THE MOUSE’S MARRIAGE

A unit of work created by Jane Liauw, Sue Payne, Andrea

Truckenbrodt and Kelly Vimpani

Illustrated by Makoto Hirabayashi

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The Mouse’s Marriage

Introduction

The Mouse’s Marriage is a well-known traditional Japanese folktale. It is the

frame for a unit of work that will provide students with the opportunity to:

increase their receptive and productive use of Japanese;

develop their understandings of literacy particularly the narrative form and

the use of comprehension strategies to gain meaning from text;

explore the celebration of weddings from an intercultural perspective and

historic perspective.

We use an inquiry-based approach to investigate and develop students’

understandings of Australian, Japanese and any other relevant cultural groups’

wedding ceremonies. We reinforce the use of comprehension strategies to gain

meaning from text and build students’ capacity to read and write hiragana

characters and two kanji characters.

This unit of work is intended for students in Year 3 and 4 who have already learnt

some Japanese. This unit of work potentially reinforces and builds on students’

knowledge of the domains of family, weather and animals. It links in with the

Year 3 Australian Curriculum History Content descriptions which focus on

celebrations and commemorations around the world and an example of daily

life that has changed or remained continuous over time. There is also the

potential to investigate the location of weddings from a geographical

perspective. Finally, within in the Literature sub-strand of the Australian

Curriculum English, there is an opportunity to compare the characters, themes

and settings of The Mouse’s Marriage with Robert Munsch’s The Paperbag

Princess. Alternatively you might like to compare

the Aboriginal legend of The Three Sisters with the

Japanese traditional tale.

Given the generally small time-allocation of

Languages and the richness of this unit of work, a

good option would be to collaborate with the

classroom teacher to share the teaching.

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The Mouse’s Marriage

Goals

Unless otherwise stated, the objectives listed here refer to Japanese.

Students will:

read some family words: / (Mother), /

(Father), (daughter), (family), (son);

identify and name 10 hiragana characters

and use the initial letter/sound strategy to predict the

meaning of familiar words from the text;

write the characters in the ka line of the hiragana chart independently

;

read and write the kanji for (father) and (mother)

recognise ‘little tsu’ and its impact on the pronunciation of words, e.g.

(motto);

use the following adjectives: strong /weak , pretty /not

pretty , happy /sad to describe people

and objects;

make comparisons between different objects and/or people using

motto + adjective and ichiban + adjective;

create their own little book describing and comparing objects of people

of their choice;

understand some key vocabulary related to weddings including groom

, bride , marry , wedding ;

participate in a role-play game requiring students to ask ‘Will you marry

me? and decline (Thank-you, but)

or accept in a culturally-appropriate way;

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The Mouse’s Marriage

use their previous knowledge of Japanese and key new words (e.g. sun

, cloud wind , wall etc.), as well as visual and

contextual clues to understand the story The Mouse’s Marriage;

perform their own version of The Mouse’s Marriage using puppets;

identify similarities and differences between Japanese and Australian

traditional tales (in English);

pose questions to investigate about weddings in Japan and Australia (in

English);

notice that some aspects of weddings in both Japan and Australia have

changed over time and some have remained the same (in English

sing (Please Marry Me song).

Some students may be able to:

sing (The Mouse’s Marriage song by Sue Payne)

independently

use additional vocabulary (e.g. son, bride)

read and write all of the focus hiragana (initial sounds) and some key

vocabulary

complete an inferential reading activity about the characters from the

story

read the text independently

use comparatives and superlatives with previously learned adjectives

write comparative and superlative sentences

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The Mouse’s Marriage

How these materials are organised

The Introduction describes the unit of work in general terms and explores

potential links with different areas of the Australian Curriculum (English, History

and Geography) as well as many of the general capabilities and two of the

cross curricular capabilities.

The Resources section is a checklist of all of the materials identified in the

Learning Activities section. We distinguish between two types of resources (T)

and (S). Those resources that are predominately for teacher use such as

flashcards are designated teacher resources (T). Student sheets (S) generally

require no further modification and are completed by the students. The number

of the resource corresponds with the learning activity where it is first described,

e.g. T2.0.

