Developer’s Name:
Dolana Mogadime, PhD., M.Ed., B.Ed., OCT
Audience:
Grades 2-4
Lesson Description:
Cooper, F. (1996) Mandela: From the Life of the South African Statesman. New York : Philomel Books
The book supports critical conversations with young learners. The pictures and images invite conversations. Guiding questions are provided as springboards to facilitate learning experiences. The book can be opened, and pictures can be explored before reading the actual text. During the Ubuntu Activate stage, teachers can ask questions that inspire studentsâ visual imagination about Nelson Mandelaâs childhood. The book begins with a view into the environment where Mandela spent his childhood. It demonstrates a sense of the play that occupied childrenâs time.
The death of Nelsonâs father meant his mother took him to live in another village with an uncle that was a chief. Nelson learned a great deal from the elders about the history of his people, especially the wars that had been fought between the Africans and the Europeans for the land. Nelson was sent to a Christian school whereas not all his friends were able to go to school. When he grew into a young man he went to the city of Johannesburg where he became a lawyer and defended African people who were not able to defend their own rights. He joined a group of people that wanted their rights protected. After struggling to be heard he was jailed because he spoke for his people when he was told he could not.
Lesson Objectives:
- Identify and locate the village in South Africa where Nelson Mandela was born
- Understand that education is the right of all children
- Appreciate that a name is an important part of our identity
- Children will inquiry into how they were named
Relevant Ontario Curriculum:
Language – Oral Communication
- listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes;
- use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes;
- reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations.
Social Studies â Heritage and Identity
A2. Inquiry: use the social studies inquiry process to investigate some of the past and present traditions and celebrations within their own family and the communities to which they belong (FOCUS ON: Continuity and Change).
B. PEOPLE AND ENVIRONMENTS: GLOBAL COMMUNITIES
B1. Application: describe some similarities and differences in the ways in which people in two or more communities in different parts of the world meet their needs and have adapted to the location, climate, and physical features of their regions (FOCUS ON: Cause and Consequence)
B2. Inquiry: use the social studies inquiry process to investigate aspects of the interrelationship between the natural environment, including the climate, of selected communities and the ways in which people in those communities live (FOCUS ON: Interrelationships; Patterns and Trends)
B3. Understanding Context: identify and locate various physical features and selected communities around the world, and describe some aspects of peopleâs ways of life in those communities (FOCUS ON: Significance)
Relevant Ontario Curriculum Documents
- Ontario Ministry of Education. (2006). The Ontario Curriculum. Grades 1 – 8 Language
- Retrieved from Ontario Ministry of Education. (2018). The Ontario Social Studies Curriculum. Grades 1 â 6, History Geography Grades Curriculum 7 & 8
Human Rights Instruments:
The Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Article 7 (Registration, name, nationality, care): All children have the right to a legally registered name, officially recognised by the government. Children have the right to a nationality (to belong to a country). Children also have the right to know and, as far as possible, to be cared for by their parents.
- Article 31 (Leisure, play and culture): Children have the right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities.
- Article 28: (Right to education): All children have the right to a primary education, which should be free.
Resources:
- Pictures of Qunu
- Map of South Africa and Qunu
- Whatâs in a Name? Everything.
- Baby Naming: A Global Tradition
Lesson Plan Details by Stages of African Epistemology:
Activate and Reflect
Real time in the classroom: 10 minutes
- Activate prior knowledge – children will identify the open fields where Mandela used to play.
Links and Resources:
Instructions and Lesson Breakdown:
- Holding up the book for the children to see, the teacher can invite the children into observing what they see in the images by asking the following questions:
- Where did Rolihlahla play as a young child?
- Tell me about the environment in which he played?
- How different is this play from your own? What kind of outdoor play do you do?
Connect
Real time in the classroom: 10 minutes
- Visually identify the map of South Africa. Be able to recognize where Qunu is located on the map of South Africa.
Links and Resources:
Instructions and Lesson Breakdown:
- To provide the children with the experience of a map of South Africa, identify the modest village Qunu, and the setting in where Nelson Mandela spent his early childhood years, ask a child to place a pin on the Qunu.
