Picturebook-Based Primary English Lesson Plan for ICE

School Kbs Weilust Student Teacher Name Ping Dai

Picturebook Title Sometimes I feel like a fox by Danielle Daniel
Lesson Theme Positive personal and cultural identity

Materials Sometimes I feel like a fox Book, worksheets, a clean white board/white wall, a desk, a chair,
camera/phone, printer, paper, crayons, markers
Group / Class: Group 7 Lesson Duration 60 mins

Lesson Objectives:
Think about what you want to achieve, what you want children to be able to do at the end of your
lesson. Think about the language & ICE aspect (vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar) or the language
skill (listening, reading, writing, speaking) you want to develop. You can also focus on aspects and
values such as building confidence and increasing inter-cultural awareness. Think about which materials
you will use.

Summary

This is a lesson related to the Anishinaabe tradition of totem animals. Students explain why they identify
with different creatures such as a deer, beaver or moose. Students will illustrate and write their own
"sometimes I feel like a..." based on the characteristics of the animal in the Anishinaabe tradition.
Students could bring in stories from their own respective cultures as another activity.

Pre-Reading Phase: Pre-Discover the story

Think about how to engage and excite the student about the book (or pages) you are going to read
together. Think about ways / activities of exploring and pre-discovering the books. Think about how you
can explore pre-existing knowledge and share it. Think about how children can work together and how
you can guide them. Think about how you can use the illustrations to help your lesson objective.

Step-by-Step
1. Have students choose a favorite animal what they would like to be.
2. Let them make their bodies look like the animals.
3. Ask students what the animals feel.
4. What are the animals’ qualities that you can learn to be better persons? (Patience, loyalty, how to
be a friend, how to show you care or really like someone).

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Reading Phase: Discover
Think about how you will read the book together, in small groups (circular) and how you can make this
process interactive. Think about which materials, activities, gestures etc you will use.

Step-by-Step

1. Read Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox as a class

2. Deliver worksheet No.1 to all the students. Instruct students to cut all the animals and descriptions.
3. Fold a A4 size paper into 13 sections.  Cut the heading "What Totem Animal Are you?" and glue it to
the top of the page.  Then, glue one animal in the left-hand corner of each section.
4. Reread the story to the class and discuss which totem animal's description best fits each picture and
then glue it beside. I will show the description on the smartboard to make it more clear for students.
5. Ask students to reflect and discuss with each other about what animal they identify with them most.
Once they have made their decision, ask them to decide what position they would like their picture to
be taken in.

Post-Reading Phase: Expand

Think which activities you can add, design around the book for children to revise, practice and expand
on what you are teaching them. Think about how you can make links to ICE and other subjects. Think
about which activities you can use to stimulate active use of English (running dictation etc…). Think
about how you can use the images, text or both. Think about how you will give feedback and
complete error correction.

Step-by-Step

1. Set up the photo studio by a clean white board/ wall, a desk, a chair. Invite students to take pictures.
2. Have them waiting in turns.
3. Print pictures and deliver to students. Instruct students to transform their picture into their totem
animal using markers and crayons.
4. Hand out worksheet No.2. Ask students write why they feel like the animals they choose. If they
want, they could also write in poems like the original book.
5. We post the poems and along with art works on the board.

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Materials:

1. The book

2. Work sheet No.1

What Totem Animal Are you?

Confident Sensitive
Brave Loving
Protective Kind

Determined Elegant
Busy Vulnerable
Practical Traveler

Gentle Wise
Strong Intuitive
Perceptive Cautious

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 Adventurous Peaceful
Creative Patient
Quick Reflective

Intelligent Curious
Loyal Innocent
Family-Oriented Imaginative

Truthful Observant
Mysterious Clever
Balanced Sharp

3. Work Sheet No.2

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A

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 By:
4. A clean white board/white wall, a desk, a chair, camera/phone, printer, paper, crayons,
markers

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 Ping Dai
Reflection on teaching Sometimes I feel like a fox
English Methodology
2021 Minor TEA

It was not easy for me to decide which ICEPELL pictures I would like to develop a lesson plan. The ICEPELL
collections are amazing! The pictures books are all well-selected which cover diverse content and theme,
illustration, backgrounds, etc. It was hard to choose especially when I have to think about how it combines
foreign-language education and citizenship education.

The reason why I choose this book, it was start with the animals. When I saw the cover of the book, the fox caught
my eyes. I took a glance at the book quickly. It reminded me of the Zodiac of Chinese Culture. The Chinese
zodiac is a classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to
each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. I was born in the dog’s year. Thus, my zodiac is a dog. The dog zodiac
means loyalty, cautious, etc.

The book shows the similarity between two different cultures. In this way, I am more curious about the content
and background information about it. In this introduction to the Anishinaabe tradition of totem animals, young
children explain why they identify with different creatures such as deer, beaver, or moose. Delightful illustrations
show the children wearing masks representing their chosen animal, while the few lines of text on each page work
as a series of simple poems throughout the book. In a brief author’s note, Danielle Daniel explains the importance
of totem animals in Anishinaabe culture and how they can also act as animal guides for young children seeking to
understand themselves and others. I felt I could do many interesting activities when I saw Danielle Daniel's
incredible artwork. Finally, I choose the book.

I would like to teach this book to group 7 students in Kbs. Weilust elementary school. The book also is taught in
lower grades, but I think it is more appropriate if I want students to think deeper about characteristics and write
about their feelings. The students in group 7 learned some knowledge about the world in Geography and History
lessons. In the first lesson I met them, they were extremely excited that they asked me hundreds of questions about
me and China. They are so curious about the world and different cultures. I think my students will be mesmerized
by the idea that children in the Anishinaabe culture have a totem animal and that each animal has such distinct
character traits, just like them!

It will not take students long to figure out what animal they identified. I came up with a few ideas students could
have success with. In the first activity, they will identify the character traits of each animal. The next activity is to
create their own illustrations and write their own "sometimes I feel like a..." based on the characteristics of the
animal in the Anishinaabe tradition. Or if they want, they could bring other cultural features into this activity. The
lesson is designed as part related to health, art, social studies, literacy. It fits the requirements with Interculture
citizenship which needs to fulfill the learning objectives which are linguistic objectives, Interculture objectives,
and citizenship objectives.

Besides, I choose this book for the class because it perfectly matched their needs. Now they are learning English
by using the coursebook Take it easy. The content was mainly about basic words of life. For example, we are
learning about food in this unit and the next unit is about spare time. This book gives me a chance to address the
topic which is not going to appear in their daily courses. Students can learn to be a more positive person and think
about their identity in the class and society what they could contribute to this world like in the Anishinaabe
tradition how they take care of each other. It provides students a window to see another world, broaden their
views. The book will make students realize the diversity of the world. They will become more open and tolerant
of other cultures. This experience will not be only new for them, but it will also be a surprising journey for me to
teach in such a different way by using the marvelous book. It makes both students and I discover more about the
world.
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In the end, I would like to say it is really a great chance that we could use ICEPELL pictures to give a good
impact to students which will possibly build up a more diverse colorful world. Just like my paintings of ICE.

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