The Lion and the Jewel Lesson Plan

Life of Soyinka

Kind of Activity:

Research

Objective:

Students will be able to contextualize the life of an author about whom they likely know very little

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.7; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.8

Structure:

First, ask the class if they are familiar with the author. It is likely, in a western classroom or a classroom composed primarily of westerners, that very few will be. Tell students that Wole Soyinka was a very famous and prominent playwright; why do they think they might not have heard of him before?

Create a collective timeline for the class spanning the years of Wole Soyinka's life—either a physical timeline on chart paper or an...