Objectives are the learning outcomes (skills and understandings) that students

should achieve through participation in the described learning activities. We

provide additional learning outcomes for students performing above the

expected level.

The Learning Activities section is the key part of this unit of work. It describes

what and how the teachers could teach the unit. However, it is not intended to

be prescriptive. Teachers are free to sequence the material as appropriate to

their learners and to add or omit activities depending on the level of prior

knowledge of their learners.

We detail explicit teaching phases and provide different tools for reinforcing

and consolidating students’ knowledge and skills. Formative and summative

assessment tools are suggested at different points in the learning activities.

Where possible alternative resources are included in order to provide

differentiated learning opportunities to support or extend students’ learning.

There are five sub-sections in the Learning Activities section. The sections are not

presented in order; learning activities related to a pedagogic goal (e.g. tuning

in phase, teaching the text) are grouped together. Teachers will organize and

sequence activities from the different sub-sections to ensure maximum student

engagement and learning.

A Reference List is provided for paper-based and digital resources referred to in

the teachers’ notes. The Appendix contains a list of all of the key vocabulary

students will encounter in this unit of work.

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The Mouse’s Marriage

Resources

The storybook and all resource files are provided on the WIKI;

www.themousesmarriage.wikispaces.com in both PDF form and Publisher files.

The original Publisher files are for those who would like to modify the content to

better meet the needs of their students.

Student Resources

S2.0 Kagyou Handwriting Booklet

S3.5 Comparative and Superlative Adjectives Worksheets

S4.3 Story Structure Flowchart

S4.8 Puppet Show Script

S5.2 Please Marry Me Song Worksheet

S5.3 Hello Kitty Bride and Groom

S5.6 Family Tree Photo Frames

S5.8 Kagyou Origami Mini Book

S5.41 Mouse’s Marriage Family Puzzle

S5.42 Mouse’s Marriage Character Puzzle

Teacher Resources

Character Picture Cards

T1.2 Australia Japan Weddings Venn Diagram Template

T1.3 Wedding Vocabulary Word Cards

T2.0 Mouse’s Marriage Hiragana Assessment Record

T2.01 Hiragana Writing Certificate K line

T3.1 Adjectives Picture Flashcards

T3.2 Adjectives Word Flashcards

T3.4 Motto and Ichiban Teaching Cards

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T3.21 Adjectives Memory

T4.1 Picture Cards for Predicting Text

T4.5 The Mouse’s Marriage Modified Storybook

T4.7 Speech Bubbles Matching Activity

T 5.1 Please Marry Me Song

T 5.6 Family Tree Photo Frames

T 5.51 Character Word Bingo

T5.52 Character Picture Bingo

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Learning Activities

1.0 Tuning in phase

The first goal of this stage of the unit is to introduce the topic to the students and

to elicit any prior knowledge or experience they have of weddings. From a

language perspective, the teacher needs to introduce some of the main

vocabulary related to weddings to facilitate greater use of Japanese to discuss

the intercultural aspects of the topic and to pre-teach some of the key

vocabulary necessary to understand the story of The Mouse’s Marriage.

1.1 Using a combination of real props if available, photos and clips from

YouTube, show students images of Australian weddings. By using a combination

of traditional and modern wedding scenes, the students can identify elements

that have changed over time or have stayed the same.

Use one of the following thinking routines from the Artful Thinking Approach

(http://www.pzartfulthinking.org/routines.php) to encourage students to closely

observe and notice features of the materials:

The Elaboration Game;

See – I Think – I Wonder;

Beginning, Middle or End;

Looking 10 x 2.

1.2 Repeat the process using Japanese wedding scenes. Use a Venn

diagram (T1.2) to record aspects of a Japanese wedding and an Australian

wedding to identify similarities and differences.

1.3 Use word cards of the key vocabulary (T1.3) to teach students words such

as wedding, bride, groom. Ask simple questions in Japanese about a wedding

scene such as:

Who is the bride? (a student could come and point out the bride in the picture)

o Who is the mother?

o What colour is the dress?

o Who is this? (the groom)

o Is the wedding in Japan or in Australia?

