Preparation for the Theme Question on the Modern African Literature Test

Students worked in groups to prepare for the theme question on the upcoming test.  Working in groups with laptop computers, the students created tables of information.

Each student's table needed to have three columns, one for each of the units three themes:  tradition and change, the price of freedom, and living with indepence.

Students were encouraged to make use of the three theme cards they created during this unit:

Card 1:  "The Rain Came" by Grace Ogot

Card 2: "The Voter" by Chinua Achebe or No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu

Card 3:  Bones by Sadru Kassam or "The Return" by Ngugi wa Thiongo


They were encouraged to seek additional examples from other members of the class.  They should make the commentary their own.

Students need three examples for each theme.  Using examples from three different works for each theme would be best, but students may use two different examples from one work and a third example from another.

Students may use the same scene from one story to illustrate more than one theme; however, by choosing to do so, they will likely increase the level of scrutiny of the evaluater of the quality of their analysis.

Each cell in a student's review chart should include the following:

1. the title of the work (story, essay, play, poem, etc.; e.g. "The Return")

2. author's name (e.g. Ngugi wa Thiongo)

3. a short description of a passage that includes a key event or words related to the chosen theme

4. the student's commentary (analysis) of how the described portion of the work illustrates the theme  (The student should connect key words of the theme to specific actions or words from the portion of the text being described.)  The students commentary must do more than simply connect the theme words and the selected text; their commentary must state what this story reveals about that specific theme.


Mr. Stone re-emphasized the differences between writing for a test question without access to a text and writing with a text.  Students should write their examples as brief summaries of actions in the story or paraphrases of the words used by characters because it is too difficult for most to remember quotations word for word.

Students will have more time to work on their theme charts during the first class of the next week.

Homework:  Listen to the segment from KPCC's The Frame on how  "'Queen of Kwatre' director Mira Nair brings a different African story to Hollywood."  Be sure and watch the videos as well. We will discuss the segment in class.