Glastonbury Foreign Language Program
Curricular Unit: Introducing My Family (Japanese)
Grade: 4
Subject/Topic Area(s): my family
Key Words: otousan (father), okaasan (mother), oniisan (older brother), oneesan (older sister), otouto (younger brother), imouto (younger sister), ojiisan (grandfather), obaasan (grandmother), itoko (cousin), ojisan (uncle), obasan (aunt), shyufu (housewife), kaishyain (eomplyee of a company), hishyo (secretary), ginkouin (employee of a bank), tenin (employee of a store), koumuin (employee of the state government), keisatsukan (police officer), ishya (doctor), kangobu (nurse), sensei (teacher), bengoshi (lawyer), untenshyu (driver), enjinia (engineer), seito (student).

Standards:

Major standards— 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
Supporting standards— 3.2, 4.1, 5.1

Brief Summary of Unit (including curricular context and unit goals):

Students will identify members of a family.
Students will identify various jobs.
Students will identify hobbies or leisure activities.
Students will write descriptions of family members.
Students will complete a family book including five people.

Number of days for activity: 4 weeks

Materials and resources (including technology and multimedia):

puppets
wooden dolls
pictures of Japanese family
Japanese family trees
Flash cards of jobs
Flash cards of sports
Dictionaries
Materials for project
Sample project

Identifying Desired Results

•  What essential questions will guide this unit and focus teaching/learning?

How do we call family members in Japanese?
How do I introduce my family?
How do I describe my family?
What jobs do people in my family have?

•  What enduring understandings are desired?

Student will understand...

That people do similar/different jobs around the world.
That people enjoy similar/different hobbies around the world.
That people come in different shapes and sizes.

•  What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?

Students will know…

the names for family members.
how to describe each family member.
how to write introductions for each family member.

Students will be able to…

read their book to their kindergarten buddy and to the evaluator.

Vocabulary:

Grammar:
Sample:
Otousan desu. Namae wa Peter desu. 37 sai desu. Sakka to suiei ga suki desu. Kaishyain desu.

•  What do they already know that will help them learn new information? Where and when did they learn it?

The students know numbers (kindergarten), ages and how to say names (2 nd grade), leisure activities (learned earlier in fourth grade).

Determining acceptable evidence

•  What evidence will show that students understand?

Performance Tasks:
book project (task #1), class participation, song, Kindergarten Buddy day.

Quizzes, Tests, Prompts, Work Samples:
matching activity, listening activity, labeling exercise, writing practice, final reading.

Unprompted Evidence (observations, dialogues):
question/answer, reading, singing, observation.

Student Self-Assessment:
notebook

Lessons:

Links to Relevant Web Sites:  

Assessment Blueprint (Performance Tasks)

Task Title: My Family Book
Approximate Time Frame: 2 weeks
Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1
Purpose: check those that apply Formative – Summative – x
Description of Task:

The students will complete the following project (task #1). Students choose five people to create a family (can be their real family or an imaginary one). Students will draw a picture of the person including two things he/she likes and write a descriptions about the person which includes the name, age, hobby and job.

Evidence of desired understanding:

Students will correctly draw and write about each person keeping in mind the key points to cover.

Criteria of judgment:

Students drew and wrote according to directions

Evaluative Tools: check those that apply
Analytic Rubric –
Holistic Rubric – x
Criterion (performance) list – x
Checklist – x

Assessment Blueprint (Other Evidence)

•  What is being assessed?

Knowledge of how to introduce family members.

•  Describe the assessment.  

Written assessment: Throughout the unit students will keep their ideas in a notebook. Periodically the notebook will be assessed on their understanding of the vocabulary and their ability to apply concepts taught in class.

•  What is the purpose of the assessment?      

To see whether students have learned the vocabulary, concepts and structures taught in the unit.

•  Criteria of judgment/evaluative tools:

Holistic rubric