taylor 喝大 de
.
, méi 有
.
.
Distribute the McDonald’s menu (day4 act4 menu) to each group, and
ask students to cut all the food, drink, and dessert items.
Divide students in groups of three. Give each group an envelop in
which they find the characters 大小中有美 and other words in pinyin
(such as 国，没，的，也) and also the food/drink items they cut.
The task for each group is make 3 sentences using the cards.
Each group presents and reads aloud their sentences.
Homework:
 Students use the form ‘My Own Character Collection’ (day4 homework
MyOwnCharacterCollection) to make their own elaboration of the
characters learned in this class: 大，小，中，有，美.

Day 5
Complete the assignment sheet (day4 homework fill in characters).
Objectives

Students can write the target Chinese characters: 吃， 喝，要


Students can use 想，吃， 喝 in context.
Students can connect each character with its pinyin and English
meanings.
Activity 1

Review the characters 吃, 喝.


Practice the question and response: 你想吃什么？我想吃冰淇淋。
Divide students in groups of three. Distribute the McDonald’s menu
(day4 act2 menu) to each group, and ask students to cut all the food,
drink, and dessert items.

Give each group a set of characters of 吃， 喝.

In a group, student A asks, 你想吃什么？你想喝什么？If student B
replies 我想吃薯条，我想喝橙汁。 Student C, the third student, places
吃 with 薯条 together and 喝 with 橙汁. Students in a group take turn
asking, replying and grouping the cards correctly.
Activity 2
 show the stroke order of 吃， 喝，要（show the stroke order ）using
http://cn.yes-chinese.com/ （click 教学工具- click -识字与打印- click 卡
卡通）type the character that you want to show in the input box on the



top: (请输入一个字) then click (确定) . After the character appears, click
the button to show the stroke order.
Ask students to count the stroke number of the character 吃，喝，要.
Review the meaning part 口。
Give students the character worksheet for 吃，喝，要. (day5 act2
character worksheet 吃喝要)
Activity 3
 In this activity, students are asked to connect characters with their pinyin.
 Divide students in groups of 3. Each group gets a deck of 接龙游戏
cards. The cards are cut out from the worksheet in (day5 act3 building a
sequence).
 The students in each group work together to line up the card according
the Chinese characters and Pinyin cues. The result of sequence is
shown in (day5 act3 sequence result).
 Teacher can make various sequences, so each group gets different task.
Teacher can then redistribute the decks to different groups and play the
activity for multiple times.
Learning Check:
 Use the worksheets in (day5 act4 match words with pinyin) to check
students’ learning. Students review the new words on the first page and
complete the page 2-3.
Homework:
 Students use the form ‘My Own Character Collection’ (day4 homework
MyOwnCharacterCollection) to add 吃， 喝，要
 Complete the assignment in (day5 homework fill in characters) .
Day 6
Objectives
 Students perform the dialogues of ordering food/drink in McDonald’s.
 Students can ask and respond to the preference of food and drink items.
 Students use the target characters 吃，喝，要 in context
Activity 1
 Review the dialogue animation. (day1 act1 Animation dialogue)
 Divide students in group of 3. Practice the dialogue. Students are
encouraged to make changes in the dialogue, such as ordering different
items, going with different friends…
 Students perform the dialogue in groups of 3.
Activity 2
 Use the McDonald’s menu and review asking and responding, 你要吃什
么？你要喝什么？
 Divide students in pairs and ask each other the two questions. After their
exchanges, Teacher checks what they find out about their partners’
preference in food/drink.
Activity 3
 Each student then writes down what they want to eat and drink. Write
the two sentences in characters and pinyin in a card, such as wǒ 要吃
yùmǐbēi. Wǒ 要喝 kělè.



After students finish writing, put all the cards in a box. Students take turn
drawing one card from the box, and reading the sentences in the card
aloud.
In the meantime, give students the listening form (day6 act3 listening
form). Students listen carefully to the sentences read by each student,
and complete the form.
After every student completes the reading, teacher will check the result
with the whole class.
Homework:
Ask students to write a short dialogue between a McDonald’s staff and a
customer who wants to buy something to drink and eat. Use the characters that
they have learned to write. They use pinyin with tones for the rest words.
Day 7
Objectives
 Students can chant a rhyme to review the new words and sentence
patterns in this unit
 Students can do a survey in Chinese
 Students can order food and drink in McDonald (Assessment 1)
Activity 1
 Use the Chinese Rhyme (day7 act1 rhyme) to review the new words and
sentence patterns in this unit.
 First, get students to be familiar with the rhythm and new words.
 To make it more fun, students use the rhyme to ask other students, such
as girls asking boys or the whole class asking an individual student.
Teacher can throw a ball to select that individual.
Activity 2








