Rationale for Book & Instructional Setup
Award-winning author, Ying Chang Compestine, presents an international trickster tale through this picture book, Boy Dumplings. In vivid, engaging illustrations, the story exposes students to Chinese culture - in terms of food and holidays - and a unique literary motif that students will come across in many American fables, as well. Also, the humorous nature of the tale caters to a class's male audience. Although the book revolves around the aforementioned foreign content, its international aspects closely parallel traditions and aspects of American culture with which students will be familiar. Therefore, activating that prior knowledge before reading will enable students to see how making connections during-reading to what they already know - a comprehension reading strategy on the CAFE menu: "Using Prior Knowledge to Connect with Text" (p. 158) - can help them navigate the plot of international books and understand multicultural traditions and lifestyles. Boushey, G. & Moser, J. (2009). Ready reference form: Using prior knowledge to connect with text. In The CAFE book: Engaging all students in daily literacy assessment & instruction (p. 158). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. |
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Book Information
Author: Compestine, Ying Chang Illustrator: Yamasaki, James Title: Boy Dumplings ISBN: 978-0-8234-1955-5 Place of Publication: Hew York Publisher: Holiday House Date of Publication: 2009 Number of Pages: 32 pages Recommended / Listed Price: $16.95 Review: When food offerings from the village people suddenly stop in Compestine’s “Boy Dumplings,” the Garbage-Eating Ghost captures a plump boy with a broken rooster lamp to satisfy his appetite. Taken back to the ghost’s lair, the boy persuades the ghost to follow an intricate set of instructions to prepare him into one thousand “boy dumplings.” Running around town to fetch rotten onions, soy sauce, and worm-infested cabbage, the ghost follows the time-consuming recipe carefully. However, as he bathes the boy and puts him to sleep as per the directions for maximum taste, the ghost inadvertently takes all night to set up his meal. What will happen when day breaks? Will the boy ultimately outwit the Garbage-Eating Ghost? Along with vivid illustrations that capture the character’s emotions throughout this funny ordeal, Compestine includes facts about the Chinese Ghost Festival and a recipe for “Boy-Free Dumplings” in the back of the book. (Ages 5-8). |
Activate Relevant Prior Knowledge Compestine's Boy Dumplings revolves around the Chinese legend of the "Ghost Festival" and a Garbage-Eating Ghost. Teachers should link these two foreign components of story grammar (character and setting) to Halloween and an Americanized monster - the best fit seems to be the vampire. Reading aloud a super short and really fun excerpt about Dracula from Adam Rex's picture book, Frankenstein Takes the Cake, will activate students' prior knowledge about the superstitions surrounding vampires. A brainstorming activity - like a semantic map - should follow the short read-aloud. Students would list everything they know about vampires. Students should be steered away from Twilight-based knowledge of vampires, since such differs drastically from the archetypal vampire of Dracula. Ideally, students will collectively recall that vampires seek human blood and can be warded off my sunlight, crucifixes, wooden stakes, and garlic. The teacher will emphasize that many of the monsters we know are associated with a specific human threat (i.e. Why do zombies attack humans? Want to eat human brains) and protection strategies have been devised in response (i.e. How do we defeat a witch? Water melts them). The teacher should encourage students to be on the lookout for those two monster featuresin the Chinese version of the ghost they are about to be introduced to. Just like the vampire, the Garbage-Eating Ghost also attacks the boy because of a specific desire and has a weakness by which he can be defeated.
Rex, A. (2008). Frankenstein takes the cake. Orlando, FL: HMH Books for Young Readers.
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Introduce Book and Pre-Teach Important Vocabulary In order to navigate and comprehend texts (especially international or multicultural texts), students need background knowledge and schema on the potentially unfamiliar, cultural elements. The pre-reading activity will clarify the "Ghost Festival" by linking it to Halloween. However, in Boy Dumplings, there is another foreign component that may be unknown to students: the Chinese dumpling. If students do not know - and cannot picture - what a dumpling is, they will have difficulty understanding what exactly the ghost is preparing for and what the fate of the boy actually is. Therefore, students should be shown pictures of Chinese soup dumplings. Or, as another method, students could watch a short cooking video of Compestine herself making dumplings. The teacher could also poll students, asking how many of them have had Won-Ton Soup when ordering Chinese take-out. The teacher could point out the similarities between the two. That way students would even have taste associations with the new vocabulary of a Chinese dumpling. But, no matter the method used, the teacher should address that question before reading: What is a dumpling? |
Establish Purpose & Interactive Read Aloud
As the teacher reads the story aloud, students should be prompted to think of how the Garbage-Eating Ghost is similar to vampires and how Chinese Ghost Festival reminds them of Halloween,the Americanized monster and holiday discussed in the pre-reading activity. The teacher should pause periodically and ask a range of comprehension questions during the read-aloud.
An Inside Look and Sneak Peak of Boy Dumplings
Connection / Teaching Point
We've been looking at a broad range of literary genres, like fantasy, realistic fiction, and mystery. Today, we will be looking at another: international literature. It gives us a glimpse into Chinese culture. Does anyone know where China is on the map? (Teacher gestures to map and points to China). We will learn how to use our prior knowledge of American culture to make sense of the foreign elements of the international text. By linking your knowledge of an American holiday and monster - How many of you are familiar with Halloween? What about the vampire? - and seeing the similarities between what you know and what's new, we will be able to follow and understand the story's progression and characterization better. We use prior knowledge to make sense of stories almost unconsciously and with any text, but it is especially helpful when navigating international literature because of the foreign elements.
Modeling Through a think-aloud, the teacher will model how prior knowledge helps readers to understand a story, grounding foreign aspects in something familiar. The teacher should flip to the first page of the story on which the Garbage-Eating Ghost's roaming is explained: the townspeople usually leave food out for him. The teacher should knowledge how early his/her prior knowledge can help him/her comprehend the story. Example teacher think-aloud: "In the first pages of this story, we are introduced to the Garbage-Eating Ghost. But why would the neighborhood leave out food for him? Why would he expect people to leave him food? Maybe it is like a peace offering because the townspeople are afraid of him. Almost like why people give out candy on Halloween. They opt for the "treat" not the "trick"! The Garbage-Eating Ghost is roaming the streets much like trick-or-treaters do on Halloween. And the Halloween tradition is based on how people don't want to get egged or toliet papered, so they offer candy. The Garbage-Eating Ghost can't find any food, so maybe he will pull a "trick" on the townspeople as revenge! When thinking about the Garbage-Eating Ghost like Haloween trick-or-treaters, it doesn't seem that odd anymore that he is roaming around town looking for food offerings." The teacher should then have students recall some of the characteristics of the vampire that they pinpointed in the pre-reading activity. |
Active Engagement
The teacher will prompt the students to think about other ways that the Garbage-Eating Ghost is similar to the vampire. The teacher will provide an informal chart guide students' conversations with a partner. It will include the two questions that they should consider and try to answer: Why does it attack humans? and What is it afraid of? / What can protect us from it? Students should have the opportunity to share. Link / Send Off
As students read their independent reading books, they should think about how their prior knowledge allows you to better understand the story. The teacher should explain that prior knowledge - and how we automatically impose it upon a text, sometimes unconsciously - allows us to make sense of any text, but is particularly helpful in international literature because of the cultural disconnect. On a sticky note, students will write down one piece of prior knowledge and how it was relevant to their independent reading story. Students should have the opportunity share. |
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Keep in the spirit of these food-filled scary stories with special Halloween treats during snack time! Here are some simple ideas!