Lesson Overview:

Through the study of various literary and fine arts versions of Cinderella entry level ESL students practice their reading, writing, oral, and technology skills.

Length of Lesson:

Twenty four 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson can be adapted for ESL students in grades 7-8.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• Compare/contrast
• Describe a folktale
• Define a folktale
• Write music responses
• Draw music responses
• Discuss folktales from their own cultures
• Prepare and deliver oral presentations
• Label maps
• Compile a database

Supplies:

• Television
• VCR or DVD Player
• Art supplies
• Colored pencils
• Note cards
• Atlases
• The Nystrom Desk Atlas.
• Hammond New Headline World Atlas
• Colorprint Student's Atlas of the World/LI>
• Cinderella Penguin or the Little Glass Flipper. Retold by Janet Perlman
• Various versions of the Cinderella tale (See Sources)

Instructional Plan:

Day One

Note: This lesson combines two 45-minute periods for each day’s assigned instructions. You should arrange to spend two periods in the computer lab.

Read aloud the story, Cinderella Penguin. Discuss the story with the class. Ask questions such as: Have you ever heard this story? Is there a like story in your culture? Tell us about it. List these on the board with name and country. Ask students to consider: Why is the Cinderella story so widespread and well-known in so many different versions?

Distribute the Cinderella Vocabulary List. Discuss the word folktale. Tell the students that a folktale is a story or legend handed down from generation to generation, usually through oral retelling. The following elements are often found in folktales:

• The story starts with "Once upon a time..." or something similar.
• Magic events, characters, and objects are part of the story.
• One character is someone of royalty.
• One character is wicked.
• One character is good.
• Goodness is rewarded in the story.
• Certain numbers (such as three and seven) are part of the story.
• The story ends with "...they lived happily ever after" or something similar.

Have students discuss folktales from their native countries. List these stories on the board. Discuss whether these tales include some of the folktale elements from the list above.

Distribute the What is a Folktale? Worksheet and the Folktale Research Worksheet. Explain both sheets to students. Have students complete the worksheet for the story read at the beginning of the class, Cinderella Penguin.

Collect students' work. Copy the list of folktales from students' native countries. Make copies and distribute to students the next class period.

Day Two

Read aloud the Perrault English version of Cinderella. Discuss this version and how it differs from Cinderella Penguin. Distribute another copy of the What is a Folktale? Worksheet and the Folktale Research Worksheet. Have students complete these sheets, this time analyzing the Perrault version of the story.

Collect students' work. Discuss various beginnings and endings. Have the students write their own version of the story's ending. Provide these prompts and let the student's select which they would like to complete: "Five years later" or "The prince could not find anyone whose foot fit the slipper." Have students begin work on the story and finish for homework.

Day Three

Before collecting the homework, ask students to share their story endings with the class. (Have them pass them. Edit these endings overnight. Pass out to students on day four as they enter class and for the warm up have students prepare a second draft. Divide them into groups and have them read their second draft to the group. Have the students in the group discuss and offer suggestions. The students can then go back and rewrite and pass them in to the teacher when they are done. These will be typed later in the computer lab.)

From your personal or class collection, or the library, assign teams to read various versions of Cinderella.(See Sources section.) Have the teams read aloud their versions to the other team members, taking turns to read. When they have finished, distribute a What is a Folktale? Worksheet and a Folktale Research Worksheet to each team. Explain to the students that they are to use these sheets to analyze yet another version of the story. Collect student work at the end of class.

At this point the Self-Assessment Worksheet can be used. Please remember that all sheets students have turned in should be handed back so that they can review and attach to the self-assessment sheet.

Day Four

Distribute the Database Worksheet. Explain to the class what a database is and tell them that their class is going to create a Cinderella database. Have each team complete the Database Worksheet, detailing the various versions of the story. Collect all completed work; this data will be compiled later in the computer lab.

For the final activity with the Cinderella versions, tell students they are going to prepare an oral presentation of their book. Tell students that they need to introduce themselves, use their worksheets for discussion points, and speak clearly and loud enough for the class to hear them. If referring to things that the class might not be familiar with, have students give a reference and write it on the board or chart paper so that students refer to it later for more information. Students should be made aware of the basics of public speaking: eye contact, voice modulation, questioning techniques, etc. Hand out the Book Talk Worksheet and the Book Talk Assessment Worksheet. Explain the worksheet and the checklist. Have the teams prepare their presentations. Collect all student work.

Day Five

Return the Book Talk Worksheet to the students. Have teams practice their presentations. (If desired, videotape the student presentations.) An additional assignment that can be given for reinforcement read aloud another version, Cinder Edna. Have students write a paragraph on which version they liked best for homework. They are to select from the Perrault version, Cinderella Penguin, or Cinder Edna. Note: Other versions may be added as well at the teacher's discretion.

Day Six and Seven

Collect student homework. Begin to take students through an exploration of Cinderella from literature to music, using opera or ballet selections as examples. You may choose either of these selections to present to the class. (See the Sources section.) If you choose the ballet, play a CD of Prokofiev's ballet music. Distribute the Music Response Worksheet. Have the students complete a music response. Tell the students to draw a picture of what they hear or imagine while they listen to the prologue of the ballet. Collect the students' work. Tape it to the board and have each student explain their drawing and its relationship to the story and the music. View the video of the ballet. Distribute the Character Description Worksheet. Explain to the students that they will complete this sheet after they view the video. Review the questions before playing the video to give students a better idea of what to watch for in the video.

