This is a must-have for any teacher looking to make a study of the Buddhism, Confucianism, & Taoism relevant and accessible for middle-schoolers. Easy-to-follow, perfect for an intro, declarative lesson, or even as a formative assessment. Enjoy!
 
***In addition to the original slides, this download now also includes the Kung Fu Panda writing assignment (in MS WORD and PDF formats), and helpful videos for teaching and learning Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism through Kung Fu Panda...
 
Suggestions on How to Teach - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSm-0qsTyUY
 
Finding Elements in the Film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16b8KH9iMpA&t=22s
 
One of the most exciting ways to teach or learn about Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism (Taoism)! This resource was designed to take anywhere from 3-5 days, depending on how many of the lessons you can incorporate.
 
Suggested Pacing and learning goals:
 
Lesson 1 – Summarize the three philosophies (slides 3-6)
 
Lesson 2 – Apply the philosophies to pop culture & films (slides 7-11)
 
Lesson 3 – Practice finding elements of Confucianism in the opening scenes of Mulan (slides 12-15)
 
Lesson 4 – Analyzing 45 references to Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism in Kung Fu Panda (slides 16-24)
 
Lesson 5 – Persuasive writing about Chinese philosophies in the film Kung Fu Panda (slides 25-29)
Bonus Lesson – Find Chinese Inventions in Kung Fu Panda (slides 30-32)
 
Suggestions for finding elements of Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism in Kung Fu Panda…
 
This lesson can be done without students having prior knowledge about the film, but they must have prior knowledge about the philosophies (e.g. slides 3, 4 and 5). Also, this lesson can be accomplished without watching the movie in class, but watching the movie together is strongly encouraged. In fact, slides 21-25 have dozens of screenshots for you to consider pausing and discussing the philosophical references as they come up. In the end, students should have 3 paragraphs explaining the references (one for each of the three philosophies), and could even extend these body paragraphs into a full essay. Enjoy! 
 
Visually engaging series of PPT slides to differentiate between the three Chinese Philosophies: Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism as seen in the film Kung Fu Panda. Slides include:
* Word Sort (that could be printed out for students to cut out and organize individually or in groups)
* Overview of the three philosophies, highlighting already modeled
* 21 quotes that students are to copy down and match to a philosophy from Chinese philosophers, modern hit films, etc. (answers revealed one at a time at the click of a button)
* Sentence frames for students to write about Confucianism in the open scenes of Mulan (film not included)
* 10 examples listed of Confucianism in the opening scenes of Mulan
* 20 examples of how to have variety when writing a topic sentence
* Paragraph frames for students to use when writing about Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism in Kung Fu Panda (film not included)
* 15 examples of scenes or quotes from Kung Fu Panda relating to Buddhism
* 15 examples of scenes or quotes from Kung Fu Panda relating to Confucianism
* 15 examples of scenes or quotes from Kung Fu Panda relating to Daoism
Pictures of 40 separate screen-shots from the film connected to Buddhism, Confucianism or Daoism
* Mini-Quiz assessment for the beginning, middle or end of the unit
* Writing assignment (paragraphs or full essay) and worksheet with 'cheat-sheet' philosophy reference on top and Chinese inventions search on back is also imbedded into the PPT