You will need to complete the following 2 tasks by the beginning of Week 5 (Monday 24 February):

1. Interpreter of Maladies Group Exercise: Oral Presentation on a Story
2. The Danger of a Single Story: Video and Questions

Completing both of these exercises will require work to be done both inside and outside of class, so organise both your class and homework time accordingly.

Details of these exercises are found below. If a year 11 English teacher is taking your class, then you will be able to ask them for assistance. If the teacher is unable to help you, you should seek help from the other members of the class. Finally, if neither of these options work, you can contact me by email, but be aware that my ability to respond will be limited, particularly in the latter half of the week.

 

Interpreter of Maladies Group Exercise

You can download these instructions as a PDF here: IoM Group Exercise 2014

 

The Danger of a Single Story

The following TED talk is by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. It is an insightful and thought-provoking look at the role of literature, and provides a fantastic context for our study of the Lahiri’s short story collection Interpreter of Maladies.

Watch the following TED talk (it runs for about 20 minutes) and then answer the questions that follow.

 

1. Adiche read only books written by British writers as a young child. How did this impact on her view of literature and the world?
2. Adiche’s flatmate had a single story of Africa. Identify and outline what this mindset consisted of and then discuss how such a mindset limited the flatmate in their understanding of Africa.
3. How are ‘single stories’ created? What role does ‘power’ play in the creation of those stories?
4. Why does Adiche introduce Mourid Barghouti’s viewpoint on single stories and dispossession (how we “Start” a story)?
5. Why do the audience applaud and laugh when Adiche uses the “American Physco” example?
6. Reflecting on your own world, identify a ‘single story’ that you are presented with, ‘buy into’ and engage with. Outline the single story and then tell it from another point of view so that you have a “different” story.
7. Adiche claims that a “single story” robs “people of dignity”. She then suggests that we have an “equal humanity” and that a “single story” focusses on our differences and not our similarities. What do you think will be the similarities between the people in our texts from other cultures and yourself? What human traits do you think you will all share?

 

 

Essay Writing Practice: Paragraphs

You may wish to use some time this week to gain some more practice in essay writing (remember that the first assessment task will be in week 7).

At this point this is not mandatory, but if you know you need extra practice, then take the initiative and set aside some homework time to complete one or more TEEL paragraphs, using the stories we have studied and which you are using for your Group Exercise presentation.

You may want to use one of the following topics as a starting point:

• Alienation is a common result of migration. Discuss.
• What do Lahiri’s stories suggest is important and valuable to people?
• Lahiri’s stories show the importance of communication in relationships. Discuss.
• “She guessed that he was used to it now, to the sound of a woman crying.” the women in the collection seem to struggle more than men. Is this how you see the stories?
• The settings of Lahiri’s storeis are crucial in helping us understand their key concerns. Do you agree?
• “Tell me a secret. I want to know.” To what extent do the secrets the characters keep affect their lives?