One great feature of the Kidipede website "History for Kids" is that there is a link under Ancient China to Chinese Literature: Cinderella. Click here to go to that web page: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/china/literature/cinderella.htm This page is great as a resource for read aloud text. I don't particularly recommend it for young students to access and read on their own. The site gives plenty of background information for the teacher about when, where, and by whom each version of the story was written. There are also notes about alternative tellings of the same story. Most importantly, this page provides links to Cinderella in India and Egypt. Dr. Karen Carr, who publishes and maintains the site, also provides a very good bibliography and recommendations for further reading. This is an excellent resource for the Elementary School teacher who wants to create a multicultural unit with a strong foundation in literature, but who may not have time for research. If you would like to know about the other features offered by Kidipede, please read my website review for History for Kids. 
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Cinderella: A Multicultural Unit
09/22/2014 07:43 AM
#1
Cinderella: A Multicultural Unit
Thanks for recommending the website! It's a great resource. I am really impressed with the full-length Cinderella story it features. I had no idea that the earliest recorded version of the Cinderella tale is the one on the website. It was recorded by Tuan Ch'eng-shih during the T'ang dynasty (about 700 A.D.). There are over 350 different versions of this story in the world today. Since the website provides links to some of the other versions, it would be really easy to come up with a literature unit on Cinderella versions from around the world.
I actually used this idea for my curriculum project, not even having read this forum post. Using the Cinderella story from several different cultures checks off many ELA and HSS standards. For my unit, I broke students into groups and each group charted the characters, setting, and plot of the following Cinderella stories: Native American (Alogonquin), "The Rough-Face Girl," Chinese, "Yeh-Shin: A Cinderella Story," and Korea's, "The Korean Cinderella." Then, each group does a gallery walk in order to see the differences. Then, we use a Venn Diagram to list the differences and similarities between each. Happy to add to this forum, it is a GREAT idea, I think!
Everybody loves a great Cinderella story. I love the idea of comparing and contrasting it to other cultural versions of the story. I also like the idea of the gallery walk and would like to do that as well! Thank you for the fun resource and ideas of a fun lesson.
This is similar to what I do in the beginning of the year! It's always fascinating to watch students identify the elements of a story, compare and contrast the stories, and think beyond the Disney version. I teach 5th grade, and I hope to use this as a tool in my own classroom. Since I teach writing as part of co-teaching rotation, I would add a narrative writing unit where students can research different cultures and write their own spin on a fairy tale. Responding to egonzalez, I didn't realize that there were over 350 versions. Thank you for sharing this website and resource!
This is a great idea! Thank you for sharing. I love the idea of taking a familiar story that children have probably heard, and teaching them about a different version they may not have yet heard of. It is a great way to introduce them to aspects of diffeent cultures and bring awareness to literature from different cultures. I like the idea of having students compare and contrast different versions of the story, and see how they might be similar or different from the one that is priamrily shared in their native culture and language.