View the video of the ballet. Have students complete their worksheets. Invite them to share their finished work with the class. Students should discuss the answers and different views that will be presented. Collect the students' work. If you choose the opera, follow the above procedure.

Days Eight and Nine

Before taking students to the computer lab, explain that they will compile one project and complete two others after they complete the following music project.

Students will research various composers, including Massenet, Mozart, Rossini, and Prokofiev, who have dealt with the Cinderella folktale. Students can use Internet resources as well as online resources such as the Grolier's Encyclopedia. To direct student research, you might supply students with questions such as: What is the name of the composer's native country? When was he born? During which century did he live? What genre is his musical composition?

Upon completing their research, students can write a short biography, conduct an interview with the composer, complete a composer timeline, label the composer's country on a map, or complete a photo biography of the composer. The latter places a picture of the composer in the middle of a poster. Around the picture are about five or six pictures and written descriptions of important events in the composer's life.

Day Ten

Distribute the Computer Lab Directions Worksheet. Tell students that they will be working with a team to enter their data of their own version of Cinderella into the class database. Divide them into groups and have them compile their information and enter it in a database. Have the Technology Teacher explain what a database is, why it is used, and how to create one. Have them continue to work in small groups or partners to help each other with the process. The completed database will be used later as the students complete their world map research worksheet.

Days Eleven and Twelve

Distribute copies of the class Cinderella Database Worksheet. (Print the one created.) Distribute the World Map Worksheet and world maps. Explain to the class that they are to use the database to complete the worksheet and map. Hand out atlases and colored pencils. At the end of the class collect all student work. Place the maps on the board and bring out the compiled list from day one of folktales and countries. See how many countries can be added to that list. Discuss folktales/fairytales with the students in general. What have they learned? What was their favorite part? Do they look at them differently now? Can they give examples of modern movies, stories, etc that might be modern folk or fairytales that students will reflect upon one hundred years from now. Have any of these been turned into musicals, operas, etc. (Examples i.e., The Lion King, the Star Wars film series, The Grinch, Shrek, and the Harry Potter film series.)

Assessment:

The assessment is conducted throughout the lesson utilizing the various assessment worksheets and handouts.

Extensions:

You may wish to use the succeeding lesson, All the News That's Fit to Print.

Sources:

Print:

• Ashpet: An Appalachian Tale. Retold by Joanne Compton, Illustrated by Ken Compton. New York: Holiday House, 1994.
• Cinderella. Brown, Marcia. Translator and Illustrator. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.
• Cinderella. Retold by Nicola Baxter. Illustrated by Jon Davis. New York: Ladybird Books USA, 1996.
• Cinderella and Other Stories from the Blue Fairy Book. Unabridged. Andrew Lang. Illustrated by Marty Noble. Mineola NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1996.
• Cinderella Penguin or the Little Glass Flipper. Retold by Janet Perlman. New York: Puffin Books, 1992.
• Cinder Edna. Jackson, Ellen Illustrated by Kevin O'Malley. New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1994.
• Colorprint Student's Atlas of the World. Maspeth, NY: American Map Corporation, 1996.
• Hammond New Headline World Atlas. Hammond, Inc., 1994.
• The Egyptian Cinderella. By Shirley Climo. Illustrated by Ruth Heller. New York: HarperCollins, 1989.
• The Korean Cinderella. By Shirley Climo. Illustrated by Ruth Heller. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
• Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe. New York: Lathrop, Lee, & Shepard, 1987.
• Multicultural Folktales. Jeffries, David. Illustrsted by Sue Fullam and Keith Vasconcellos. Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created Materials, Inc., 1992.
• Princess Furball. By Charlotte Huck. Illustrated by Anita Lobel. New York: Scholastic, 1989.
• Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story. Retold by Robert D. San Souci. Illustrated by Daniel San Souci. New York: Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 1994.
• The Nystrom Desk Atlas. Chicago: Nystrom. Division of Herff Jones, Inc., 1994.
• The Talking Eggs: A Folktale from the American South by Robert D. San Souci. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. New York: Scholastic, 1989.
• The Turkey Girl: A Zuni Cinderella. Retold by Penny Pollock. Illustrated by Ed Young. Boston, New York, London: Little, Brown, 1995.
• Webster's New World Dictionary, College Edition, Fourth Edition. New York: Macmillan USA, 1999.
• Yeh-Shen. A Cinderella Tale from China. By Ai-Ling Louie. Illustrated by Ed Young. New York: Philomel Books, 1982.

Media:

• Music by Sergi Prokofiev. Cinderella Royal Ballet. Choreography by Frederick Ashton. Charles Taylor. Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Kultur 0093.
• Prokofiev, Sergi. Cinderella Suites No. 1-3. Theoodore Kucher. Ukranian State Symphony Orchestra. Naxos 8.550969.
• Rossini, Giochino.La Cenerentola. Ricardo Chailly. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Chorus of the Vienna State Opera. Kultur 0034.
• Rossini, Giocchino. Rossini Overtures: William Tell, Cinderella, The Barber of Seville. Jaime Laredo. Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Conifer Records Limited. Class 7066.

Authors:

• Phyllis Gron, ESL Teacher
  Fairfax County Public Schools
  Alexandria, VA