Three+Cups+Unit+Rationale

**__ Unit Rationale: Three Cups of Tea __** There is an old Balti proverb that states, “The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family.” This unit centers on Greg Mortenson’s book, “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time”. Mortenson’s humanitarian efforts are aimed to reduce poverty and promote education for girls in Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan, while ultimately establishing the Central Asia Institute (CAI). Mortenson details all of his life experiences, struggles, and accomplishments throughout his non-fiction book.

This unit is geared toward teaching a 10th grade English class in a diverse, suburb of San Francisco, California. The students come from different socio-economic statuses and backgrounds, each bringing their own unique perspective to the classroom. Students are expected to have acquired previous information from their 9th grade English classes, and be ready to apply that toward reading literature from outside the United States. The focus will primarily be on Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also include reading and interpreting musical lyrics from around the world. This unit’s focus is taken from Standard 3: Literature and Culture, which asks students to “study and appreciate a rich and varied selection of classical and contemporary literary, cultural, and historical texts from American, British, and world traditions. They learn to make meaning from the experiences, ideas, and emotions of others across the ages, applying their understanding to contemporary circumstances.”

This unit will address global issues, such as, religion and culture, while analyzing the positive and negative stereotypes associated with them. Students will do this by using another portion of Standard 3, which prompts students to “analyze and evaluate the portrayal of various groups, societies, and cultures in literature and other texts” (CE 3.1.7). Students will participate in small group discussions that ask them to reflect on the reading and answer “The Question of the Day”. These questions will encourage students to understand ways different cultures communicate, clash, and resolve issues. With a close textual reading of Mortenson’s book, students will analyze the struggle best through the conflict in Northern Pakistan, as well as the American conflict with Pakistan in a post-9/11 state.

In addition to reading the main text for this unit, students will explore other global texts through reading, viewing, and listening. Standard 2 asks students to, “interpret the meaning of written, spoken, and visual texts by drawing on different cultural, theoretical, and critical perspectives” (CE 2.2.3). Listening to the music of Bob Marley and John Lennon, students will attempt to find how the symbolism, tone and themes have affected people around the world. Students will be asked to explore other diverse artists, and find ways their lyrics have prompted change or inspired people from around the globe. The purpose of this lesson is for students to find commonalities and differences among diverse cultures in media, and then build connections to the main text.

Another crucial part of the unit is for students to “draw on a variety of critical perspectives to respond to and analyze works of literature (e.g., religious, biographical, feminist, multicultural, political)” (CE 3.3.3). Students will do this by reading, and listening, to famous speeches recited by Mohandas Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Both speeches align well with Mortenson’s text by specifically addressing the education problems children from around the world face, and the solutions that have worked for other nations. Students will analyze the works of these religious and political figures, while attempting to discover what the characteristics of an effective speech are, and how it is able to speak for a variety of proposes and audiences.

The summative assessment will closely examine the symbolism behind the three cups of tea. By the end of the unit, students will know that the first cup of tea is given to a stranger, the second cup is given to an honored guest, and the third cup establishes you as family. Students will be asked to create a project that shows the steps Greg Mortenson had to go through to receive each cup of tea. Each step will require students to cite the specific examples in Mortenson’s book, leading up to how he was finally able to earn the third cup of tea, making him Balti family. Students are also able to choose an alternative project that asks them to research two other global organizations, SOS Children’s Villages and The Girl Effect, and create a similar project.

As part of the unit’s culminating activity, students will conduct a traditional Balti tea ceremony that will invite all members of the community to participate in. Students will present their projects to the community as well. The ceremony will also double as a fundraiser for the Central Asia Institute (CAI), raising money and awareness for Greg Mortenson’s efforts.

This thematic unit will push students to learn about areas of the world that are commonly misunderstood and ignored in most American schools. Students will broaden their horizons by reading, viewing, and listening to global texts, as well as building connections to their own culture. Students will become aware of global issues through reading literature and begin to understand how the role of culture plays in defining ourselves as individuals.