Unit Overview

Year Level and Unit Title Year 4, the Chinese idiom story the blind men and the elephant
Duration Two lessons
Key Question What can we learn from the story the blind men and the elephant

The rationale this unit

This unit was designed based on Chinese language in F-10 curriculum in Australian Curriculum. The main topic of this
unit is about the Chinese idiom story the blind men and the elephant. The context of the story contains some new
vocabulary and grammatical structures that students can use in daily conversations, and the moral of the story gives
students an opportunity to learn about Chinese culture. At the end of the unit students should be able to retell the
story in Chinese and explain the moral of it in English.

Main Learning Areas Curriculum Outcomes

Chinese language Chinese

Communicating Informing
Understanding Obtain and process information about significant people,
places and events from spoken and visual sources, and
convey this information using learnt phrases and key words
Minor Learning Areas
[Key concepts: significance, self, family, neighborhood,
environment; Key processes: participating, noticing,
English recognizing, responding, listening] (ACLCHC019)
Literacy
Language Creating
Respond to and create simple imaginative texts using voice,
Digital Technologies rhythm, and appropriate gesture and action
Digital Technologies Processes and Production [Key concept: imagination; Key processes: feeling,
participating, noticing, recognizing, responding, listening]
Skills
(ACLCHC021)

English
Expressing and developing ideas
Understand that the meaning of sentences can be enriched
through the use of noun groups/phrases and verb
groups/phrases and prepositional phrases (ACELA1493)

Interacting with others

Interpret ideas and information in spoken texts and listen for
key points in order to carry out tasks and use information to
share and extend ideas and information (ACELY1687)

Technologies
Digital Technologies Processes and Production Skills
Collect, access and present different types of data using
simple software to create information and solve problems
(ACTDIP009)
Outcomes
- Understand the story the blind men and the elephant through context
- Acquire the new vocabulary and grammatical structures in the context
- Be able to retell the story in Chinese
- Understand the moral of the story and explain it in English

PRODUCT & ASSESSMENT

Main assessment Students will learn about the context in groups
Each group will give a presentation about the story
Knowledge Focus

Declarative Knowledge Procedural Knowledge

(What do I want my learners to know?) (What do I want my learners to be able to do?)
The meaning of the story To retell the story in Chinese
New vocabulary in the context To explain the moral in the story
The moral of the story To use tools to figure out new words

VOCABULARY CONCEPTS
blind men to lead to touch The moral of the story
to strive; carrot stone;
tail rope

Specific Student Needs and Adjustments

Specific student needs Adjustments and considerations
Low Achievers - Could need more time understanding the context
than others
- Could need more time comprehending the moral
High Achievers - Could retell the story using more complex
sentences
- Could explain the moral deeper than others

Key Resources for Unit

Interactive whiteboard
PowerPoint with the context of the story (Index) and pictures as visual aids
IPad with connection to the Internet (with the apps Pleco, Hanzi Writer, and Anki)
 Lesson
Resources Assessment
sequence Learning Experiences
Focus
Students will recall verbs they have learnt Interactive
Prior
whiteboard
Knowledge
PowerPoint
Understanding Students will be engaged in the plot of the story Interactive Answering the questions
the story and understand it by listening and watching whiteboard about the story
Acquiring new Students will learn about new words and iPad Group discussion
vocabulary characters in groups
Discovering Students will discuss the moral of the story in iPad Group discussion
the moral of English in groups
the story
Retelling the Students will retell the story in Chinese through PowerPoint Group presentation
story in group presentation Interactive
Chinese Whiteboard
Students will try to explain what the story is PowerPoint Group presentation
Explaining the telling us in English through group presentation Interactive Absorb and understand
moral Whiteboard information while listening to
peers
 Index
Once upon a time, there was a king.

He told his people to lead an elephant to him and ask some blind men to feel it with hands.

Then he asked each one of them to describe the shape of the elephant.

His people led an elephant to him.

Several blind men surrounded it and felt it with their hands.

The king asked them: "What do you think the elephant resembles?"
?
All these blind men strove to be the first to answer.

The first blind man touched the elephant's tusk and said:" It resembles a long carrot!
:
The second blind man touched the elephant's ear and said: "The elephant resembles a fan!"
:
The third blind man touched its head and said: it is like a big stone!
:
The fourth blind man touched its back and said: It is like a bed!
:
The fifth blind man touched the elephants belly and said: It is like a wall!
:
"Ha! Ha! All of you are wrong." The last blind man pulled the elephants tail and said:
!:
"Let me tell you that the elephant resembles a long and thin rope."

Upon this the king and his officials all burst into laughter.

The moral of the story:

Each one of the blind men touched one single part of the elephant and gave their opinions about what the
elephant looks like. As a result, their answers are very different from each other and none of them are correct.
Therefore, we can learn from the story that we should not draw conclusion from incomplete data.