How to Teach African History
Africa has both some of the longest continuous histories and the shortest. Africa is a diverse continent which ranges from new states like Malawi to ancient empires such as Egypt and Carthage. It is also a continent filled with strife, environmental crises, wars, civil wars and colonialism. It is a continent filled with unique music such as the kora players of Mali, art and literature. Covering all aspects of this diverse continent is an interesting challenge for teachers.
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Instructions
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Decide what the most important stories in African history are. Each of these stories can form the basis for one or two classes. Here are some examples:
1. Ancient Egypt: Teach about the rise of the kingdom and its eventual fall. Look at its great monuments, its artwork and the importance of hieroglyphs. Teaching about mummies is a must; especially if teaching younger students.
2. Carthage: This nation was Africa's first true democracy. Teach about how the city state fought the Roman Republic.
3. The Roman Empire in North Africa and the rise of Islam.
4. The slave trade: The process started with the Arab states in the north and was then exploited by European colonial powers.
5. Colonialism.
6. Post-colonialism: The rise of democracies like Ghana and South Africa and the fall of promising states like Zimbabwe.
7. Famine and aids: A history of resources and diseases in Africa.
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Build a lesson plan for each area you want to teach. Each lesson should include a brief introduction of the subject; use pictures if you can. Next hand out texts or pictures and elicit responses about them.
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Design tasks or projects for the students. This can include asking them to answer questions about a text or picture or comparing texts which differ.
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Set out mini-research projects for your students to complete as homework. Ask them to research certain topics. You could set out different areas for different groups or students. Examples could include giving one country to each student to research.
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Prepare a big project for the end of the course. Get the students to propose a research project on any aspect of African history. You check them, approve or reject, and let them do their research. Set aside some in-class time for this, but make it an out-of-class project.
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Teach using different methods such as audio, visual and kinesthetic (hands-on) during each class. Different students learn in different ways. Make use of short video or audio clips, always asking questions afterwards and if you can, get hold of real artifacts.
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Consider asking members involved in African history organizations and health organizations to come to your class to give a speech. This might include the Africa History Organization. Also, the Africa Guide website contains a list of Africa-based charities.
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References
- Photo Credit africa image by Luka76 from Fotolia.com