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The Mouse’s Marriage

1.4 Use the 5Ws and How frame (Either google 5Ws and How or follow this link

to an example of this graphic organizer

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ce/66/ae/ce66ae6e54647c3b02553

b30371521d4.jpg) to elicit inquiry questions about weddings in Australia and

Japan using English.

For example:

Who attends weddings?

What are weddings?

What do people wear?

Why do people wear special clothes?

When are weddings held?

When do people get married?

Where do weddings take place?

Why do people have weddings?

How do people choose a partner?

1.5 Discuss the questions with the class and what sources of information they

can use to investigate these questions. This topic lends itself to having guest

speakers, viewing wedding DVDs and photos as well as students interviewing

their parents or grandparents.

Students may also be familiar with the practices related to weddings of other

cultural groups and they should be encouraged to share this knowledge with

the class.

2.0 Hiragana focus

This unit of work is intended to be a term’s work. Each week students focus on

one new hiragana as well as revising previously learnt hiragana. The correct

stroke order is taught and students practise reading and writing each character.

We have selected the first character of each of the key words from the text and

use these words as a context for learning the character, e.g. for

(mother). (T2.0) is a teacher reference sheet to record students’ acquisition of

the target characters.

Having Fun with Hiragana by Lisa Baker contains many different non-paper

based activities teachers can use to teach, reinforce and revise students’

hiragana knowledge. We recommend that a variety of hands-on learning

activities are used to practise the hiragana and vocabulary of this unit of work.

We have created a writing practice booklet (S2.0). It includes individual

practice sheets for each of the ka line characters and for the two focus kanji: 父

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The Mouse’s Marriage

and 母 as well as summary practice sheets. Obviously materials can be omitted

or added to as appropriate.

It is envisaged that students will do some reading and writing practice each

lesson. If possible, practising the focus character should be part of the students’

weekly spelling words for English and/or Japanese homework.

We have also included a certificate master (T2.01) for students who can

independently and correctly read and write the ka line of the hiragana chart.

This is a piece of summative assessment.

3.0 Preparatory phase

The purpose of the learning activities described in this section is to provide

students with knowledge of the key grammatical structures and vocabulary

necessary to understand the Mouse’s Marriage text.

Students need to know the main characters (nouns), their qualities (adjectives),

comparatives and superlatives and the question: ‘Will you marry my daughter?’.

In this preparatory phase we focus on the adjectives in the story, and explore

making comparisons in Japanese using both this new vocabulary and any

previously learnt adjectives.

3.1 Introduce and reinforce the six focus adjectives:

(T3.1) orally using pictures and/or gestures.

Games like ‘Simon says’ and ‘Charades’ work well.

3.2 Introduce the written form of the words (T3.2), focusing on the initial

character and its sound. Play games like ‘Memory’ (T3.21) and the

game to reinforce students’ recognition of the words.

3.3 Introduce the term ‘adjective’ and discuss its function. The

picture story book Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What is an adjective is a short and

effective way of exploring adjectives. Brainstorm with the class and collect all of

the adjectives students have learnt in the past in Japanese (e.g. colours,

big/small, delicious, hungry etc.).

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3.4 Bring in objects or pictures to illustrate the comparative. For example:

Read two sentence cards with the students (T3.4): happy and

happier . Discuss the meaning of ‘motto’ . Match the

word cards to the images or objects.

Repeat the process using the other focus adjectives until students can predict

the correct comparative form themselves. You will need to make your own

cards based on (T3.4) or use realia.

Draw students attention to the ‘little tsu’ and explain its function. Practise saying

motto .

3.5 Repeat the activities described in 3.4 using the superlative form. This

activity could be done as a class or in small groups with sets of work cards.

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Students complete Worksheet S3.5 to practise both the comparative and

superlative form.

Create your own worksheet using a combination of focus adjectives from this

unit in various forms (particularly strong) and other adjectives previously

encountered by your class.

