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Overview:
The African continent is a very diverse place, especially in the area of language. Estimates range from as low as 800 to just over 2,000 languages spoken within the continent's terrestrial boundaries! This lesson introduces students to the study of languages (known as linguistics), the linguistic categorization of African languages, and several perceived effects of Africa's linguistic diversity.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, history, language arts, social studies
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 10: "The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth's
cultural mosaics"
Standard 13: "How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people
influence the division and control of Earth's surface"
Standard 18: "How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future"
Time:
Two to four hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Writing materials
- Colored markers
- Blank sheets of paper
Objectives:
Students will:
- explore (potential) language diversity within the classroom;
- define linguistic studies and discuss the need for such studies;
- explore and present the categorization of language diversity within Africa;
- discuss how language differences—or similarities—have led to cooperation or conflict within Africa; and
- write a paper on a current event within Africa that explores the interrelation between the event and language.
Geographic Skills:
Asking Geographic Questions
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Open the lesson by asking if there are any students capable of speaking in a language other English. For classes in which there are multilingual students, ask them if they would be willing to share with the class some common universal phrases translated into their known foreign language(s) (e.g., "hello," "goodbye," etc.) and/or even do a 1–10 number count.
Ask students if they can name any of the languages spoken in Africa (e.g., Swahili, Zulu, Ashanti, Yoruba). For classes with no multilingual students, consider sharing examples of common universal phrases in an African language. For example, if you engage your students in this lesson at the start of the day, you might consider sharing with the class how to say "good morning/day" in Swahili. Have students visit the Internet Public Library's Say Hello to the World page and listen to some common words and phrases in various African languages.
Ask your students if they perceive any benefits to being a multilingual speaker. Do they perceive any drawbacks to being a multilingual speaker? What languages would they themselves like to learn, and why?
Development:
Activity 1:
Ask the class if anyone knows what a linguist studies. Once the term has been defined, ask the class what need is served by the study of languages. [Language can reveal much about historical and sociological factors related to the extension and diffusion of cultures.]
Working in groups no greater than three, have students access the Internet to answer the following questions [Tip: You may encourage students to get through this activity quickly by offering a prize for the first student or group to finish]:
- How many countries make up Africa?
- What is the current total population of Africa? Give some examples of native cultures in Africa.
- How many different languages are spoken in Africa? [Students are likely to come up with a variety of answers to this question. This should prompt a discussion of the challenges faced by linguists in their efforts to classify and categorize languages.]
Activity 2:
Have students access the Columbia Encyclopedia's entry on African languages to learn more about language families. [Note for students that the entry opens with a definition of African language, which may appear to some as an incomplete sentence.]
You can assign students one of the four Afro-Asiatic language families listed, or have students select a language family themselves, and then have them read the corresponding section. Ask students to take notes on things such as the names and number of branches within their chosen language families, names and number of branch subdivisions, and any unique characteristics.
When they're done with the reading, have students use this online webbing tool or paper and markers to make visual representations of their respective language families. After they've completed the construction of their visual representations, have them compare and contrast their displays. These displays can be used to answer questions such as the following: Which language family is the most diverse (contains the greatest number of branches and branch subdivisions)? Which is the simplest (contains the least number of branches and branch subdivisions)?
Have students access the Languages of Africa map for help with illustrating the extent of Africa's four Afro-Asiatic language families.
Activity 3:
Have students conclude this portion of the lesson by reading the closing section of the encyclopedia entry titled "Twentieth-Century Developments," and have them answer the following questions:
- Two of Africa's major linguistic families, the Niger-Kordofanian and Nilo-Saharan languages, still do not have a writing system. Why is this now becoming an increasingly important issue?
- Does the writer see Africa's linguistic diversity as helping or hindering the African people? Why?
- Why is the modern scientific study of African languages beneficial for Africans?
- How does the study of African languages relate to people of non-African cultures?
Closing:
Have students read the article Dreams of a United Africa to answer the following questions:
- The Organization for African Unity met in 2000 for what purpose?
- According to the article, how many Africans were forced to leave their homes in 1999 and why did they leave?
- To what single event do some trace Africa's troubles, and which countries were involved?
- What colonial legacy remains in the wake of the Cold War?
- According to Richard Roberts, why is the border between Nigeria and Benin such a "fascinating case?"
Ask your students to discuss their thoughts on the interrelation between language and conflict in Africa; then, have them propose and discuss solutions to address these problems.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Have students work individually to conduct a web search on a current event within a single African country. The method of selection is left open to the teacher (e.g., one possibility would be to write country names on small pieces of paper from which students would then draw). Have students write a one-page paper that discusses the current event and explores language's (possible) influence upon it. If the chosen current event covers a current problem(s) in a country, have students suggest possible solutions.
One possible news source is allAfrica.com.
Extending the Lesson:
Have students do a web search for Africanisms in the English language. For example, some African words in Gullah have entered American English, including goober ("peanut"), gumbo ("okra"), and voodoo ("witchcraft").
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