Using The Farmer and the Snake in the Classroom

Ms. Cardwell

It is no secret that my new students are quite different from those that I have taught in the past.  For the most part, they are wealthy and white-and I have a significant number of international students.  Consequently, I have been forced ot rethink what I teach and how I teach it.   I love my new kids,  but they are not ready for The Bluest Eye!

The reason why we read literature is to gain more insight into our own lives, and to learn about the lives of others.  To that end, I have used my short story unit to expose my students to  writers from different cultural backgrounds. The following is a series of lessons that I did over a period of about a week before the Thanksgiving Break.  Because of the themes of food, family, and culture, these are great activities to do when students return from Thanksgiving Break or before they leave for Winter Break.  It is suitable for students in 6-12th grade.

Photo: childrenslit.com

1.  As a class we read Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan.  As we go through the story, the students fill  out a chart identifying literary elements like the one below.  I used this story to introduce the idea of diversity and to discuss different approaches to dealing with difference.

This chart was conceptualized by me, but created by Sophie, a 6th grader!

2. Students read Real Food by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie independently  (we previously watched Adichie's Ted Talk "The Danger of the Single Story" when discussing the Ebola health crisis, so students were aware of Adichie's work).

Photo: Liberator Magazine

3.  After reading and discussing the story, students complete two of the following mini-investigations:

•  Make a list of all of the Nigerian foods mentioned in the text (with their primary ingredients).  Make a collage of these foods with a brief description of each of them. 
• Make a Venn diagram comparing the themes of “Real Food” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to the themes of “Fish Lips” by Amy Tan.
• Research the various ethnic groups in Nigeria and create a pie-chart displaying their representation in the Nigerian population.  (What percentage of the population belongs to each ethnic group?)
• Label a map with pictures of the most popular foods in Nigeria, United Kingdom, France, and The United States.
• Go to https://newsela.com and find an article about the Nigerian economy.  Summarize the main ideas of the article.
• Go to https://newsela.com and find an article about Boko Haram.  Create a Haiku Deck to share with the class.  Make sure to describe the group and include their current activities in Nigeria.

4.  Students read this essay by former Storefront student Brittney Nelson.  Several of my 6th graders were moved to tears.

5.  Students write their own personal narratives with food as a motif.  I had students write about everything from recipes for pumpkin flowers to a grandmother's Brazilian stew.