Reflect and Connect
Real time in the classroom: 20 minutes
- Listening for understanding. Recognize a name of a person from another country. Relate being given a name in another country to being given a name in their own country or culture.
Links and Resources:
- Begin reading the text and allow time so that you can pause after or during reading and page and pose critical thinking questions to the children.
Instructions and Lesson Breakdown:
- Naming â Mandela was named Rolihlahla by his family but when he went to school he had to use the name his teacher gave him.
- Do you have a school name and a home name?
- Why do you think Mandela had two names?
- Can you think of a time when you were called a name that was not your own? Did you like that or not?
Reflect and Connect
Real time in the classroom: 10 minutes
- Make inferences / Interpreting texts.
Links and Resources:
- Whatâs in a name? This article can be used to support your own reflections on cultural aspects of naming children.
Instructions and Lesson Breakdown:
- What is in a name? Everything. Itâs your identity. It tells everyone what you are to be called.
- Who has the right to name you? How are names given?
- Mandelaâs teacher preferred to call him by an English name. Why do you think that happened?
- How would you feel if you couldnât use your real name at school?
Reflect and Connect
Real time in the classroom: 10 minutes
- Make inferences / Interpreting texts.
Instructions and Lesson Breakdown:
- The name Nelson Mandela is very known today because he spoke about the rights of African people. He said they should be respected. He went to jail because of that.
- How can we show respect for each other in our class?
- How can we show respect for each other in our homes?
Communicate
Real time in the classroom: approximately 60 minutes
- Application â retell their own story about how they were named.
- This is an activity to support parental involvement.
Links and Resources:
- Naming babies happens all over the world. Read aloud experts that you self-select from the article: Baby Naming: A Global Tradition.
Instructions and Lesson Breakdown:
- Ask your parents how you were named.
- What tradition did they use to name you?
- Ask them to write a letter to you about your name and why they chose it.
Communicate
Real time in the classroom: approximately 60 minutes per day for 1 week
- Application: Children can identify their favourite parts of their naming story.
Links and Resources:
- The teacher can pin the letter on a bulletin board called âMy naming storyâ or âHow I was named.â.
Instructions and Lesson Breakdown:
- Invite parents to a literacy circle. Ask them to read the letters to their children.
- If parents cannot visit the class, then they can record their letter to their child and the teacher can play the recording in class.
Vocabulary and Reading for Meaning
Names: Rolihlahla was the name given to Mandela by the family. Nelson is the name given to him by the teacher. It was not from Mandelaâs culture. This was a colonial practice forced onto students at school.
Activities: Play, occurs in specific settings such as the outdoor games
Naming: Name given â by family; Name given – at school by a teacher
Chosen: Nelson was âchosenâ to go to school. Are you âchosenâ or does everyone in Canada go to school when they are 13 years old?
Joining the Ancestors: What does joining the ancestors mean? In Canada when someone dies, we say they passed away? It is a custom to believe that people are alone when they die. In South Africa, it is a tradition to believe that when a person dies they join the ancestors.
Critical Literacy â Critical Reading â Authorâs intent
What is the hidden message when someone is told not to use the name they were given at birth by their parents? What if the name was given to respect cultural traditions? What does that say to the people that gave the name first? Do you think their language was valued or not? Was it respected or not? What does a child have to give up when they cannot use their real name?
Make Intertextual Connections with Indigenous Childrenâs Literature
Have students think about childrenâs books about residential schools where Indigenous students were not allowed to use their real needs. Instead they were forced to use a number. Names are everything. When your name is taken away your identity is also taken away. How would you feel, if all of a sudden you were told you could not use your real name?
Venn Diagram – Identify, Compare and Contrast â What are the Similarities and Difference?
Naming can be a tradition in many families. Ask the class to investigate naming traditions in their family and culture. The teacher can develop a set of processes that occur when a child is named. For example, they can be named by their mother or father or according to an event that occurred at the time of their birth; or named after a relative. A Venn diagram can be created to visually show what is similar and what is different in how children the class were named.