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Picture the Story Presentation - Teacher Guide

 

 

 

About Rukhsana Khan

Rukhsana has been writing for over fifteen years with seven books published, several of which have been nominated and/or won various awards.  Along the way she also became a storyteller and has performed at numerous festivals. 

 Rukhsana was born in Lahore, Pakistan and immigrated to Canada, with her family, at the age of three.  She began by writing for community magazines and went on to write songs and stories for the Adam's World children's videos.  She currently has six books published and others under contract.  Rukhsana is a member of SCBWI, The Writers Union of Canada, CANSCAIP, Storytellers of Canada, and the Storytelling School of Toronto.   She lives in Toronto with her husband and family.  Rukhsana has four children, three girls and a boy.

 

Picture the Story

Focusing on her picture books, personal stories and folktales from the region, Rukhsana will immerse the students in stories set in Muslim/South Asian culture. 

 

Themes in the Performance

Silly Chicken 

  • Sibling rivalry

  • The ‘silliness’ of jealousy

  • Empathy

  • Increasing emotional vocabulary

  • Love

  • Pakistani culture (terms and references to daily life in Pakistan)

Ruler of the Courtyard

  • Overcoming fear by facing it

  • Bullying

  • Pakistani culture (terms and references to daily life in Pakistan)

 The Big Red Lollipop

  • Differences in culture (e.g. traditions re: Birthdays)

  • Greed and temptation

  • Sibling conflicts

  • Redemption

 

Pre-Performance Discussion topics and Activities

Kindergarten – Grade 3: 

  1. Find Pakistan, and then Lahore on a map. (Social Studies)

  2. What is the climate like?  How hot does it get in the daytime in summer?  In winter?  How cool does it get at night?

  3. What kind of clothes do people in Pakistan wear? (shalwar kameez)  In Silly Chicken and Ruler of the Courtyard  the women are wearing shalwar kameez.  Men wear them too.

  4. Colour the picture of a shalwar kameez included below.  Remember to add in some decorations especially at the neck and sleeves.  Where does the ‘nala’ go?  What does the nala do?  (The ‘nala’ is a drawstring that is used to gather up the many folds of the shalwar.)  (Social Studies /Visual Art)

  5. If there are South Asian children in the class maybe one of them could bring in a shalwar kameez  and nala to show the others.

  6. In the story Silly Chicken the girl Rani brings some ‘ice cold lussi’ for her mother.  Teachers, make some lussi for the students to taste.  Take one part butter milk add one part water, a little bit of salt and some ice cubes.  This drink was often used to cool people during the long hot Pakistani summers.

  7. What kind of snakes live in Pakistan? (cobras and other venomous snakes)  What would you do if you saw a snake? (Social Studies/Science)

 


 

Kameez

                                                                                                            Nala

Shalwar


 

 

Post Performance Discussion Topics and Activities

Silly Chicken

Discussion Topics:

  1. According to Rani, when did Ami start showing Bibi too much attention?

  2. Do you think Bibi the chicken is really as silly as Rani thinks she is?  Explain.

  3. Why does Rani dislike Bibi the chicken so much? 

  4. There are many emotions that we can feel:  happy, sad, angry, jealous, and surprised.  Which of these emotions is Rani feeling toward Bibi?

  5. Why does Rani get angry when Ami brings Bibi inside and makes a nest in the cupboard?

  6. Do you think she’s right to get angry?  Would you be angry if that happened to you? Explain.

  7. Why doesn’t Rani want Bibi to have her old dress?

  8. Could the story take place where you live?  Explain your answer.

  9. How can you tell right away that this story takes place in another country?

  10. How would the story be different if Bibi told the story? 

  11. How would the story be different if Ami told the story?

  12. Rani’s name means ‘Queen’ and Bibi’s name means ‘Miss’.  Why do you think the author chose these names for the story?

  13. If you wrote a story about a pet how would it be different?

  14. Describe how Rani acts when they hear the strange noise?

  15. What do you think will happen after the story?

  16. There are some foreign words in the story:  tonga, lussi, buchi.  With help from the illustrations explain what these words mean.

