Lesson 3

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “Igbo Culture and History,” Don Ohadike, 1994
  • “The Colonial Era (1882–1960),” Harvard Divinity School
  • “What Is Colonialism? A History of Violence, Control and Exploitation,” Jamila Osman, Teen Vogue, 2017

Materials

Tools

• Attending to Details Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Vocabulary Journal

• Vocabulary in Context Tool

Reference Guides

• Questioning Reference Guide

Question Sets

• Things Fall Apart: Section 2 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Attending to Details Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Things Fall Apart: Section 2 Question Set

• Vocabulary Journal

• Vocabulary in Context Tool

Activity 1: Discuss

We will engage in a first read of “The Colonial Era.”

Read “The Colonial Era (1882-1960).” Discuss the following questions with a partner:

1. What do you notice about the text?

2. What questions do you have about the text?

Activity 2: Read

We will determine the meaning of words and phrases in the text.

In a text, there will be words or phrases that you do not understand. Often, readers use context (other words near the unknown word that provide clues or a definition) to determine the meaning of the unknown word.

Sometimes, there is not enough context to determine the meaning of an unknown word, so the reader has to use another strategy, such as examining the prefix, suffix, or root of the word and consulting a reference (e.g., a dictionary or an online tool such as Google).

Respond to the following question:

1. How do you know when to use context clues and when to use another strategy to determine the meaning of an unknown word?

Some of the vocabulary words in this article do not have enough context to determine their meaning, so your teacher will define them for you.

For this activity, you will use a Vocabulary Journal, which you will maintain for the entire unit. Add the following words and their definitions to your Vocabulary Journal as your teacher introduces them:

• quinine (Para. 1)

• facilitate (Para. 1)

• lucrative (Para. 2)

• retain (Para. 3)

Activity 3: Read

We will determine the meaning of Unknown words that can be defined by contextual information (context clues).

Step 1

The word depose in the following sentence from Paragraph 4 has enough context in the passage to determine its meaning.

In the 1850s, the British used trade policies to influence African politics, including deposing rulers who stood in the way of the lucrative palm oil trade.

Discuss the following question with a partner:

1. What is happening in the sentence? Based on the context of the sentence, what does “depose” mean?

Step 2

The following words can be determined by context. Use the questions on the Vocabulary In Context Tool to help you use context to determine the meaning of the vocabulary words:

• depose (Para. 2)

• proselytize (Para. 5)

• pragmatic (Para. 6)

• demarcate (Para. 7)

Add the words and their definitions to your Vocabulary Journal.

Activity 4: Read

We will determine when to use context clues and when to use another strategy to determine the meaning of an Unknown word in a text.

Some of the vocabulary words below have enough context to determine their meaning, and some of them do not have enough context. How will you know when to use context clues and when to try another strategy?

Work with a partner to determine the meaning of the following words:

• acquire (Para. 3)

• cemented (Para. 5)

• preponderance of (Para. 5)

• arbitrary (Para. 7)

• fostered (Para. 7)

• rampant (Para. 7)

Discuss each word and the strategy you will use to determine the meaning. Complete the following tasks:

1. Use context clues to determine the meaning of words that have enough context in the passage to provide the meaning.

2. Use another strategy for the words that do not have context clues.

Add the words to your Vocabulary Journal. Next to each word, note whether you used context or another strategy, such as morphology or reference material, to determine the meaning of the unknown word.

During this unit, your teacher will periodically direct you to determine the meaning of specific words. However, as a good reader, you have a responsibility to identify and keep track of words that you do not know the meaning of, use an appropriate vocabulary strategy to determine the meaning, and write down the word and meaning in your Vocabulary Journal.

Activity 5: Read

We will extend our understanding of new vocabulary.

Step 1

With your partner, choose five vocabulary words you have studied so far in the unit, from Things Fall Apart and any other text you have studied. Contextualize these words following the process described below, which uses the word retain as an example:

• Contextualize the word: Explain how the word is used in the text. If you chose retain, you might say, “In the article “The Colonial Era, (1882-1960),” the Fulani ruling class used the British to keep their power and acquire wealth. Retaining power and wealth was important for colonizers.”

• Create a new context: Explain another context or situation where the word would apply. You might say, “After sliding on a patch of ice, she struggled to retain her balance.”

• Extend the context: Select five objects or situations that might be described by the word and explain how. For example, you might choose “shoes” as your object and say, “People retain their favorite shoes for years, even if they collect dust in the closet.” Or, you might choose “fight” as your situation and say “It’s amazing to watch my friend retain her composure, even in the middle of an argument.”

Step 2

Choose one word and share the original context, a new context, and how you extended the context with the class.

Activity 6: Read – Discuss

We will determine the central idea of “The Colonial Era” and analyze how it is developed.

Step 1

Use an Attending to Details tool as you reread the text. Answer the following guiding question:

1. What happened during the Colonial Era in Nigeria?

Write down the guiding question in the space provided at the top. Read the text, paying attention to details that relate to the guiding question. Depending on how long the section of text is, you might find several examples. Use the Attend to Details row to write down the details that most strongly relate to the guiding question.

Make connections between the details you wrote down and the guiding question in the Think About the Details row. This is often the reasoning that is asked for when you make an observation or claim, and then use evidence to support it. It makes your thinking visible to others and helps you remember what that thinking was if you come back to this later.

In the Express Your Understanding row, write new connections, observations, ideas, or questions that result from reading and analyzing the text.

Step 2

Discuss the following questions as a class:

1. What is the central idea of “The Colonial Era”?

2. How does the author present the central idea? How does the author develop the central idea over the course of the text?

Activity 7: Read

We will revisit the Central Question: what does it mean for things to fall apart?

Think about the texts that began this section of the unit. Based on the texts you have read in Section 2, think about the Central Question: What does it mean for things to fall apart?

Consider the following question:

1. How might colonialism cause things to fall apart?

Activity 8: Read

For homework, we will read “The Igbo People Meet the Europeans: The Era of Informal Empire.”

For homework, read and annotate The Igbo People Meet the Europeans: The Era of Informal Empire” (xxxix-xli). Use the following questions to guide your reading:

1. What is a central idea of this section of the text?

2. How does this information support or challenge what you know about colonization?

3. How does this section of "Igbo Culture and History" contribute to your understanding of Things Fall Apart?

Write new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal.Write down at least two interesting sentences from the text in your Mentor Sentence Journal.