Festivals We Celebrate

An eBook Project on Multicultural Learning

Grade level

Secondary 1 (Key Stage 3)

Theme

Task

Students compose an ebook on a festival celebrated by their schoolmates

No. of lessons

14 lessons (40 minutes each)

Created by Caritas Wu Cheng-Chung College and the University of Hong Kong.

About the unit

To leverage the multicultural background of the students and align with the school’s vision to promote global citizenship, this ebook task is based on the theme “Festivals We Celebrate” and covers the history, rituals, food, customs and attires of different festivals. Students are encouraged to cross cultural boundaries to examine a festival not celebrated at home or to work with a classmate unfamiliar with the festival.

Prior knowledge

Students are familiar with researching, taking notes and creating with iPads.

Learning objectives

By the end of the unit, students will be able to…

create an ebook on the history, rituals, food, customs and attires of a festival
apply effective and appropriate colour schemes, complementary visuals and sensible layout in their ebooks
use the assessment criteria to give constructive feedback to their peers
articulate their understanding of different cultures and festivals and develop respect for others, unity and national identity

Unit Plan

Lessons 1-2

Understanding assessment criteria

T shows ebook sample and discusses assessment criteria with Ss
T presents assessment task
Ss form groups of 4-5 and be assigned roles of Project Manager, Chief Researcher, Chief Editor, and Chief Designer

Scaffold different support to cater for learner diversity

More able: give section titles and guide Ss to report on Google Form

Average: design a WS with clear guiding questions for Ss to fill in

Less able: direct Ss to specific website/ resources

Lesson 3

Plan

Surveying the whole school

T guides Ss in designing an online questionnaire and rehearsing their presentation to collect data on what and how festivals are celebrated across the whole student population of the school
Ss collect data in morning assembly

Design

Lessons 8-10

Designing

T presents ebook sample again and remind Ss of the assessment criteria
T demonstrates key functions of Book Creator
Ss work in groups to complete the design
Ss regularly present on their progress and difficulty at the end of each lesson

Lessons 11-13

Sharing and Peer assessment

Ss present ebooks and share their design decisions made
T guides Ss to give constructive feedback based on the assessment criteria
Ss complete a Peer Assessment Form

Remind Ss that all group members share responsibility for the ebook, while the Chief is only accountable for final decisions in one area

Lesson 4-7

Researching and outline

Ss choose a festival to focus on from the survey results
Ss research and take note under the section titles history, ritual & customs, food, attires and fun facts

In a multicultural school, there are many festivals celebrated across different cultures. Even the same festivals may be celebrated with different customs between students of different background

• Encourage Ss to choose a festival outside of their cultural boundaries

• Remind Ss to take note of the source of information and visuals

• Set a SMART goal for each lesson dedicated to the design phase (e.g. finish 2 pages or record voice over for 4 pages) and hold Ss accountable to the goal

Differentiate support and expectation

More able: include personalised visuals of festival celebration or reaction about learning this festival

Average: present information meaningfully under each section

Less able: use layout suggestions for each section