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Social Studies: Learning about
Calligraphy
Preparation
Teachers:
- Prepare or obtain an enlarged example of
Chinese, Korean, or Japanese calligraphy.
- Locate books and other printed resources
on Chinese, Korean, or Japanese methods of
writing for reference. See Preparation and
Resources.
- Recruit a volunteer skilled in Chinese,
Korean, or Japanese calligraphy as a
demonstrator. This person can be a relative
of a student, or a volunteer from the local
East Asian communities.
Teacher Comment
We were fortunate to have a parent of one of our
students come to class and demonstrate
calligraphy. She also translated into Chinese
words the students suggested, e.g., love,
strength, and friendship, which they would later
use.
Materials
butcher paper
colored markers
Chinese paint brushes
drawing paper
black paint (use thicker paint to avoid the
problem of watery or runny paint)
cups of water
Activity
- Post the enlarged example of calligraphy
in the classroom. Ask students for their
observations and thoughts about what it is
and how to make it. Ask if they think it
would be easy or hard to create and why.
- Have students compare their preferred
handwriting styles. For example, some
students stylize their handwriting making
circles for dots on Is, etc.
- Ask students from different cultures to
show samples of their writing.
- Briefly discuss
- different forms of communication in small
groups. Generate a class list of forms of
communication (sign language, Morse code,
cursive, manuscript, body language, etc.);
- the history of the Latin alphabet used in
the English language.
- Discuss differences in the directions of
writing: left to right for English, top to
bottom and right to left for Chinese and
Japanese.
- Describe the history of East Asian
writing, focusing on the following key
points to aid students in understanding the
interdependence of these countries.
- China: the earliest known Chinese writing
dates to 1600-1050 BC. The first emperor of
China, Qinshihuangdi, prescribed standard
forms of script for writing.
- Korea: Koreans used primarily Chinese
characters (hanja) until 1443 when King
Sejong the Great commissioned scholars to
create a phonetic system of Korean writing,
now called hangul. Both hangul and
hanja are
still used in modern Korea.
- Japan: the modern Japanese writing system
combines Chinese characters (kanji) with two
Japanese phonetic syllabic scripts (kana)
known as hiragana and katakana.
- Tie in three perfections-painting, poetry,
and calligraphy. In East Asia, calligraphy,
literally "beautiful writing,"
shares with poetry and painting the use of
brush and ink. As a treasured art form,
calligraphy is thought to be the ultimate
means of expression of personal character
and learning.
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Guest demonstrator writing
Chinese words for happiness |
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Have demonstrator show students the art of
calligraphy. The demonstrator will describe
how they were trained in calligraphy. The
teacher can point out cultural similarities
and differences in the ways students have
learned to write. The demonstrator should
write easier symbols for words, e.g.
happiness, love, peace, sun, and moon. Save
these examples for student reference in
later lessons.
- Students use Chinese paintbrushes and
black paint to practice on white paper,
using instructional books or samples from
the demonstrator. (Students should be given
time to practice their calligraphy for
upcoming lesson.)
Art: Writing Chinese Words
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Handout #1 |
Background
The first Chinese writing was etched into
tortoise shells and animal bones. Over the next
6,000 years the language and writing continued
to evolve to include over 40,000 characters.
Mastery of calligraphy can take a lifetime to
accomplish.
With such a daunting history, keep things
simple. Compare a Chinese brush to a school
watercolor brush the students are familiar with.
Call attention to the bamboo handle, pointing
out the way the brush hairs tapered to a point,
which allows for the creation of thick to thin
lines by varying the amount of pressure. See
Handout #1. Demonstrate how in East Asia the
brush is held in a vertical manner.
Although there are thousands of Chinese
characters they are all created with six to
eight basic strokes. See Handout #2.
Materials
Chinese brushes. Standard school watercolor
brushes may be used if these are not available.
watercolors or black sumi ink
white drawing paper or rice paper
Handout #1 Using a Chinese brush
Handout #2 The Six Basic Strokes
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Student
holding the brush vertically |
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Handout
#2 |
Activity
- Have students hold the brush vertically.
- Using black watercolor paint and Handout
#1 have students practice creating thick to
thin lines by varying the pressure on the
brush.
- Have students practice the six basic
strokes on Handout #2.
- After practicing the basic strokes, have
students practice coping Chinese words using
copies of examples made by guest
demonstrator in the social studies lesson on
calligraphy. During this lesson, the
students painted their chosen Chinese word
and applied their chops to a t-shirt. They
then wore them on their visit to the DIA
(see below).
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Students
painting and
stamping their t-shirts |
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