The Perfect Pair: Wedding Shoe Stories Classroom Activities & Projects About the Exhibition: Around the world, the joining of couples through marriage is celebrated with time-honoured traditions and elaborate rituals. Footwear features prominently in the celebrations, either as part of the wedding costume, or in customs connected to the nuptials. The footwear and related traditions of nineteen countries are featured in The Perfect Pair: Wedding Shoe Stories. Japanese zori, Indian paduka and Moravian accordion-pleated boots are just a few of the shoes that illustrate how many of these wedding rituals are performed to ensure that newlyweds step into the future on a sure footing. About the Activities: Sacred Simplicity A young Japanese couple perform the While teachers will find ways to use this exhibition at traditional marriage ceremony in a temple, many different grade levels, it is particularly applicable ca. 1946-56 to the primary grades, where students are learning about © Horace Bristol/CORBIS their own communities, and the lives of families in other communities around the world. The following activities are suitable for primary level Social Studies, where students explore the similarities and differences in traditions and celebrations of people around the world by using a variety of resources and tools to gather, process and communicate information. The activities introduce the concept of wedding traditions and wedding shoes as students explore their own family or cultural customs. Students then learn about specific wedding shoes and wedding customs from around the world, allowing for discussion of similarities and differences. The activities may be used individually, or may form an entire unit, as preferred. There are opportunities for students to apply their learning for each activity. Additional Resources: An annotated bibliography is provided with age- appropriate children’s books such as the Cinderella variants, as well as other shoe stories from around the world. A glossary with the phonetic pronunciation of some of the proper names and terminology is also provided. Activities & Projects Celebration Shoes Level: Grade 2 Preparation: print Worksheet 1: Celebrations Interview, draw shoe outline Duration: 30 min. introduction; 60 min. presenting; [30 min. charting] = 90-120 min Materials: blackboard or flipchart Goals: • locate simple information about family history and traditions from interviews • share family traditions with the rest of the class • locate various countries on a world map Description: Begin: Draw a large outline of a shoe on a blackboard or flipchart. Start brainstorming and record anything the students can think of related to shoes. Guide students to think about fashion, colour, materials, shoes in stories and, in particular, special occasion shoes. You might also like to read one of the Cinderella variants to get students thinking about shoes and weddings, in addition to other shoe-related stories from around the world (click here for Bibliography). Learn: Ask the students to list some special occasions (weddings, birthday parties, graduations, etc.). Have they have ever been to events like these? Can they describe any special clothing they wore to the event? Did any of them wear special shoes? Did the other guests? Can the students describe any special clothes or shoes that other people wore at the event? Review the questions on Worksheet 1: Celebrations Interview, and ask students to conduct the interview with an adult in their family who has had a wedding. Students will then share the results of their interview with the class. If the students’ families are from a variety of cultures, it may be appropriate to create a chart reflecting the number of families from each country of origin. Locate each country on the world map with the class. Apply: Revisit the brainstorming list with the students. Can the students relate words on the list to any of the celebrations described in the students’ Celebrations Interview presentations? Activity 1, Celebration Shoes – Worksheet l Celebrations Interview Dear Parent/Guardian or other adult family member, Your child is currently studying the traditions and celebrations of a variety of cultures, focusing on costume, and in particular, shoes. Please help your child to complete this interview. The answers will be shared with the rest of the class. Thank you. Where were you born? Name two celebrations you have participated in (wedding, graduation, etc.). What did you wear? Did you wear special shoes? If so, please describe them. Your child will be sharing the results of this interview with his or her class. Thank you for participating. Activities & Projects Shoe Museum Level: Grade 2 Preparation: print permission letter and Worksheet 2: Shoe Museum label Duration: 20 min. introduction; 60 min. writing and displaying; 60 min. touring = 140 min Materials: world map, table or other space for exhibition Goals: • create simple media works • locate