Lesson Plan

The Joy Luck Club: Culture and History

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This The Joy Luck Club: Culture and History lesson plan also includes:

Explore San Francisco's Chinatown in a lesson about the first few chapters of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Kids research Chinatown on the Internet and create a virtual tour of the neighborhood, including the foods, cultural events, and social issues that the residents are experiencing. They then map some of the landmarks from the novel, including Golden Gate Park and the University of California, Berkeley. For a writing activity, readers analyze the swan story from the beginning of the novel. Finally, they read an essay about Amy Tan and decide if her experiences are similar to the protagonist in the first two chapters.

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CCSS: Adaptable
Instructional Ideas
  • Homework activity prompts kids to determine the differences and similarities between author and speaker
  • Lesson provides extension opportunities, such as presenting the Chinatown tours in front of the class 
Pros
  • A great way to establish prior knowledge before getting too far into the book
  • All necessary auxiliary materials are attached, and available in one main zip drive 
Cons
  • None