Born a Crime - Working with a book through games

Background to resource

The purpose of this resource is multifaceted. Through reading the book Born a Crime by Trevor Noah students will experience a new way to work with a novel. They will find out about life in South Africa through the lens of Trevor Noah. The outcome is to better understand life after apartheid in South Africa.  The students design a card / board game - digitally or on paper/card to show their understanding.

Teacher tip

• Watch clips about Trevor Noah / South Africa online before you introduce the novel. This is to familiarize the students with who Trevor Noah is, and present-day South Africa.
• Explain words that students will need to know for example what a dilemma is (see Task sheet 2).

Key words: Life in modern day South Africa after apartheid, Trevor Noah, designing a game

LK20 

Core elements

• Communication
• Language Learning

Interdisciplinary topics

• Democracy and Citizenship
  (The title of the book - Born a Crime says it all. According to the authorities Trevor's parents should never have been a couple). The book allows for good discussion regarding aparteid and the wrongs of it. This connects directly to Democracy and Citizenship. 
• Health and Life-skills
  In the book Trevor navigates his identity and upbringing, giving readers a chance to discuss their own identity and upbringing. This opens up for good discussion. 

Basic skills

The main focus for this project is to combine the four areas of reading, writing, oral and digital skills. As students read they will write in the form of note-taking. They will take notes at the end of every chapter, and add to their timeline as they progress. When their games are finished they will present their games to the class orally in order to show what they have created, and explain how the games will be played. 

Competence aims LK20

• bruke egne strategier i språklæring, tekstskaping og kommunikasjon
• utforske og reflektere over mangfold og samfunnsforhold i den engelskspråklige verden ut fra historiske sammenhenger
• diskutere og reflektere over form, innhold og virkemidler i engelskspråklige kulturelle uttrykksformer fra ulike medier, inkludert musikk, film og spill

Learning objectives

The pupils(s) should be able to:

• carry out research online to find facts and information that are relevant to Trevor´s life
• write/talk about life in South Africa at the time when apartheid existed
• reflect through discussion what they read about - commenting on Trevor´s life and events that took place. This reflection can open up for a discussion about personal experiences of young people in Norway
• analyze Trevor´s experiences as a young boy, reflecting on how he might have felt and how the reader may also be affected by the text. consider how it must have felt for Trevor as a child
• collaborate as a group to produce their games

Resources

• The book Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (2019)
• Intro to the book read by Trevor himself: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, Narrated by Trevor Noah by Audible (soundcloud.com)

Websites/YouTube

• #1 Trevor´s own intro
• #2 Video summary (illustrated)
• #3 Full resources for teachers

Task Sheets

• Task sheet 1 - Timeline of Trevor´s Life & Modern Day South Africa
• Task sheet 2 - Working with the novel
• Task sheet 3 - Designing a card/board game

Plan for lessons

Task sheet 1 - Timeline of South Africa linked to Trevor Noah`s life 

• Students individually (or in groups) create a timeline. The timelines can be digital using for example padlet or with pen and paper. 
• After students have made their timelines, divide the class into groups of 4. These groups will be the same groups for the entire project.

Making the timelines: 

• Individually, students make one timeline for both South Africa (SA), and Trevor Noah.  The timeline should start from the year Trevor was born up to present day South Africa. 
• The students fill in the timeline with what they find out about SA, and what happens in the story about Trevor. The timelines can also have pre-Trevor´s birth information to give perspective for historical context. 
• The timelines can be as creative as possible, by adding pictures, text etc. But dates should be clear for others to see.

Task sheet 2 - Working with the novel 

Have a general discussion about South Africa to see how much students know before they start.

• Give students 30 minutes to search the internet about South Africa - students take notes then share with their partner/groups/class. They do the same for Trevor Noah.
• Use the following youtube clip (optional): https://youtu.be/YHzElvrSUEc to give a teaser of the story.
• Everyone reads chapter 1 of the book - aloud or individually - both are possible. Those that want to read alone can do so in a quiet space in school (the library for example).
• Once the first chapter is finished the students write a list of words that come into their minds of what they think so far. They then compare their wordlist with a partner. Once they have exchanged lists, the teacher can write the words on the board, checking for understanding and explaining any that are not understood. (The vocabulary lists can be digital or analog). To enhance learning the words can be categorized into topic words that describe Trevor, words that describe SA, words that show feelings etc. These words should be available for the students throughout the whole project.
• Task sheet 2 can be done as a whole class to start with in order to show the students how to fill the columns in themselves. This will help them to be able to continue individually as they read the book.

Task sheet 3 - Designing a card/board game

After the first chapter is finished students proceed to design their card / board game in groups. They sit together and discuss any games they play, digitally or analog, and decide the kind of game they want to make. (The picture at the start of this resource is an example of what a group of students created. Their game was a set of cards to check how much the group knew Trevor. The great idea was the title of the game: How much do you Know-ah?). 
A group leader should be chosen in order to make sure that group members stay on task and keep to the plan. Every time the students read a chapter they come together to work on their game. As they progress through the story they will sit together to make new questions and answers. This is a continuous process till reading the book is complete.

The process and what signs of learning to look for:

The process demands well organized lessons where students feel they know what is expected each time. While the students are working, look for how they communicate with each other and how they work as a team. Make sure they use their task sheets actively so they keep up with the story. They will use these task sheets at a later date. You could also give examples of words and phrases you would like your students to use for positive group work. They could even suggest these words/phrases themselves in their own language and translate them to English. 

Strategies for working in groups

When working in groups it is up to you as the teacher to match the students depending on the outcome you wish for. For example groups can be set at ability level, social level or simply in groups you know will work well together. My experience is grouping the students according to reading ability level. In this manner, you can adjust the reading load (parts of a book). This grouping gives more time for the teacher to support students that need help with understanding.

Strategies for research/ internet searches? 

It is a good idea for the teacher to write important dates on the board to go over before the students start themselves. A list of words can also be added to the board (see Comments and follow-up that may lead to deeper learning below). Tell your students to write down notes for the information they find, and share with their group. Doing this increases the amount of information they gather and increases the amount of information they can talk about.

How to organize when playing the card games

Playing the card game is a lot of fun. Finally students get to try out their games and see if they “work or not”. The classroom is set up such that the table and chairs are set up as “stations”. Each group starts out by playing their own game. Once this is done the students can move around playing each other´s games. 

Reflection and assessment

Once all, or some, of the games have been played the class comes together as a whole and shares what they thought of each game, saying what was good and if anything could have been improved.

Comments and follow-up that may lead to deeper learning

Students can do more research about the following terms:

• apartheid 
• identity  
• stereotypes 
• cultures 
• languages of South Africa 

They could write a summary about each term they find out about.

Idea developed by

Elaine Gowie-Fleischer (EL EDUCATION) © Fremmedspråksenteret