3.6 Model the making of a comparisons booklet. Fold a landscape sheet of

A4 paper into thirds. Draw a picture of something ‘strong’ on the front, first

page. Write ‘ ’ underneath. Open the flap and draw an image for

‘stronger’ and write the words . Open this flap to reveal the full A4

page. Draw an image of ‘strongest’ and write ‘ ’ underneath. The

text size could increase each time to illustrate the principle.

Students then make their own booklets using any

adjective they know.

Depending on students’ language level, it may be

appropriate for students to write a descriptive

sentence under each image. For example: I am

strong. My brother is stronger. My Dad is the

strongest.

Each student shares their booklet with the class. This could be an oral and/or

written assessment task.

4.0 Teaching the text The Mouse’s Marriage

Revisit the inquiry question of how people choose a husband or a wife. Explain

that there are traditional tales that explore this question and ask students if they

know any relevant tales (e.g. Cinderella - the prince chooses his bride based on

her foot size).

4.1 Show the class pictures from (T4.1). Revise the vocabulary ‘bride’,

‘groom’, ‘wedding’, ‘mother’ and ‘father’. If necessary, introduce and reinforce

any unfamiliar nouns from the story The Mouse’s Marriage: ‘cloud’ , ‘sun’

‘mouse’ , ‘wind’ and ‘wall’ . Explain to the students that

the pictures and words all come from a story they are going to read. Ask the

students to predict the storyline based on the pictures. The teacher uses the

students’ ideas to retell their story using a combination of English and Japanese

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as appropriate. Tell the class they are going to find out how accurate their

prediction was.

4.2 Use props (e.g. laminated cut-outs, apron story available from Sankyo

Global; email Keiko-san at info@sankyoglobal.com.au) to tell the story of The

Mouse’s Marriage in simple Japanese based on the text. The goal here is for

students to get the basic gist of the story. Discuss the inquiry question about

choosing a partner in light of this story.

4.3 In the next steps, students refine their understanding of the plot of the text.

Using the illustrations from The Mouse’s Marriage story book (T4.5) discuss each

picture with the class, asking students to name people and objects, describe

them etc. As a class, guess the order of the pictures. You then read the actual

text to the class and determine if their predictions were correct.

4.4 Distribute Worksheet S4.3. Students draw scenes from the beginning,

middle and end of the story. Students share one of their pictures with the class.

You scaffold the language so that they can describe the scene in Japanese.

Some students may be able to label their pictures or write a simple sentence

under each picture.

4.5 Read the story together with the students using the PowerPoint (T4.5) or

Flipsnack, version of the text, so that students can follow the text with you. You

could also use the PDF version of T4.5 to make a big book.

4.6 Build students confidence in reading the Japanese text using techniques

such as:

choral reading (the whole class or parts of the class read together);

shared reading (you read some of the text and nominate other students to

continue or help you out with a ‘tricky’ word;

cloze activity: leave out strategic words for students to guess;

ask students to come to the front and find key words and explain their

strategy for identifying the word;

reproduce the text on sentence strips and have students order them

according to the plot of the story. Re-read the story to check the accuracy

of the ordering;

distribute cards made from each page of the story. Distribute one card to

each pair of students. The students read the text on their card and then put

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The Mouse’s Marriage

themselves in order according to their recollection of the text. Each pair

reads their page’s text aloud and the class determines if the order is correct;

write a key sentence from the text onto card and then cut up the words and

punctuation. Re-order the sentence with the students. You may want to re-

do this activity in which groups or pairs of students have different sentences

to unjumble.

4.7 Students then complete Activity T4.7 in which they match the speech

bubbles with the correct character. This could be done at two levels. One

version could mirror the actual text and a second version could involve students

inferring what the characters might have said.

4.8 Students act out a simplified version of the play (S4.8) in groups either in

person or using icy pole stick or origami puppets. Some students may wish to

make their own version of the story. This task could be an oral assessment task.

5.0 Enrichment phase

During this phase the teacher provides additional activities to consolidate

knowledge of the focus vocabulary and structures from the story and to practise

students’ Japanese and general literacy skills.

