Many Countries, Many Cultures: Africa
By Anisha Jogee

This mini-unit is on the African continent. As large as the continent of Africa is, it would be ideal to develop this topic into a "maxi-unit:" What a great adventure it would be to "take" the class on a tour of different African countries for a whole semester by transforming the class decor to represent the many countries of Africa! However, shortage of time in the classroom doesn't always permit a teacher to explore a topic to the fullest. Therefore, though this mini-unit may only scratch the surface of the African continent, it is designed to give young students an appreciation of the diversity that exists in Africa, culturally and geographically. This mini-unit therefore serves only as an introduction to future African studies at later grade levels.

This mini-unit on Africa is designed for a second/third grade classroom. The prime reason I chose this topic is that I come from Africa. Having spent 21 years there I feel it is my responsibility to educate students about this beautiful continent. When I introduced myself to my second and third graders they had numerous questions for me about Africa. From the children's questions I realized that they have a very stereotypical image of this continent. Therefore it is important for students to investigate the different topics of this mini-unit in order to help them have a less generalized view of Africa.

The location of my class also makes this mini-unit an important one--this second/third grade class is at Martin Luther King school, which has a very international student population. We are lucky to have three students from Africa in our class. To build a sense of community in the class I believe that it is important for the children to learn about the cultures of all the children. Besides helping to build an understanding between the class and the African students, I also think that we have three "Africa experts" (excluding myself) who can contribute to teaching about their countries and the mini-unit will provide the African students with an opportunity to take pride in their own cultures.

This mini-unit is designed to engage children in activities that will educate them about the geographical aspects (human and physical) of the continent. The children will have an appreciation of the diversity that exists in the huge continent of Africa--the many languages spoken, the religions, the races of people, the types of food eaten. The mini-unit will help breakdown their stereotypical views. Even though Africa is far away it is hoped that the children will draw similarities between American and African lifestyles. To address these broad objectives this mini-unit has geography, language and literacy, art and home economics lessons included in it.

The mini-unit will begin by starting a K-W-L chart on the continent of Africa ("what we know, what we want to find out," and finally at the end of the unit "what we have learned). It is important to get a written record of the children's background information, even if it may be stereotypical. At the end of the unit we will go back to this K-W-L chart and see if we have a more informed view of the continent.

The second lesson will be on the geography of Africa. The children will be provided with a map of Africa and we will go over the countries and major landmarks. At the end of this lesson the children will be familiar with the different countries, rivers, oceans, seas, major mountains, deserts and the total number of countries in Africa. This lesson will also get the children to reflect on the size of Africa in comparison to other continents and America.

The third lesson will require students to work in cooperative groups. The five groups of 4-5 students each will investigate countries in different regions of Africa--(1) Egypt (north Africa), (2) South Africa (southern Africa), (3) Kenya (eastern Africa), (4) Nigeria (west Africa), and (5) Zimbabwe (Central Africa). The purpose of these groups is that they can research information on different countries e.g. languages, flags, population, size, etc. Students will consult many sources including a three dimensional computer atlas program to search for information about their countries. The groups will become experts on their delegated countries. At the end of the unit we will have a class jigsaw session where each group will do a oral and visual presentation on their country. This investigation will demonstrate to the children the diversity that exists on the continent since each country has several aspects that are different from the other countries.

There is also a language arts component to this mini-unit. Through out the three week duration of this mini-unit the children will have access to a listening center with four African stories on tape. During story time the children will hear different genres of African literature-poetry, nonfiction and fiction. A formal language arts lesson will also be conducted: Students will have the story Galimoto, by Karen Williams read to them. Through this story, students will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of village life in Malawi and draw on the similarities between Kondi (the main character, who is a young boy) and themselves in that just like them Kondi too has dreams and aspirations. Students will get an opportunity to write and draw about their own dreams and opportunities.

The students will participate in an art tie and dye lesson which will be taught collaboratively with the art teacher: The students will each bring in an old T-shirt to tie and dye. Tie and dye is a method used in many west and east African countries and students will gain an understanding of the cultural aspects of this printing method as well. Students will have a chance to wear their T-shirts on the last day of the unit when each student will also be given some cloth from different parts of the African continent that they can use as a wrap around or a head dress. Students will also watch a video on the different clothes of Africa which will reinforce the cultural importance of tie and dye.

The sixth and last lesson of this mini-unit will be a home-economics/math lesson on African cuisine. The day before Thanksgiving, students will get to eat Mandazi a dish eaten in some west and east African countries. The students will participate in making the batter for the Mandazi. The class will discuss the different aspects of a recipe (ingredients and method) and will also talk about measurements of the ingredients (1 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup).

It is important to consider how students are going to be evaluated on their learning during this mini-unit: Since the topic of this mini-unit has such a cultural geography focus, students will be working on a lot of hands on activities with maps and artifacts. Through their cooperative groups students will produce posters on different African countries and get a chance to work on a three dimensional computer atlas program. The students' creativity will be explored as they tie and dye--an activity that will result in a unique T-shirt that each child can use even after this unit is over and hopefully it will keep them "in-touch" with Africa. Students will also get an opportunity to demonstrate by way of writing and drawing their similarities with a young Malawian boy who fulfills his dreams in the story of Galimoto.

It will also be important for there to be closure to this mini-unit. The last day of the mini-unit should be a lot of fun: The students will wear clothes from different African countries. We will have the cooperative groups give there poster presentations in a jigsaw format so the whole class will learn about the different countries that were researched. At this point we will complete our K-W-L chart and see if we have addressed any of the stereotypical views and the areas of interest the students wanted to investigate. After this the class will celebrate Thanksgiving with African mandazi's (banana fritters) and music by African artists such as Ladysmith and the Black Mambazo. I hope this will be a memorable day for the students who may not all go to Africa but through this unit they may come to understand and appreciate this beautiful continent!