Black History Month takes place every February in Canada and in the US. It is a month to celebrate and remember the numerous contributions blacks have made in Canadian and American history. Black History Month also allows for examining contemporary culture and the individuals and events that have made a mark in today’s society.
The award-winning Black History Canada website provides resources for instructors to use with their students to explore this dynamic history of black culture and important black personalites with a specific look at the Canadian angle. Their downloadable Black History Guide (pdf) and links to numerous sites allow instructors to bring black history to the classroom. Although not specifically designed for ESL students, the site and guide are suitable for intermediate-advanced level classes.
(Thanks to Akua Joseph for the resource tip).
If you have a Black History Month activity or resource you’d like to share, please use the Comment button below.
TESL Toronto publishes items of interest to the local TESL community: send links and tips to info@tesltoronto.org.
Comments (2)
Claudie G. - February 4, 2011
Thanks for the link – it looks excellent – although I was concerned because there is a note on the history section that it has been hacked.)
I have two Black History Month projects – a poster and a book report display. (The poster I have done for many years. The book report I have done twice – Level 4/5/6/ class and a LINC Level 4. The first class was housed in an elementary school – which made it easy for the students to take out books, the second in a mall with a public library)
POSTER.
First we do background work on BHM (I will post a list of my resources – mainly from ESL resources like Ontario Reader, World of Vocabulary, Canada from Eh to Zed, Grab Bag of Canada,etc.) We use the newspaper for a resource – I have also collected interesting articles from past years. We then create a poster/display for the school notice board which celebrates the achievements of African-Canadians and African-Americans (e.g. The Real McCoy!!!) (I know that there are ready made posters available but I have not found the resource for these)
THE BOOK REPORT PROJECT
Students take out (story) books directly related to black history from the children’s or youth section of the library They read it, making notes as they go along (question handout) They then write a book report which follows the usual steps of process writing.
They include the title, author, publisher, ear of publication, description of characters, summary of the story, and whether they would recommend this book, to whom, or if not, why not. I correct the work (you could do peer correcting,) Then the students make a fair copy of their report on coloured paper. In the past I photocopied the cover of the book (I am not sure what the copyright requirements are so maybe the students could “draw” copy the cover) The covers and the reports then are made into a large display for the rest of the school to enjoy. The students also “presented” the book reports to the rest of our class.
admin - February 7, 2011
Wow, Claudie! Thank you so much for taking the time to give out your ideas. I’m sure many people share your enthusiasm for relevant lesson ideas and I’m sure you’ve given some inspiration to many of our members.