How to Create Writing Activities for Anne Frank Studies
Although she died at 15, Anne Frank's contribution to 20th-century world literature was immense. Her diary describing the events of her life makes for one of the most popular and emotive books concerning World War II. As "USA Today" notes, the museum housing the original diary now receives around one million visitors a year. The enthusiasm and high regard for this story means that it is also a great resource for the classroom. With careful planning, Anne Frank's book can provide opportunities for many writing tasks.
Instructions
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Assign a compare-and-contrast writing exercise. When applied to Anne Frank's book, a compare-and-contrast writing assignment requires students to find the similarities between two or more people or concepts, or indicate the differences between these things. For instance, Anne's life changes greatly after she enters the ''achterhuis'' (the secret annex of the house). Students could compare the rotten and stale food she has to eat in the annex with what she had before, or contrast the relationships she has with her mother to those she has with her father and sister. This style of writing follows strict formats. A comparison of the behavior of the Franks and the Van Daans might follow the block format, which has the student first describe one family and then the other. Alternatively, it might follow the point-by-point format, which requires the writer to look first at the parents of both families, and then the children.
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Make students focus on the causes or effects of a situation. Cause and effect writing suits this book because it requires students to analyze a chain of events and how they are related. As the book is written in chronological order, events in the book clearly result in actions. Cause and effect prompts, such as one asking students to look at the events that led to the Franks' deportation and subsequent death, will help students analyze the relationships between events.
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Require students to write a book report. The main advantage of the book report format for Anne Frank studies is that it requires the students to give a holistic overview of everything that they have read. A report starts with the basics, such as the date of publication and a brief synopsis. For this book, a student might summarize it as a story of a family trying to escape Nazi tyranny in Holland during the Second World War. Reports also require detailed information on the book's subject and details about the locations and the characters, such as the secret annex and the Van Daan family. Reports also ask for a student's opinion on the book. For example, the book's success could be measured by how well a student thinks it depicts antisemitism at the time or how well it describes life in occupied Europe for Jews.
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Prompt students with open-ended questions that can inspire writing topics. Issues which students raise in class can be turned into a variety of questions. Open-ended questions which ask students to name ways that they are similar to Anne Frank, or that ask them what they think will happen after the end of a specific point in the book are good for encouraging creativity. Prompts such as, "I wonder what would have happened if the 'grüne polizei' (secret police) hadn't found the achterhuis" also help to stimulate creative thinking.
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Tips & Warnings
Consider the possibility that members of the class might have relatives who were affected by the events described in the book. Prepare these students for the topics you will cover.
References
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