Teaching and Learning Activities

Note: Having students involved in a local Indian community will add impact to their learning and increase their understanding of the Diwali Festival. There are a number of opporunties to do this within the unit.

Activity 1

Where have our celebrations and festivals come from and what do they have in common?

Display the starter activity in Celebrate!. Use a data projector or photocopy. Students think, pair and share to complete the fact boxes. In small groups decide what the celebrations have in common. Share ideas as a class and build a class list. For example, they are all held on special dates, there is often plenty of fine food, it's a time for families/whanau to get together and they are a lot of fun.

Activity 2

What do we know about India and how does this country compare to New Zealand?

Passport to India is a simple starter activity designed to lead students into finding out a little more about India. Try it in pairs, discuss the findings as a class and list some conclusions on a chart. Conclusions for example may include:

• India has a huge population (the second most populated country in the world)
• India is the world's 7th largest country by geographical area
• India shares its borders with several neighbouring countries
• India is a multi ethnic and multi lingual country with a range of religion
• India can have extremes of climate
  

Have the students consider their conclusions, using PMI charts - Plus, Minus and Interesting/Intriguing.

Activity 3

Why is India called a "land of festivals and fairs" and what do these festivals have in common?

Read aloud Festivals of India to the class. Read it again but this time your students listen for the things that the festivals of India have in common.

They should find links to:

• religious beliefs
  
• the land
  
• change of seasons
  
• social activities
  

Display this site on the data projector (or choose another that tells of an Indian festival). As a class look for the links to the four aspects above.

Look at the design of the web page and the way in which the designer has summarised the festival. Students can use Many Festivals of India to design their own home page for a festival of their choice. (Avoid the Diwali festival - this is the one we will cover in more depth.)

Activity 4

How could we share the information we find out about a very special festival, with others?

This activity introduces the Diwali festival to your students and the idea that the information they find out can be used as a resource for others.

Students present their pages created in activity 3. Reflect on the idea that this activity introduced festivals and focussed on design techniques - successful blends of text and graphics. Discuss successful examples.

Introduce the Share Diwali chart to the students along with the idea that Diwali is a time of celebration. Just as this festival sees the sharing of good times and good food we can share what we we find out, with others in the school and even the community.

Work your way through the chart. Discuss the concept of a brief and what an educational resource is. Have some examples to explore briefly such as CDs, books, posters, games or DVDs.

Discuss the investigation list so students are aware of the the things they have to decide on and the things they will find out. In small groups or in pairs students can decide on what else needs to be investigated and these can be added to the chart.

Display the chart in the classroom. It shows the process you will follow and will help keep your students on track.

Activity 5

What is the Diwali festival all about and what are the criteria for a good resource?

Use the Ready to Read book Diwali. Explain that resource designers decide on their intended audience first. As a class decide on the intended audience for this book - (younger readers). Decide whether it will tell them (an older audience) everything they need to know about Diwali.

Share the book now with the whole class, then in small groups the students can list the things about Diwali that younger readers can find out by reading this book.

Share the lists as a class and make a master chart that begins to build a picture of Diwali.

Give each group a copy of the book so they can look for and list some criteria that makes this book a good resource. Examples may include:

• it is bright and colourful
  
• there are plenty of photos or graphics
  
• the font size and style matches the intended audience
  
• there is not too much text
  

Share the students' ideas as a class and then use the two journal stories below to see if the designers met similar criteria in two resources for an older audience.

• "Rangoli", School Journal Part Two Number Four, 2005                                  
• "Brothers and Sisters Day", Part One Number Two, 2006
  

Add any extra criteria to your list if need be.

Activity 6

Who is involved in the Diwali Festival and why do they celebrate? When does Diwali begin and how do people celebrate?

Prepare a simple slide show using a selection of photos from the sites below.

Asia New Zealand Foundation

Photo feature

Lots more photos

As your slideshow rolls, students in pairs or small groups complete a brainstorm web like Slideshow brainstorm.

Not all the answers will come through viewing the photos so direct your students into these Diwali websites or display them on the data projector:

• www.asianz.org.nz/diwali shows the links between India and New Zealand
• www.diwalifestival.org the home page has the information the students will need
• www.ruchiskitchen.com/festivals/deepavali.htm is another good website
  

Share each groups' slideshow brainstorm as a class and create a big one for a class display.  

Activity 7

How can we share what else we find out about the Diwali festival, with others? What will we design and make for our educational resource?

Explore this home page first as a class. It highlights the various aspects of Diwali.

Each group decides on an aspect they would like to follow up on. This is the base for their inquiry. Diwali - Find out more is a list of possible topics you could add student's names to.

