Angela's Ashes Lesson Plan

Eight Hundred Long Years

Kind of Activity:

Research

Objective:

Students will be able to contextualize the book's setting in history

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.7; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.8; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.4

Structure:

We hear frequently in this book about what the English did to the Irish for "eight hundred long years." Frank's schoolteachers often repeat the line, as do neighbors (SPOILER ALERT: there are many more instances of the phrase in later chapters). Ask students if they know what characters mean when they say this. A few may know of isolated incidents, like the Potato Famine, but it's unlikely that...