Asia Education Foundation

Rani and the Greedy Raja

Key Learning Areas

English
Mathematics

Level

Middle Primary

Description

Students listen to the folktale, Rani and the Greedy Raja, and complete related activities.

Lesson overview

To focus on the moral of a story
To investigate ways of solving a mathematics problem involving doubling, using an Indian folktale as the stimulus for the activity

Lesson duration

Two hours

Main learning outcomes

English: Reading & Writing – Texts
Mathematics – Number

Materials required

  • Rice
  • Calculators

Procedure

  1. Word links
    Ask the class to write down the words: village, seedlings, grains, hungry, thief, rice, reward, clever, girl on a piece of paper or in their workbook. Explain to the class that you will be reading a folktale from India, but before you do, ask the students to predict what the story could be about using the words they have written down. This can be done individually or with a partner.
  2. The story
    Read the story up to the part where the Raja grants Rani's wish for a reward of 'one grain of rice doubled each day for thirty days.' Discuss with the class whether they think this was a worthwhile thing to ask for and why.
  3. Mathematics activity
    Students work with a partner to predict how many grains of rice Rani will receive after 30 days, then share the strategies they used to solve the problem.
  4. Writing task
    Read the end of the story. Discuss with students what they think the moral of the story could be. Ask students to retell the story in their own words and present it as a poster, showing the moral of the story and an illustration.

    5. Extension Activities

    1. Further writing
      Ask students to write the story from the viewpoint of Rani, Raja or one of the villagers.
    2. Compare and contrast
      Compare and contrast the character qualities of Rani and Raja.
    3. Further reading
      Find some other folktales from India. How do the qualities of the main characters in these folktales compare with Rani and Raja?

    Suggested follow-up activities

    Drama
    Ask students to form groups, and in their groups, make up a play script for Rani and the Greedy Raja, then practise and perform the play for the class.

    Retell another folktale
    Ask students to read Rice and the Fox Wife, Page 11 and retell this story in their own words. What is the moral of this folktale?