My school serves students from an urban area of our city. 36% of our students come from low-income areas and nearly half of our students receive free and reduced-price lunch. Our school has a large minority population and we house one of our county's programs for English Language Learners, with many students from Mexico, Japan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We also have an active LGBTQ population who organize a Gay-Straight Alliance and collaborate with GLSEN.
Additionally, we house magnet programs for Creative and Performing Arts and Engineering.
Thus, our student body is very diverse. Out of the 6 public high schools in our county, our school has a reputation for having a friendly student body and teachers who embrace diversity.
My Project
All too often, when you ask a young person to tell you about countries that speak French, they will name Africa. Sadly, Social Studies teachers have so much content to teach that their students aren't given much exposure to the diverse cultures living in the 54 countries on the continent of Africa. Many students would be hard-pressed to even name a country in Africa.
I have taught excerpts from the novel, L'ENFANT NOIR (English title, THE DARK CHILD) in my Advanced Placement French class for several years.
In this autobiography, the Guinean author offers vignettes describing his childhood growing up in an African village. From the chapter about being the oldest son of the village chief to his description of his rite of passage into manhood, the author broadens the horizons of the reader by providing them with powerful imagery of a life so different from their own. I use this powerful novel in my classroom to guide students to compare the culture of African Guinea to their own western culture.
Unfortunately, without a classroom set of these novels, I have to photocopy the excerpts that I want to teach and I have to choose short passages to avoid using our school's consumable resources (paper, xerox machine). I ask you to consider donating to this project that will provide me with a class set of novels that I can use year after year. With so few resources available to young people that offer such a colorful view of life in a small African village, I feel fortunate that this novel is available in the original French so that I can teach my students about culture through the language that they are learning.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Lambert and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