  17. Do you think Bibi understood Rani when Rani told her she’d like to eat her?

  18. How did the chick get in the cupboard?

  19. What probably happened to Bibi?

Activities:

  1. Write a story about a time when you may have felt the same way as Rani.

  2. Check the illustrations throughout the book.  Are Bibi’s legs really that long and unusual for a chicken?  Why does Rani say this about Bibi?

  3. Act out the story. 

  4. Write a song or chant that Rani might compose about Buchi.

Class Project

This book works very well with chick hatching projects done in primary classrooms.  What temperature did it have to be where Rani was living for the chick to hatch?  (Note:  this story is based on a true story where a chick really did hatch in a cupboard in Pakistan.)

A Helpful Website to start up a Chick Hatching Project: 

www.multiscope.com/hotspot/brooder8.htm

 

Ruler of the Courtyard

 Discussion Topics: 

  1. What is it about the chickens that most scares Saba?

  2. Who rules the courtyard at the beginning of the story?  Who rules it at the end?

  3. How do Saba’s feelings for her Nani (grandmother) allow her to overcome her fear of the snake?

  4. How would you describe the behavior of the chickens towards Saba?

  5. At the beginning of the story, where do you think Saba spends most of her time?

  6. At the end of the story, where do you think she’ll be spending most of her time?

  7. How often do you think Saba has to face the chickens?  Is being afraid of them a big problem for her?

  8. Would this story be the same if it took place where you live?  Why or why not?

  9. How would the story be different if told through one of the chicken’s eyes?

  10. How has Saba’s opinion of chickens changed by the end of the story?

  11. If you wrote a story about fear how would it be different?

  12. Do you think Saba will get afraid easily after the story?

  13. Do you think that it is convincing that Saba is no longer afraid of the chickens after she’s dealt with the snake?  Explain why.

  14. Why do Saba’s sentences get so short and choppy after she sees the snake?

  15. How do you think the drawstring got in the bath house?

  16. Why can’t Saba just sneak past the snake?

  17. In the illustrations sometimes the snake appears very close and sometimes it appears very far.  Why do think the artist played with perspective in this way?

  18. Discuss other fears and ways in which people can overcome them

 Activities: 

  1. Write a story where you deal with something you’re afraid of.

  2. Act out the story. 

  3. The illustrations of each page really convey the emotions Saba is feeling.  Using a mirror, turn each page and try to imitate the expression on Saba’s face.  Check the mirror and see if you’re successful.   How many different expressions of fear can you see?

  4. After Saba sees the snake, notice how the sentences change.  Clap out the rhythm of the sentences while someone reads them out loud.  What does the rhythm remind you of?

  5. Write a song or chant that the chickens might compose about Saba.

  6. Tell family stories where you or a family member faced a danger.  Were you able to overcome your fear?

  7. Play some music and have the children move like a snake. Then challenge them to do it at different levels, speeds and directions.  Do the same for chickens.

The Big Red Lollipop 

Discussion Topics: 

  1. How would the story be different if told through Rubina’s point of view?

  2. Which of the characters in the story appeals to you the most?  Why?

  3. Which of the characters do you feel sorry for?  Why?

  4. Why do you think Rubina told Ami not to make Rukhsana take baby Nyla to the party she was invited to?  If you were Rubina, would you do that?

  5. How would you describe the shape of this story?  (circular)  Does it end where it began? 

  6. What other circular stories can you think of? 

  7. Is Silly Chicken a circular story?  If so, why?

  8. Is Ruler of the Courtyard a circular story?  If so, why?

  9. How would the story be different if Rukhsana had eaten the green lollipop too?  Which ending would you prefer?

  10. How would the story be different if Rubina had slammed the door in Rukhsana’s face before Rukhsana could give her the green lollipop?

Activities: 

  1. Draw a picture of your favourite part of the story.

  2. What are things that you have been tempted by ie. a sister’s piece of cake, a brother’s stick of gum, etc.

  3. Write a story of what happened.  Did you get away with being greedy?  How was the situation resolved?

  4. Make an idea journal.  Create a small notebook and carry it around with you.  When you get an idea, write it down. Maybe you can grow that idea into a story.

