Day 23: Chpt 3 (Sunil)

Inquiry: You’re Sunil. Do you join Kalu in a life of thievery? Why or why not?

1a. Discuss inquiry

1. check vocab

2. What are the central conflicts set up so far in the text? Support with text?

3. Describe one important symbol from each chapter we've read thus far. What's the significance o the symbol?

4. Fleshing out Asha and Sunil

Day 22: Chpts 1 & 2

Inquiry
How would you handle Mr. Kamble and why?

Discussion
1a. Review vocabulary words --> QUIZ!
1. Start with inquiry
2. What is the caste system? Look at pp. 16-17 from Prologue.
3. What tensions does Boo set up in the first two chapters? (list on board)
4. Fleshing our Abdul and start fleshing out Asha

Closing
Insights gained and/or questions raised

Day 22: Boo Begins ...

Inquiry: Is morality a luxury or a necessity? Why or why not?

Discussion
1. Start w inquiry question ...
2. History scavenger hunt --> 10 minutes. You can work in teams of 2. Find everything you can about the state of world affairs in 2008. What was going on politically across the globe? What about in India? What was happening with the economy (both international and national)? Become an expert in 2008. --> share out ideas on the board --> what does this tell us about Behind the Beautiful Forevers?
3. Find Annawadi:  Using the text, draw a map of the location and be sure to cite pages numbers to support your ideas.
4. Find annawadi: Let's explore google earth and maps and see what it looks like.
5. Review the plot of the prologue. What literally happened?
6. Review vocabulary
7. Character fleshing out --> Abdul

Day 20: keeping fit

Inquiry
What is point of view? How does point of view influence a story?

Discussion
1. Look at the contrasts present in the short story: What purpose do they serve and how do they reflect the divisive nature of apartheid? Use text to support ideas and interpretations. Think about all of the ways in which the white man and the black woman are divided.

• Road as boundary vs road as freedom
• house vs shanti town/shack
• white man vs black woman
• white family vs black family
• other ideas ....

2. From what point of view is this story told? How does that limit what we know? How might descriptions differ if from black woman's POV?

3. What is the relationship between the white man and the black woman? How does it change over the course of their interaction?

4. When the protagonist returns home, what has changed about him? Does he comes to any new understanding about himself? If so, why? Of not, why not? Use the text.

5. What is the main conflict in the protagonist's life? Over what is he conflicted?

6. The bird ... symbol of what?

Closing
Questions raised; insights gained?

Day 19: The Moment Before the Gun Went Off

Inquiry
Re-read the 2 1/2 pages of the story. What did you learn about Van der Vyver the second time reading this story? How did your understanding of Van der Vyver change the second time?

The narrator
1. Who is the narrator and what is the narrator’s attitude towards white Afrikaner ruling party, to blacks, and to Europeans?
2. What do these attitudes tell us about why people are divided in SA and in our larger world, maybe regardless of race?

Van der Vyver
1. What does the action of his crying in the police station suggest to us? Are you surprised by this reaction—why or why not? Does this make him more likable—why or why not?
2. What do we learn about him by his action at the funeral?
3. What does it show us in the description “he does not let her clothing, or that of anyone else gathered closely make contact with him’ (116). How does this moment contrast with “The farmer carried him in his arms, to the truck. He was sure, sure he could not be dead. But the young black man’s blood was all over the farmer’s clothes, soaking against his flesh as he drove” (117)? What do we learn about Van der Vyver?

The moment
1. What exactly was the moment like for Lucas and Van der Vyver before the gun went off? What does this say about their relationship? p 116-117
2. Why is this moment compared to the moment that he and Lucas’s mom share at the funeral? What does it suggest to us about their relationship? p 116

To close: 1. In what way is this story about difference? About misconception? 2. What is the more tragic element of this short story in your mind?