various countries on a world map • communicate ideas for a specific purpose Description: Begin: Ask students to bring a shoe from home to display in a classroom shoe museum. Encourage them to bring shoes that are (or were) worn for a celebration, that reflect a tradition, or that tell a story. For example, they could bring their mother’s wedding shoe, their own baby shoe, or footwear another country. Alternatively, ask students to decorate or create their own fancy “celebration shoe” using found materials, and an old shoe of their own. Help each student to identify 3 or 4 key words for their shoe. They can then write a label for the shoe. If the shoes are from another country, ask the student to locate it on the world map. Help the students to display their shoes and labels in the chosen space. Depending on what the students bring in, you may wish to organize them thematically – wedding shoes, baby shoes etc. Apply: Students can then create an invitation to view the ‘museum’ for a student in another class, or a family member. Each student can be a ‘tour guide’ for their shoe, using the key words. Activity 2, Shoe Museum – Permission Letter Dear Parent/Guardian: Your child is participating in a class project to create a shoe museum, as part of the Grade 2 Social Studies Curriculum. The students are learning about traditions and celebrations around the world. Your child has been asked to bring a shoe from home that was/is worn for a celebration, that reflects a tradition, or that tells a story. For example, they could bring their mother’s wedding shoe, their own baby shoe, or footwear from another country. I would be grateful if you could help your child select a shoe, and ensure its safe transit to the school. Your child needs to bring the shoe by ____________________________. Thank you for your help! Sincerely, Activity 2, Shoe Museum – Worksheet 2 Shoe Museum Label Student Name: ________________________________________________ Name of shoe: Whose shoe is it? ___________________________ ___________________________ Key words: ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ Description: ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Activities & Projects Wedding Shoes Around the World Level: Grade 2 Preparation: print bride and groom shoe images, Flags and Shoes Resource, Worksheets 3-5 and Answers Duration: 75 min Materials: world map Goals: • locate various countries on a world map • identify similarities and differences of wedding footwear around the world • learn new vocabulary Description: Begin: Print and post (or project) images of bride and groom shoes from the main culture areas represented in the exhibition: Queen Victoria’s flats and man’s pumps (England); paduka and khussa (India); woman’s and man’s accordion pleated boots (Moravia, Czech Republic); woman’s and man’s opintsi (Macedonia); woman’s and man’s zori (Japan); woon-hye and moh-hwa (Korea); and embroidered boots and babouche (Morocco). (Alternatively, students can access these images themselves with simplified labels by clicking here to scroll through these pages.) Place the name of each shoe and its country of origin under the images. Learn: Guide the students to locate the various countries on a world map. Pin an image of the country’s flag, and/or the shoe, on the appropriate country. Hand out Worksheet 3: Investigating Wedding Shoes. Together as a class, answer the questions for each shoe. Ask the student to fill in the chart as you go along. • in what country was it worn? • what is the name of the bride’s shoe? • what is the name of the groom’s shoe? After the class has answered the questions for each shoe, as a follow-up discuss their differences and similarities. For example, the paduka and zori are sandals, brides in Moravia and Morocco wear boots, the flats and the woon-hye are made of silk. In general, brides are dressed in new clothes that are the best her family can buy. Discuss ways that the bride’s shoes reflect this fact. For example, the Indian paduka are made of silver, and the Moroccan boots are heavily embroidered. In general, with the exception of the Indian khussa, the groom’s shoes are less fancy. How do the bride and groom’s shoes compare with the shoes the students made or brought from home in the “Shoe Museum”? Apply: Students have learned to locate several countries on the world map, and they have encountered new vocabulary in the shoe names. Worksheet 3: Where in the World? will reinforce the location of the countries in the world. Worksheet 4: Pair the Shoes will reinforce the names of the countries and the shoes. Activity 3, Bride and Groom’s Shoes Bride and Groom’s Shoes England – Bride These silk flats belonged to Queen Victoria of Great Britain, and are just like the ones she wore at her wedding. White silk shoes with ribbon appliqué English, 1840 Worn by Queen Victoria BSM P85.363 England – Groom Prince Albert married Queen Victoria in black leather pumps with a large buckle like these.