What's Included
- World Literature: Africa and Beyond Coursebook
- A Story Like the Wind by Laurens van der Post
- Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
- What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
- Oak Meadow blank journal (for use as a reader’s journal)
Additional Materials Recommended
The following books are optional but are recommended to get the most value out of this course (not included in the course package):
- American Literature: Africa and Beyond Teacher Edition (optional but recommended)
Course Overview
Course Length: One semester
Suggested Grade Level(s): 11 12
View samples of our high school curriculum here.
This course explores the topics of home and exile in three books that feature Africa. Each of the novels in this course is a unique coming-of-age story. The course examines how and why people leave their homes to seek refuge elsewhere.
Needing to leave home and migrate elsewhere—or being forcibly removed from one’s home by war—puts one in exile. The themes of home exile and refuge are woven throughout this course and the literature. Each work of fiction is a window into the real-life issues experienced throughout the world today.
Students will develop skills in analyzing literature interpreting figurative language making comparisons drawing inferences providing textual evidence identifying thematic elements and more. They will practice many types of writing including descriptive explanatory persuasive and research-based.
Content warning: Experiences of migration and exile are often filled with danger sorrow and trauma and the stories in this course portray that in an accurate realistic way.
