Explore San Francisco's Chinatown in a instructional activity about the first few chapters of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Kids research Chinatown on the Internet and create a virtual tour of the neighborhood, including the foods, cultural events, and social issues that the residents are experiencing. They then map some of the landmarks from the novel, including Golden Gate Park and the University of California, Berkeley. For a writing activity, readers analyze the swan story from the beginning of the novel. Finally, they read an essay about Amy Tan and decide if her experiences are similar to the protagonist in the first two chapters.

Concepts

the joy luck club, amy tan, setting, plot elements, plot, literary elements, chinatown, cultural awareness

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Additional Tags

the joy luck club, setting, cultural context, chinatown, english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Homework activity prompts kids to determine the differences and similarities between author and speaker
• Lesson provides extension opportunities, such as presenting the Chinatown tours in front of the class 

Pros

• A great way to establish prior knowledge before getting too far into the book
• All necessary auxiliary materials are attached, and available in one main zip drive 

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.9-10.1 RL.9-10.6 RL.11-12.1