FOCUS QUESTION:
Water: A Key to Understanding India

• In India, water is scarce but the area is dependent on the monsoon rainfall.
• To understand India it is important to understand its dependence on water.

Materials

• Reading 1: What is Monsoon?
• Reading 2: Keeping "Data" on the Monsoon
• Reading 3: Heat and Crops - The Cycle of the Seasons
• Reading 4: The Monsoon and Deforestation
• Reading 5:"What to do" During a Monsoon
• Reading 6: The Monsoon: Music and Poetry
• Reading 7: The Twelve Months of the Very Young Husband
• Map Study 1: The Path of the Monsoon
  

Performance Objectives

• Students will be able to define monsoons and their significance for South Asia.
• Students will analyze the impact of the monsoon on many aspects of life in India.
• Students will evaluate the degree to which an understanding of the monsoons and water issues is a key to understanding India

Teacher Background

The monsoon rains are always, associated with South Asia although they are a world-wide phenomenon. However, it is important to remember that New Delhi, the capital of India, gets the same annual rainfall as New York City. The issue is not the amount of rain but the distribution of rainfall annually. Whereas New York gets fairly equal rainfall, allowing for normal activities throughout the year, India's rainfall is largely during three months of the year, skewing all events and activities to gravitate around the rains. If the monsoons do not arrive in India, the nation mourns for the entire year; if the monsoon is too heavy, floods and crop loss mark the following year. Just as the success or failure of agriculture is dependent upon the monsoons, the culture of South Asia is dependent upon the rains.

The purpose of this lesson is to help students see the overriding significance of the monsoon and the impact of the rains upon all facets of life in South Asia. In order to allow students to examine the issue from many points of view, we strongly suggest using the material in a cooperative learning lesson.

Springboard

In our society there are many songs which refer to rain and people's feelings about rain - "Singing in the Rain," "Stormy Weather," "Let a Smile be Your Umbrella."

• What are some of the attitudes we in the West have about rain?
• Do you agree or disagree with these attitudes? How do you feel when it rains?

Procedure

1. Distribute Map Study 1: The Path of the Monsoon to each student in the class.

• What do we learn about the monsoon from this map?
• The monsoon comes from the east and the west. Why?
• As you notice from the map, the color of the monsoon map changes as the monsoon heads north. What do you think this indicates?
• Which areas of India seem least affected by the monsoon?
• If you were looking for a place to live in India, how would the information on this map affect your decision?

2. Everyone talks abou the associaton of the monsoon with Indai yet few people realize how significant the monsoon is to the physical, psychological and psychic life of the people of South Asia. Let us look at all issues.

• Divide class into six groups for " Jigsaw" cooperative learning lesson. Eash group will receive a different worksheets related to the monsoon. Distribute Reading 1- 7. Teacher will place the following question on the chalkboard:
• " HOw does/ has the monsoon affected life for people in South Asia?"

Students should be allowed 15 minutes to read materials and answer questions.

• It is important to examine the monsoon from many vantage points to really understand why water ( the monsoon ) is the key to understanding India.

Teacher will develop graphic organizer for class and place on chalkboard:

MOONSOON : A Key to Understanding India

Each group will be called upon to discuss how their reading answered the question of how the monsoon affected South Asia. Teacher will record answers in appropriate space.

• Based upon the organizer we have developed, how is the monsoon important in each of the following categories?
  • Physically
  • Historically
  • Psychologically
  • Environmentally
  • Culturally
  • Artistically
• Why can we say that the monsoon (water) is a key to understanding India?

Summary / Application

• At the beginning of the lesson we talked about how we feel when it rains. We all have different attitudes about the rain during different times of the year.
  
  
• Distribute Reading 7: The Twelve Months of the Very Young Husband
  
  
• Teacher will read poem aloud with class.
  
  
• According to this poem, how did the young husband respond to the seasons? How did the wife respond to the seasons?
  
  
• What is the relationship between this poem and the monsoon?
  
  
• Students will reassemble in groups to "re-write" a section of the poem, based upon their reactions to the twelve months. Students will share their work.

Alternate Strategies

• This lesson is rather long and there are many varied points of view. The material is as accessible if students use fewer worksheets or are assigned some of the worksheets as homework assignments.
  
  
• The language arts teacher, working with the social studies teacher, might find the worksheets useful as a discussion point for different writing styles. Students would then use this lesson as a motivation for their own writing exercises.