Geography lesson sample (Lydia's Grade Eight)

Subject: Geography. Time: 30 minutes.  Eastern Tanzania—Zanzibar in Particular (Lesson One of Two*). Book studied: Journey to the Source of the Nile, by Christopher Ondaatje.

Objects.

I. To introduce the student to Eastern Tanzania and the Zanzibar Archipelago.

II. To foster interest in foreign countries.

III. To teach the student how to learn the map of a country by means of map questions.

IV. To implant mental pictures of the characteristic scenery of Zanzibar in the student's mind.

Lesson.
Step I.—Before the lesson begins, have a blank map already drawn on the blackboard, and the map questions written up on another board.  Let the student learn the map of Eastern Tanzania, Zanzibar in particular, by means of the map questions previously written on the blackboard, writing down her own answers.

Step II.—After giving fifteen minutes to study the map and the questions, ask for a general description of the region.

Step III.—Let the student fill in the blank map.

Step IV.—Require the student to give the answers to the questions, and as she answers give information, in order that she may become acquainted with each place as it is mentioned, and be able to picture it in her mind.

Step V.--Teacher read the section about the group's arrival on Unguja (Zanzibar) on pages 58 to halfway down page 60, then pages 66 to the top of page 69, including the description of the harbour at Zanzibar City, and their exploration of Stone Town. Narration to follow.  (More information about the history of Stone Town)

 Map Questions. 

 I.—On a map of Africa, find the country of Tanzania, and find Mount Kilimanjaro. (Who do we know that climbed Mount Kilimanjaro recently?) Look at the map of Tanzania, and name four cities on the coast. (Tanga, Pangani, Bagamoyo, Dar es Salaam). Name two cities on Pemba and two cities on Unguja / Zanzibar (the island).

Note. Bagamoyo is the mainland port nearest to Zanzibar (the island and the city), thirty-five kilometres farther east, off the coast of Tanzania. Have the student read aloud the section on Bagamoyo, page 57-58, and narrate.

 II.— Look at a map of the world. What other countries of the world lie partly in the same latitude as Zanzibar?  What waters bound the two major islands in the Zanzibar Archipelago?

 Note. Zanzibar (/ˈzænzɨbɑr/) is the semi-autonomous part of Tanzania in East Africa. It is composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar or Spice Island) and Pemba. The capital is Zanzibar City, located on the island of Unguja. Its historic centre is Stone Town, which is a World Heritage Site. (Wikipedia)

*Lesson One of Two: the second lesson was based on the last few pages in the chapter, which we read together--no extra work assigned.

 Lesson plan adapted from these original Notes of Lessons.

Dollygirl's Grade Six: Plans for Wednesday

Dollygirl has been under the weather with a cold the last couple of days, so we didn't get everything done--some catching up tomorrow, probably.

Basic Bible Studies, page 26:  Read Romans 4:1-11, 20, 25. "No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God"  (English Standard Version)

Picture Study:  Emily Carr, "Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky," 1935.  One of my own favourite Emily Carr paintings!  Why are we doing so much picture study this week?  We are hoping to make a long-delayed trip to an art gallery, where there is a special exhibit of Carr's work, including this painting.  The exhibit closes this weekend, so if we are going to get there it will have to be in the next few days.

The Story of the World Volume 4,  chapter 32,  "Africa After World War II" and "Two Republics of China."

Math puzzles

Poetry:  two poems from Emily, about Emily Carr

Shakespeare:  Cymbeline, see Tuesday.  We didn't get to this

Composition: see Tuesday.  Still haven't gotten to this one!

Handicrafts:  continue dollmaking project.  Didn't get anything done on this today.

Volunteer Afternoon for Mama Squirrel--Dollygirl stayed home.

There are more and more and more and more of us...

in the world. It's estimated that by the end of October, there will be 7 billion human beings on this planet.

According to the same Toronto Star article, and Wikipedia, we hit the 6 billion mark in 1999. Twelve years seems like a very short time to add a billion people.

When are we expected to hit 8 billion? 2027.

"“The world is currently in the midst of the greatest demographic upheaval in human history,” says David Bloom, professor of economics and demography at the Harvard School of Public Health."--Antonia Zerbisias, Toronto Star

Crayons and Mama Squirrel noticed something strange about population as well. In the Mission Monde French workbook, Crayons was asked to find the population of Burundi. She clicked on a couple of websites, and this is what she found: a 2009 estimate of 8,303,000 2009; and a July, 2011 count of 10,216,190.

The teacher's manual for the course, published in 2006 and re-edited in 2008, gives the population as 6,370,609.

Either someone miscounted, or the population of tiny little Burundi, one of the ten poorest countries in the world, is growing exponentially. WikiAnswers seems to agree with that fact, but we still don't have a clear answer as to why. We guessed that it might be an influx of refugees from famine-stricken areas, but that didn't seem logical either. Second guess: that it's just what the Toronto Star article is talking about, more babies born in the poorest parts of the world.

I don't pretend to have answers. I just read the papers. And the teacher's manual.