Using History and Economics to Teach English

     I started teaching the autobiography Kaffir Boy a few years ago. It is a powerful book about a black boy who was born in South Africa during the Apartheid. The book is filled with heartbreaking stories and powerful triumphs that I love discussing with my students. In the past I have provided my students with a brief historical background and jumped right in to the book. I am going to add the following resources to my unit this coming year.

http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html

Using a historical approach: This site comes from Stanford and focuses on the history of Apartheid in South Africa. It includes charts, pictures, and details about how computers and other forms of technology influenced this horrible part in history. This will give my students a stronger understanding of the time that the book was written.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/protest-divestment-south-africa.asp#axzz218QzasgU

Using an economic approach: This site explains the movement to pull U.S. and international investments out of South Africa in an effort to end Apartheid. It shows how the global economy can shape the political will of an entire nation, in this case for positive change. This will help students understand the role the United States had in ending the Apartheid.  

     Interdisciplinary teaching can solidify a student’s education. It takes away the “sit there and learn” mentality and replaces it with real knowledge that can be used in different settings. When students get to see what they were taught in one class come up again in another, they are empowered. This form of learning stays with students because they can see that they are learning skills that will aid them in the real world. The difficulty in interdisciplinary teaching is trusting other teachers to accurately teach the subject you are educated in. I have had students say “Why do we have to read The Great Gatsby? Mr. Smith says it’s boring.”  This negative influence that most likely comes from ignorance rather than personal preference becomes yet another obstacle that I must overcome. 


I reviewed: Eghosa Obaiza and Karen Vigna
I responded to: Nastasha Staking