Mali+Class+Activities

Class Activities
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**Elementary Activity**[[image:africainfo258/Sundiata.jpg width="218" height="280" align="right"]]

 * 1) Students will examine similarities and differences between themselves and the characters in //Sundiata: Lion King of Mali//.
 * 2) Discuss each of the main characters from the story, paying attention to key characteristics of each.
 * 3) Each student should select a character from the story to use for the activity.
 * 4) Students should try to think of three similarities and three differences between themselves and the character from the story. Show students an example of a completed character study.
 * 5) Use your character study as a guide to write about how you and your character are alike and different.

Synopsis: An appealing biography of Sundiata, credited as the founder of the Mali empire. An author's note informs readers as to how little firsthand information on the topic is available, and that what is known has been handed down orally by griots, or African storytellers. Therefore, the narrative has the distinctive, if somewhat mystical, flow of an oral history. Sundiata neither walks nor speaks for the first seven years of his life, but is still named heir over his older brother. Regardless of the pronouncement, following the king's death, Sundiata and his mother are forced into exile. How the Lion King of Mali defeats his enemies and becomes the rightful ruler makes for an exciting tale.

=**Upper Elementary Activity**= Students will learn the art of preserving history through the oral tradition of the Griot, and demonstrate their understanding by creating and telling a story about the Islamic legacy of Timbuktu, and enhance their story with the use of poetry, song, dance, and/or music.
 * 1) Conduct a discussion on the importance of story telling in preserving history, asking students to give examples with stories from their own families.
 * 2) Discuss the importance of the oral history and the west African tradition of "keeping the memories" through stories.
 * 3) Ask students to speculate answers to the following questions:
 * Who might "hire" a story teller? (the ruler, a clan, an entire village)
 * What kind of information would the "keeper of the memories", the storyteller relate? (the lineage, great events, history)
 * Who would the griot tell his story to? (the village, clan, the emperor and his court)
 * How might he keep his audience interested? (poetry, dance, music, song)
 * How was a story teller selected? (it is a family tradition, passed down from one generation to another, with the older generation teaching the story and the techniques of how to tell a good story.)
 * Do you think this tradition is still practiced? Why or why not?
 * Presents the history and importance of the city of Timbuktu
 * 1) Create a story in the griot style, that:
 * 2) Presents the history and importance of the city of Timbuktu
 * 3) Reinforces the Islamic values of the Mali people and their ruler, Mansa Musa
 * 4) Describes and presents the history and importance of trade as a part of the culture of Mali
 * 5) Includes
 * a prop
 * music
 * poetry
 * 1) Actively involves all group members

=**Fine Arts Activity for Malian Concerts at Home!**= **MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS** Malian musicians use many fascinating instruments from drums to elaborate stringed lutes, as well as modern acoustic and electric guitars. Study these traditional instruments and then craft your own African-style instrument at home! Some great places to start are the websites on our resources page!
 * Ngoni a Bamana banjo-like lute found throughout West Africa made from hollowed-out canoe-shaped piece of wood with a dried animal skin stretched over it like a drum. It has three to five strings and the neck is made from a piece of doweling. The ngoni was once played by West African slaves, and developed into the banjo.
 * Djembe is a drum.
 * Kora is a sort of harp made from a calabash, a large, hollow gourd, with up to 25 strings.
 * Fle is a kind of shaker made from a calabash with cowrie shells strung round it. It is shaken and thrown to produce a sound like a maraca.



Resources __http://mali.pwnet.org/lessonplan/lessonplan_fine_art.htm__ []