5.1 Teach the Mouse’s Marriage (T5.1) song with gestures for each line. Find a

context for students to perform the song such as assembly or for a younger class.

5.2 Students complete Worksheet S5.2. They sing and read the song text and

highlight all the and illustrate each verse in the boxes

provided.

5.3 Teach the students the question: ‘Will you marry me?’

and the answers ‘Thank you but …’ and ‘Yes’ .

Discuss the preference of most Japanese people to avoid saying no. Ask for

volunteer students to role-play a marriage proposal scenario.

Play the ‘Proposal Game’ which is a variation of ‘Doggy, doggy, who’s got the

bone?’. The children sit in a circle. One child leaves the room for a short time.

One of the remaining children is selected to be the bride or groom. The child

outside is called into the room and stands in the centre of the circle. This child

chooses someone, greets them and then asks ‘Will you marry me?’

. The nominated child answers ‘Thank-you, but..’

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unless they are the chosen bride or groom. The child in the middle has three

chances to guess their prospective bride or groom. If he or she is unable to find

their future partner, they kneel on the floor with their eyes closed and the bride

or groom stands up and says ‘I am the bride/groom’ or

and the child has one last chance to guess the identity of their future

spouse. If a correct guess is made, the rest of the class says ‘Congratulations’

!

It is helpful to keep a record of which students have had an opportunity to be a

bride or groom. The Hello Kitty bride and groom pictures (T5.3) can be made

into cards for the turn-takers to hold as appropriate. That is, the child playing the

bride could hold the bride card and the one who is the groom could hold the

groom card.

5.4 Students complete puzzles S5.41, S5.42 and S5.43 in which they match

pictures of the key vocabulary items with the words (sun, wall, cloud, wind,

bride, groom, wedding, father, mother, son, daughter, mouse).

5.5 Play bingo for reinforcement of key vocabulary from the story. T5.51 has 30

bingo boards containing the character names written in Hiragana while T5.52

uses pictures of the characters.

5.6 Students complete a mini (parents and student) family tree worksheet

(S5.6) by drawing and labeling the relevant family members. T5.6 is a completed

example for the teacher to use to demonstrate the activity.

5.7 Using English word cards of the key features of a narrative (orientation,

initiating event, complications, resolution) ask students to order the cards

correctly. Ask the students whether they think the Japanese traditional tale of

The Mouse’s Marriage ‘fits’ this pattern. Analyse the story and record the

students’ answers on the board.

5.8 Students use the Kagyou Origami Mini Book (S5.8) to practise writing some

focus vocabulary. They may also add other words to each page beginning with

the same sound.

5.9 Read The Paperbag Princess to the class and ask them to identify the

similarities and differences with The Mouse’s Marriage.

5.10 Alternatively, show the students a photo of the Three Sisters mountains in

New South Wales

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Blue_mountains_-

_three_sisters.jpg) and retell one Aboriginal legend about their origin (cf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Australia)

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Compare the two traditional tales, identifying similarities and differences, noting

any unique cultural features.

6.0 Concluding phase

Before concluding this unit of work, it is important to revisit the inquiry questions

and identify any new insights gained. Students might be asked to list at least five

things they have learnt about Australian and Japanese weddings. It is also

important for students to reflect on what new language they have learnt.

References:

Barker, L. 2004. Having Fun with Hiragana. South Yarra: AISV.

PDF files of this book can be downloaded from

http://www.is.vic.edu.au/teachers/learning/lote-resources.htm#japanese

Cleary, B. P. Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What is an adjective? 2001. Minneapolis:

Millbrook Press.

http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/teaching-adjectives.html

Lists picture story books that are good to teach adjectives

Munsch, R. 1980. The Paperbag Princess. Buffalo, NY: Annick Press.

The picture on the front cover of this unit is from http://kimono-

life.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/book-scan-nezumi-no-yomeiri.html

Taguchi, M. 2003. Ohisama Connect. Mingei Australia

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Appendix: List of Key Vocabulary

Nouns

family

Grammar

Adjectives

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Verbs

Miscellaneous