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Overview:
Students will be introduced to map reading by examining the "Afghanistan, Land in Crisis" map (available in print or online). Students will practice different types of greetings, and learn how children in Afghanistan might greet one another.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 1: "How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective"
Time:
Two to three hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access (optional)
- "Afghanistan, Land in Crisis" map (available in print or online)
- Puppet
- Globe or political world map
- Index cards
Objectives:
Students will
- imagine that a puppet is a new friend, and try different ways to befriend the puppet;
- discuss why people react in different ways to greetings;
- discuss different types of greetings, and learn how to greet people from other countries, including Afghanistan; and
- write a letter to an imaginary friend in Afghanistan, telling him or her about their hometown.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Review ways that students might say "Hello" to a new friend. Writing the ideas on the blackboard may reinforce reading skills. Some responses might be "How are you?" "What is your name?" or simply "Hi."
Using the puppet, tell the students that they will be meeting a new friend. But there's a catch: In order to make friends, they have to use a greeting that the puppet will respond to. (Before you begin this exercise, have a "magic phrase" in mind. For example, "How are you today?" or "My name is Shannon! What's your name?") Explain that you will invite each student to greet the puppet. Students should try to greet the puppet in a way that will make the puppet return their greeting.
If a child doesn't say the magic phrase, take the puppet to the next child. If a student says the magic phrase, the puppet should respond. Students can take multiple turns, if time allows.
Development:
If a student selects the magic phrase, stop the exercise and ask the class to recall the greetings the puppet didn't answer. Ask, Why didn't the puppet answer every greeting? Why do you think the puppet answered the magic phrase? Solicit answers that relate to the puppet only knowing what a few words mean, having a favorite way of talking, or being shy.
Explain that people in different parts of the world have different ways of saying hello. In France, people say "Bonjour" ("bohn–ZHOOR"). In Mexico, a friend would wish you "good day" by saying "Buenos Días" ("BWEHN–nohs DEE–ahs"). "Guten Tag" ("GOO–ten–taak") is how students in Germany say "Good morning." Invite students to think of greetings they have heard in other languages, as well. (To listen to these and other foreign phrases, students can go online to Fodor's).
Show students the "Afghanistan, Land in Crisis" map. In Afghanistan, children might greet their friends with "salaam" ("sah–LAHM"), which means "peace." But caution students: "Salaam" is a casual greeting used exclusively by children to greet their friends or parents. To say "Salaam" to a stranger would be rude! (Another greeting in Afghanistan is "assalaamu alaikum" ["ah–sah–LAH–moo ah–LIE–kuhm"]—"Peace be upon you.")
Locate Afghanistan on a political world map or a globe, and then point out the countries where the other greetings the class has discussed are used.
[Optional: Show students one of the inset maps, "A Patchwork of Ethnic Minorities." Explain that each ethnic group is different, but children in every group might greet their friends the same way: "Salaam."]
Closing:
Encourage students to think about what they would like to know about children their age in Afghanistan. What do students think Afghan children might ask them? As a class, students will write a letter to an imaginary new friend from Afghanistan. Begin the letter with "Assalaamu alaikum." (If students write a second letter, they could begin it with "Salaam.")
In the letter, have students describe some of the unique things in their hometown. Include other things students think Afghan children might like to know.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Have each student make a "postcard" to accompany the class letter to their new Afghan friend. Each student should draw a picture of one of their favorite things in their hometown on an index card.
Extending the Lesson:
Show students the photo gallery from the Xpeditions activity about Marco Polo, which includes images of children from India, Afghanistan, China, and Italy. Which of these children might students be interested in getting to know? Challenge students to find the countries where the children live on a globe.
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