 Additional Resources:

 From the following website this information about climate in Pakistan was obtained:

 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/pktoc.html

Pakistan

 

Climate

Pakistan lies in the temperate zone. The climate is generally arid, characterized by hot summers and cool or cold winters, and wide variations between extremes of temperature at given locations. There is little rainfall. These generalizations should not, however, obscure the distinct differences existing among particular locations. For example, the coastal area along the Arabian Sea is usually warm, whereas the frozen snow-covered ridges of the Karakoram Range and of other mountains of the far north are so cold year round that they are only accessible by world-class climbers for a few weeks in May and June of each year.

 

Pakistan has are four seasons: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. The onset and duration of these seasons vary somewhat according to location.

The climate in the capital city of Islamabad varies from an average daily low of 2° C in January to an average daily high of 40° C in June. Half of the annual rainfall occurs in July and August, averaging about 255 millimeters in each of those two months. The remainder of the year has significantly less rain, amounting to about fifty millimeters per month. Hailstorms are common in the spring.

 

Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, which is also the country's industrial center, is more humid than Islamabad but gets less rain. Only July and August average more than twenty-five millimeters of rain in the Karachi area; the remaining months are exceedingly dry. The temperature is also more uniform in Karachi than in Islamabad, ranging from an average daily low of 13° C during winter evenings to an average daily high of 34° C on summer days. Although the summer temperatures do not get as high as those in Punjab, the high humidity causes the residents a great deal of discomfort.

 

Most areas in Punjab experience fairly cool winters, often accompanied by rain. Woolen shawls are worn by women and men for warmth because few homes are heated. By mid-February the temperature begins to rise; springtime weather continues until mid-April, when the summer heat sets in. The onset of the southwest monsoon is anticipated to reach Punjab by May, but since the early 1970s the weather pattern has been irregular. The spring monsoon has either skipped over the area or has caused it to rain so hard that floods have resulted. June and July are oppressively hot. Although official estimates rarely place the temperature above 46° C, newspaper sources claim that it reaches 51° C and regularly carry reports about people who have succumbed to the heat. Heat records were broken in Multan in June 1993, when the mercury was reported to have risen to 54° C. In August the oppressive heat is punctuated by the rainy season, referred to as barsat, which brings relief in its wake. The hardest part of the summer is then over, but cooler weather does not come until late October.  

Another website with useful information about Pakistan:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107861.html

 

Curriculum Connections: (selected from Grades K - 3)

Teachers please note: These curriculum connections were taken from the Ontario guidelines.  Curriculum requirements vary from board to board but many of these connections may be applicable to your classroom.

Language Arts

Primary

  • demonstrate an understanding of appropriate listening behaviour by using active listening strategies

  • identify comprehension strategies and use them before, during, and after listening in order to understand and clarify the meaning of oral texts,

  • identify some non-verbal cues, including facial expression, gestures, and eye contact, and use them in oral communications

  • demonstrate understanding of a text by retelling the story or restating information from the text

  • read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and informational texts,

  • write short texts using several simple forms

  • use familiar words and phrases to communicate relevant details

  • proofread and correct their writing using a simple checklist

  • write from different points of view

Social Studies

Primary

  • compare the characteristics of their community to those of a different community

  • compare buildings and structures in urban and rural communities, and in different countries

  • explain how communities interact with each other and the environment to meet human needs

  • compare the characteristics of their community to those of a different community (e.g. Canada and Pakistan)

  • consult map legends when looking for selected features and recognize a range of features that may be represented by different colours on map (e.g. Locating places mentioned in presentation ie. Lahore, Pakistan) 

The Arts
 

Primary

 

Music 

·        communicate their thoughts and feelings about the music they hear, using language and a variety of art forms and media

·        express their response to music from a variety of cultures

 Drama/Dance

·        interpret and communicate the meaning of stories, poems, plays, and other material drawn from a range of sources and cultures

·        demonstrate an understanding of a character's point of view through writing and speaking in role

 Visual Art

·        produce two- and three-dimensional works of art that communicate ideas

·        recognize and name the warm (red, orange, yellow) and cool (purple, green, blue) colours, and describe their emotional impact