The resource the class creates depends on the time you have available and the IT skills the students have or the ones you wish to develop. For example:

• each group could work on a powerpoint to highlight an aspect of the Diwali Festival. These powerpoints could then become part of a class CD for the school library
  
• each group could work on an aspect in different ways and display their results at a Diwali expo for other classes, parents and friends of the school
  

As a class decide on the target audience and the resource you could make. You could use this success factor chart to help you reach a decision.

When you have settled on your resource, make a set of criteria to adhere to and display them. Students should refer back to this during their inquiry.

Activity 8

How can I organise my inquiry?

This Social Inquiry Process will help students organise their information. Introduce it by projecting it on it on a whiteboard and completing it together as you find out about Brothers and Sisters Day, School Journal Part One Number Two, 2006.

Your groups should know by now which aspect of Diwali they will follow up on for their inquiry. Individals, pair or groups can begin their own inquiry following the same process.

Activity 9

How can I contact people that have experienced Diwali Festivals and what is the best way to gather information from them?

Do this with the whole class or withdraw a group at a time while the others follow their inquiry.

Brainstorm for possible contacts from the Indian community. The first port of call will be parents and friends of the school. Work out how these people could be contacted, i.e. How do we find out their contact details?

Decide how these people could be invited to share their knowledge, e.g. by phone, fax, email or letter. Decide what information needs to be included on any invitation. For example:

• When would be a convenient time to visit?
  
• Would you be able to show any photographs or atifacts or help us with a special recipe?
  

Give your students the opportunity to make contact themselves. It will add purpose to their writing. (It’s still a good idea for you to contact these people first to explain what is happening.)

Discuss open ended questions and then "Ping pong" interview in pairs. Student A asks an open ended question and student B responds. Student B then asks the question and so on. Students begin by asking questions about their partner and then move onto asking questions about Diwali. By now they will know at least a little about this festival.

Each group can write a list of questions that will help them gather information for their chosen inquiry. Students can ask their questions at the arranged times.

Activity 10

What is the meaning and significance of Diwali and how do the customs and traditions compare with other festivals we celebrate?

Another activity to do with a group while the others follow their inquiry.

Use Diwali - Meaning and Significance in a jigsaw learning activity. Cut up the three question cards and give each pair in your group one of the three cards. They read the question and the short description and together work out an answer they can tell someone else.

Pairs split up and form new pairs. Each student in this new pair can explain their question and what they have found out.

Make a big chart like the one on page 2 Diwali - Meaning and Significance. Using a festival they know about e.g. Christmas, the group works together to fill in the groups. You could introduce other celebrations such as Matariki.

Compare these celebrations using a Venn diagram, page 3 Diwali - Meaning and Significance.

Activity 11

What is the most well known Diwali legend and how can we share it with others?

In this activity students can devise and share short scenes that explore how people in contrasting roles use voice, stance and movement to communicate status, feelings or information.

The Rama Returns Legend is perhaps the most well known of the Diwali legends. Read or tell the story and compare it with other legends the students know- the Maui legends for example. Discuss how there are often several versions of a legend or a tale. (Legend of Rama Book is written for younger readers as part of the level 1 and 2 unit.)

Students break the Rama legend into scenes so the story can become a play and they choose one part to act out. Discuss and identify the contrasting roles before you begin. For example, the jealous stepmother and the old king, or the demon king and Sita.

Each scene could be shared with the class and may form the base for the legend being presented as a play as part of the educational resource.

Further legends the students could find out about here are:

• The importance of Dussehra
• Diwali as a Harvest Festival
• The killing of Narakasura
• Lakshmi the Hindu Goddess

Activity 12

Why are cards and poems a special part of Diwali and how are these cards similar to ones we already know about?

Think, pair and share. When do people make or buy cards to send to others?  What occasions do the cards celebrate? Do they always celebrate an occasion or are cards also used for other reasons? Have cards changed in the electronic age?

Explore these electronic Diwali cards. Students can add the text by writing their own Diwali poems.

Activity 13

What is special about the five days of the Diwali festival and what can we do to share each of these five days with others?

Begin by displaying page one of Five days of Diwali on the data projector. Discuss how the celebrations are varied, depending on the customs and the legends of the region. Compare this again with a celebration the students know well - Christmas for example. Families have their own traditions in the way they give out presents. Countries have their own traditions too.

You could do the five days activity as a home base one. Each student gets one of the days in the Five days of Diwali set. They find other students in the class with same card and together they become experts on that day.

Each group must work out a way of teaching others in the class about their day and to do this they must work out a way to share the celebration of this day. The card has some suggestions but if they can work out something themselves, so much the better.

Activity 14

How can we now use the information we have found out for our educational resource to share with others?

Return to the chart Share Diwali. By now the students, through their inquiry and other activities should be able to contribute to the resource. Round off the unit by completing the resource in the way you decided earlier. If you decided to display your findings in expo form you may find Celebrate With Friends useful. (Note: this guide was designed for the level 1 and 2 unit).

If there is a Diwali festival near you, encourage the students to visit it with their families.