China’s Gifts to the World SUMMARY This book describes the art and culture of China. It focuses on the ancient art of calligraphy, describing the process by which calligraphers make their own ink and study how to make the 50,000 characters in the Chinese written language. LESSON VOCABULARY bristles diverse flourished inspiration muffled translation dialects expedition ingredient literate techniques INTRODUCE THE BOOK INTRODUCE THE TITLE AND AUTHOR Introduce students to the title and the author of the book. Ask students what kind of information they think this book will provide, based on the title. 3.6.2 CAUSE AND EFFECT GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS READ THE BOOK SET PURPOSE Have students set a purpose for reading China’s Gifts to the World. Students’ interest and curiosity about China and the Chinese language can guide this purpose. As students read, suggest that they take down notes that might provide answers to any questions they have about the subject. STRATEGY SUPPORT: GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS To give students more support in learning to summarize and organize what they read, help them apply a graphic organizer to reading this book. For instance, draw attention to the chart on page 23. Ask students how it helps to make the Chinese character clear. COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS PAGE 5 How was China kept isolated from the rest of the world for so many years? (It is surrounded by tall mountains and huge deserts.) BUILD BACKGROUND Discuss with students PAGE 11 Read the poem by Li Po. What feeling what they know about China. What do they know about the art of calligraphy? Ask students if they ever studied an art form (music, drawing) that required lots of practice. does this poem give you? (peaceful, calm, happy) PREVIEW/USE ILLUSTRATIONS AND CAPTIONS Suggest students skim the text and look at the illustrations and captions. Ask students what clues these elements give them as to what this book might be about. Ask students to look at the historical map on page 4. Have the