Bringing Tea Culture to uncouth barbarians (Americans).

Chanoyu has been an integral part of the Japanese cultural fabric since the 12th century C.E. This curriculum unit is another strong performance by the folks at SPICE. As always the Unit is well researched and well laid out. There are Five Lessons available for teachers to use. While they could all be used as part of a single unit, doing so may become repetitive. I am not sure that there are many classes where this unit plan could be implemented in its entirety.
Lesson one provides a brief introduction to tea which is very helpful for most teachers and students who may be unfamiliar with the cultivation and classification of tea. It would have been nice to have a more comprehensive description of how tea is classified and ranked, rather than the single sentence provided here.
Lesson two is perhaps the best in the unit and the most applicable to any level of a World History Course. I think that it works very well in an AP World History course as a means of highlighting global interactions and trade networks.
Lesson three goes into considerably more depth and could reasonably be completed in three days (not the two that SPICE recommends). If you are lucky enough to have a Japan – America Society near you, or an Urasenke tea master nearby I strongly suggest asking them to come and conduct a tea ceremony for your class as a culminating activity. This particular lesson should only be used after a more comprehensive unit on pre-modern Japan. Students will find it much more informative if they already have a strong foundation in Japanese history.
Lesson four provides some nice cross curricular activities with math or tech ed. courses. The images are very nice and provided on the accompanying CD for easy use. One suggestion may be to use this in a introductory level World History course and have students work in groups, with the help of a tech ed. Teacher to build a scale model of tea house. Could be a very engaging lesson.
Lesson five provides some good stories and could yield some great discussions. Could be a good way to integrate the new Reading and Writing standards for Social Studies into the curriculum.