Lesson 4

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, Penguin Random House, 1994

• • “Igbo Culture and History,” Don Ohadike, 1994

Materials

Tools

• Analyzing Relationships Tool

• Character Note-Taking Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Vocabulary Journal

Question Sets

• Things Fall Apart: Section 1 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Analyzing Relationships Tool

• Character Note-Taking Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Things Fall Apart: Section 1 Question Set

• Vocabulary Journal

Activity 1: Read

We will learn about Igbo social and political structures.

Step 1

In a small group, read and annotate “Social and Political Structures,” (xxii-xxiii) “Cross-Cutting Ties,” (xxiii) and “Council of Elders” (xxiii). Respond to the following question:

1. What aspects of the social and political structures of Igbo culture have you noticed thus far in Things Fall Apart? Cite evidence from both texts to support your answer.

In your group, choose one specific aspect of the social and political structures that you have seen in Things Fall Apart and share it with the whole class.

Step 2

Divide your group in half. Read the subsection “Age-groups” (xxv) in one half of your group and “The Acquisition of Titles and the Council of Chiefs” (xxvi) in the other half of your group. With the group members who read the same section as you, determine the central idea of the subsection you read.

Explain your section to your group members who read the other section. Respond to the following question:

1. What is the central idea of your section?

Step 3

In your whole group, write one statement that answers the following questions:

1. What is the central idea of “Social and Political Structures”

2. How does the author develop that central idea throughout the section?

Share your central idea and explain how it is developed with the rest of the class.

Discuss the following question as a whole class:

1. What connections can you make between Things Fall Apart and “Social and Political Structures”?

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will practice turning passive voice sentences into active voice sentences.

Step 1

Chinua Achebe’s novel is full of active voice sentences. An active voice sentence is when the subject performs the action in a sentence.

Example:

Ezinma went outside and brought some sticks from a huge bundle of firewood.

In this sentence, Ezinma is doing the action, so the sentence is active.

A passive voice sentence emphasizes the object of the sentence rather than its subject.

Example:

The huge bundle of firewood was brought in by Ezinma.

Step 2

Find five sentences from Chapters 4-5 that are written in the active voice and rewrite them in the passive voice in your Mentor Sentence Journal. Exchange your sentences with a partner and rewrite your partner’s passive voice sentences back into active voice (without using the novel).

As you continue to read the texts in this unit, use your Mentor Sentence Journal to identify sentences that stand out to you as interesting or that represent a strong example of a particular concept you have learned. You can use these sentences to build a writer’s toolbox, wherein you have a number of techniques at your disposal to use when writing.

Discuss the following question as a class:

1. When might an author choose to use active voice? Passive voice?

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

We will look closer at Okonkwo’s personality traits in chapters 4–5.

Step 1

Write the definition of juxtaposition in your Vocabulary Journal: Juxtaposition refers to the author’s choice to place two characters (or concepts or places) next to each other in order to compare them.

Step 2

Listen as your teacher or one of your peers reads aloud from the opening of Chapter 4 until "and the lad Ikemefuna" on page 27.

Write down the following guiding question in the space provided at the top of your Analyzing Relationships Tool:

1. Which of Okonkwo’s personality traits does Achebe juxtapose on pages 26-27?

As you read the text, pay attention to details (words, phrases, sentences) that relate to the guiding question. Depending on how long the section of text is, you might find several examples. Write down the details that most strongly support the guiding question in the Attend to Details row.

Think about and write down how the details you selected in reference to the guiding question are related in the Analyze Relationships row. What patterns, contrasts, or meaning are emerging for you? You might see connections, patterns, sharp contrasts, or the author’s use of literary devices emerging. Keep the guiding question in mind.

1. Explain how the details work together to create an effect or suggest meaning for you as a reader, after you have identified the details and identified how they fit together or relate to one another. You might comment on how the details shed light on an idea, tone, mood, or other literary effect.

Share your conclusions with the class in a discussion.

Activity 4: Read

We will discuss the introduction of Ikemefuna, an important minor character in the novel.

Listen as your teacher or one of your peers reads a passage about Ikemefuna aloud, from the break on page 32 to the end of the chapter. Respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:

1. What do we know about where Ikemefuna comes from?

2. What do we learn about Ikemefuna through his relationship with Nwoye?

3. What do we learn about Ikemefuna through his relationship with Okonkwo? What evidence from the text supports your response?

4. How does Achebe develop the relationships between Ikemefuna and other characters?

Compare your notes with someone outside your group. Be ready to share why Ikemefuna might be important in the novel and how Achebe foreshadows Ikemefuna’s fate in a short discussion with your class.

Use a copy of the Character Note-Taking Tool to keep track of Ikemefuna throughout the novel.

Activity 5: Read

We will read chapters 6–7 for homework.

For homework, read Chapters 6-7 in Things Fall Apart. Respond to the following questions from the Section 1 Question Set in your Learning Log:

Chapter 6:

1. Describe the two sides of Chielo. What type of professions are similar to Chielo’s in today’s world? Explain.

Chapter 7:

1. Why does Nwoye prefer the stories of his mother, but pretend to prefer the stories of his father? What do you think this preference could foreshadow in the novel?

2. In the Bible, locusts are one of the ten plagues that descend on Egypt: “They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt” (Exodus 10:15). How does this compare to how locusts are described in Things Fall Apart? How do you explain the difference?

3. “‘Yes, Umuofia has decided to kill him’” (p. 57). How does the use of the village name “Umuofia” impact the meaning of this sentence? What other words or names could he have used instead? How would that have changed the meaning of the sentence?

4. After finishing this chapter, what are your thoughts on the village elders from Umuofia? Okonkwo?

Write new or interesting words you encounter in Chapters 6-7 in your Vocabulary Journal.