Students will do a survey using their Chinese language and math skills.
Make copies of the McDonald’s menu with price (day7 act2 menu with
price) for students.
Go over all information on the sheet. Make sure students know all the
food items, and can say them.
Show and explain the sign of ¥ : Chinese dollars.
Distribute the survey form (day7 act2 survey form) and explain the task.
After they interview 5 classmates, they are required to fill in a tally form
(day7 act2 tally form)
Introduce the character 正 to tally the counts. ”正” has 5 strokes to mark
5 counts. Westerners use
to mark 5. Lead the students to write 正
in correct stroke order.
Students report back to class or neighbor their survey, such as 三个人吃
汉堡包，四个人喝可乐，五个人吃冰淇淋。。。.
Assessment task 1
 Set up a ‘McDonald’s Store.’ Have students take turn as McDonald’s
staff. Prepare food and drink items in pictures.
 Each student has ¥12 dollars (Renminbi)
 Students are given the McDonald’s menu of food/drink items with prices
(day7 act2 menu with price).
 Each student takes turn being the staff at McDonald’s and ordering
food/drink as a customer at the McDonald’s store. The waiter/waitress
needs to ask, ‘你要吃什么？你要喝什么？’ Each student order 3 items


using the sentence pattern “我要….” within the budget of ¥12 Chinese
dollars.
Based on your order, waiter/waitress will give you the food/drink pictures
After the purchase, present your order to the class, using the sentence
pattern, 我有大杯的可乐，小的汉堡包。。。
Day 8
Objective: Complete two assessment tasks and one self-assessment.
Assessment task 2




Students view the following links of McDonald’s commercials (the first
two are in Chinese, the 3rd one is in English)
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFDOGS3i5SE&feature=related
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=fdaC3
42_T7g
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=_IKv8YDgH2I
&NR=1
Ask them make notes of the differences they have noticed between
Chinese and American McDonald’s commercials
Based on their notes, students draw a Venn Diagram to show the
similarities and differences between Chinese and American McDonald’s
commercials
Present your Venn Diagram to the class
Assessment task 3





You want to give a party for 3 friends. Design a questionnaire to find out
what they want to eat and drink (day8 questionnaire sample), so you can
purchase in advance.
You have a budget of ¥100.
Ask three classmates to fill out the form and also provide them the menu
(day7 act2 menu with price).
Collect the data, calculate the total cost and make sure that the cost
does not exceed ¥100. If it is, you need to talk to the three friends whom
you invited to change their orders.
Make a chart for what you need to buy for the party and present it to the
class.
Self-assessment
 Students use the following rubric to assess how well they do for the three
assessments. (Day8 self-assessment rubrics)
 Students use the following check list to assess their learning in this unit.
(Day8 unit learning check)
Day 9
Math Activity
3rd-grade
Immersion
students
This math activity is designed for 3rd-grade students in immersion schools. This
class can be arranged after Day7 for immersion students.
Objectives
 Use the Chinese way 正 of tallying the counts
 Solve 3rd grade level mathematics problems, such as add, subtract and
multiplication
Activity 1 Tally the counts of food/drink preferences.



Distribute the menu to each student (day7 act2 menu with price).
Introduce “¥” sign “RMB” as Chinese dollars.
Teacher asks questions to check students’ understanding of the menu,
such as 汉堡包大的多少钱？可乐小杯的多少钱？…

Each student selects 3 favorite items, such as one burger, one small
coke and one ice cream. Students mark the items on their menus.

Teacher explains that Chinese uses the character 正 to tally counts. ”正”




has 5 strokes to mark 5 counts. Westerners use
to mark 5.
Lead the students to write the character 正 in correct stroke order.
Give each student the chart (day9 act1 tally form) for tallying the counts.
Teacher asks “谁要大的汉堡包？请站起来。” Students count the number
of people standing up and mark on their chart. Go through the items on
the menu, until the chart is filled with data. Have students to tally the
counts as Chinese. Keep this form which will be used again in Activity 3.
Ask students the number for each item, the most popular and least
popular items.
Activity 2 Calculate the cost for your order
 Ask students to add the prices of the 3 items marked on their menus.
 Check the correctness of their answers with neighboring classmates.
 Share with the class their personal costs. Write the cost on the right
corner of their menu and circle it.
Activity 3 Calculate the cost for the whole class’s orders
 Divide students in groups of 4.
 Ask them to add up the cost of every student (the cost that students
circle in Activity 2). Writes the total cost of the group down on a piece of
paper.
 The group leader takes turn reporting the total cost of his/her group.
 Each group should add the costs from all groups and keep the number
with their own group. Call it ‘cost of all groups.’ We will check it later.
 Use the chart (day9 act1 tally form) which includes the tally counts (using


正 ) based on the orders of all students. Make it bigger and project it on
the white board, so students can see it clearly.
Based on the data in the tally form, students in each group work together
and use multiplication to calculate the cost for the whole class’s orders.
The cost for whole class should be equal to the ‘cost of all groups.’
Task 4:
 Tell students that the budge for the whole class is ¥200.
 Students should find out if the class has enough money to pay for
everyone’s order: ¥ ____ ( < , >, = ) ¥ 200.00